What Actors Have Said About Kissing Will Ferrell

Movies

When you think of famous kisses on the big screen, the movies that come to mind are usually heartfelt dramas or burning romances. Well, Will Ferrell doesn't have many of those movies under his belt, but he's still had his fair share of on-screen kisses. Ferrell is a comedy genius, and though he's played a romantic lead from time to time, most of his big kiss moments have been played as jokes. He's locked lips in some truly cringe-inducing ways, but despite that, Ferrell's kissing skills have picked up quite a few good reviews over the years.

It's no secret that some co-stars really enjoy kissing each other, and there have definitely been a few people who've come away from kissing Ferrell thoroughly impressed. More than anything, though, Ferrell's co-stars say that they appreciate his thoughtfulness, his sense of humor, and his willingness to commit to the bit. Ferrell's got more on-screen kisses than you probably remember, but once you hear what his co-stars have to say, you'll never forget about them.

John Lithgow wasn't impressed

John Lithgow and Will Ferrell have both been acting in comedies for a majority of their careers, but surprisingly the two haven't starred in many movies together. Their 2017 movie "Daddy's Home 2" helped make up for lost time by bringing the two of them incredibly close together. In the movie, Lithgow plays Ferrell's father, and their family takes showing affection further than most. When father and son see each other for the first time in a long while, they immediately go in for a full smooch.

"It was scripted," Lithgow told TheFIX as he described the scene, adding, "And even reading it in the script I thought, 'Wow, this is going to define this whole movie.'" He's not wrong. The image of Lithgow and Ferrell awkwardly putting their faces together is arguably the most memorable shot in the entire movie.

Lithgow didn't have anything great to say about kissing Ferrell. He said that the kiss was about as sloppy as it could get: "We just sort of mashed our faces together like medicine balls." The moment is funny enough in the movie, but it was probably even more entertaining in person. Ferrell has said that his kids were on set when he and Lithgow shot the scene, and they got to witness each of the 30 takes it took to get the moment right. It's not quite the most awkward kissing scene of the last decade, but it's close.

Amy Adams was taken aback

John Lithgow might not have been all that impressed with Will Ferrell's kissing skills, but some of Ferrell's other costars have walked away from a kissing scene with an entirely different take. Ferrell starred alongside Amy Adams in 2006's "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," and their characters shared a passionate, but utterly ridiculous, kiss in a moment that doubled as an homage to Whitesnake's music videos.

In 2007 Adams said, "He's a fantastic kisser," in response to a question from Rachel Ray about the scene (via People). If Adams had stopped there, we could mark this answser down as an unqualified compliment to Ferrell, but she added, "I was not expecting that." Harsh. In Adams' defense, Ferrell isn't known as a romantic lead, and at that point in time he didn't have many on-screen kisses that she could use as a reference. After "Talladega Nights" that all started to change.

Will Ferrell charmed Anna Friel

People seem to underestimate Will Ferrell's kissing abilities a lot. Amy Adams isn't the only one of Ferrell's costars who's walked away from a shoot being surprised by how good of a kisser he is. Just a couple of years after Adams and Ferrell starred in "Talladega Nights," actress Anna Friel was cast as Ferrell's romantic interest in the 2009 adaptation of "Land of the Lost."

Just like Adams, when Friel commented on the kiss, she made sure to mention that people probably wouldn't expect Ferrell to be a good kisser. Her experience with him on camera told a different story, however. According to SheKnows, Friel said, "He is a really, really good kisser." She continued, saying, "He's got twinkly blue eyes, and he was gentler than I thought that he perhaps might be." Friel was so impressed by her experience with Ferrell that she was willing to act as a referral. "If anyone needs a good kiss they should just get on the phone and ask Will," she said, though to the dismay of anyone wanting to take her advice, Friel didn't give out Ferrell's phone number.

Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell shared a kiss like no other

John Lithgow joked that his kiss with Will Ferrell wasn't all that pleasant because the two of them just smashed their mouths together, but that experience was probably preferable to whatever was happening between Ferrell and Kristen Wiig on the set of "Zoolander 2." In one of the movie's most over the top moments, the two of them share something that could only liberally be called a kiss, and it's genuinely a bit difficult to watch. We're talking fully open mouths, lots of licking, and a kind of shrieking noise that will haunt your nightmares.

Naturally, Wiig and Ferrell had an absolute blast putting the ridiculous scene together. The two of them sat down for an interview with Today where they admitted that not much planning or forethought went into the moment. They realized just seconds before the cameras started rolling that they had a kiss, and both of them told the other that they were up for anything. What actually transpired was entirely improvised, and it delighted and alarmed everyone who witnessed it unfolding. Ferrell said that after the first take, "[Director Ben Stiller] yelled 'Cut!' and said, 'I don't know what I'm watching, but keep going.'" Ferrell and Wiig couldn't stop laughing while describing the scene, so while it definitely isn't a good kiss, we at least know they had a good time.

DomiNque Perry was beyond surprised by her kiss with Will Ferrell

DomiNque Perry had a small role in 2015's "Get Hard." The follows Will Ferrell's character James King as he gets advice from Darnell Lewis (Kevin Hart) on how to survive a stint in prison — despite the fact that Darnell himself has never had so much as a ticket in his entire life. When Perry first joined the film, she really didn't expect that she'd end up smooching Ferrell because initially she didn't even have any lines.

Perry sat down with Tiffany Haddish on "Friday Night Vibes" to talk about her experience working on the movie with Ferrell and Hart. According to her, she started with no lines, but every day that she showed up on set, the filmmakers gave her more to do. She said that her mom actually asked her about the prospect of kissing Ferrell but that Perry still didn't think it was going to happen. Then the next day, she showed up and ended up filming the kiss. When asked if she'd ever do it again, Perry just smiled and said, "Would I? It's William," which understandable got a big laugh from the studio audience. "Of course I'd do it again." It seems like Perry discovered what Amy Adams and Anna Friel already knew: Ferrell is a surprisingly good kisser.

Sue Herera stills laughs about her kiss with Will Ferrell

It's not just Will Ferrell's acting friends who've gotten the chance to kiss him. Back in 2004 Ferrell went on the CNBC show "Power Lunch" to promote his upcoming movie "Anchorman: The Legend of Rob Burgundy." Anchor Sue Herera and her co-host Bill Griffeth were told there was a chance he would stop by the studio, but they had no idea if or when he'd actually be stopping by. Ferrell basically crashed their show by tapping into his "Anchorman" persona and giving an utterly unhinged performance that culminated in him kissing Herera several times.

Herera has reflected on the incident in the years since, and according to her that clip comes back to the surface of the internet almost every time that Ferrell has a new movie coming out. She got to live the "Anchorman" experience, and looking back, the entire episode now makes her laugh. When Griffeth asked her how the kiss was, she insisted with a chuckle, "There were no tongues. There were no tongues." Herera has had a decades-long career as a news anchor, but no other interview she's done has quite matched that level of energy. Herera also said she'd never seen "Anchorman."

John C. Reilly didn't need a movie set to kiss Will Ferrell

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly have a closer relationship than most Hollywood actors. They've starred in quite a few movies together over the years, from 2008's "Step Brothers" to "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," and they also spend time together off-camera. Ferrell and Reilly even once joked that, "We have an open marriage," in an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment. Even though we've been watching them on the big screen for years, their most intimate moment didn't come on the set of a movie.

Lakers fans were watching a Sunday game in 2011 when they were greeted by an unexpected sight: Ferrell and Reilly locking lips on the arena's kiss cam. Ferrell later told Today it was, "Just a typical Laker game for me." His version of the story shows how instantly he and Reilly are able to slip back into their comedic duo personas. "John said, 'If the camera gets on us, why don't we take a bite of our sandwiches and then kiss,'" Ferrell explained. "And I didn't even bat an eye." They knew that they could get a rise out of the audience, and Reilly likely knew that Ferrell would back him up on any joke he wanted to play.