Adam McKay Says His Creative Split from Will Ferrell Remains 'a Shame' 7 Years Later, 'But Life Goes On'

"I think both of us underestimated the complications that go with not just having a company, but a very successful company," the Oscar winner said

NEED TO KNOW

• Adam McKay says he is open to reconnecting with Will Ferrell after their creative split
• The pair co-founded Gary Sanchez Productions in 2006 and collaborated on hit films like Anchorman and Step Brothers, before they announced the end of their creative partnership in 2019
• “The only thing that caused acrimony between us was when we decided to end our production company,” the director recalled

Adam McKay is opening up about his and Will Ferrell's previous creative partnership.

McKay, 58, told Business Insider in an interview published on Thursday, June 25, that he's "open to the idea" of reconnecting with Ferrell, also 58, after the pair announced their decision to part ways in 2019. Their announcement followed 13 years of working together after they founded their production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, in 2006.

"We always got along great, we were tremendous creative partners," McKay told the outlet, in reference to various movies the two collaborated on, including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers.

"The only thing that caused acrimony between us was when we decided to end our production company, Gary Sanchez," McKay said. "And I know it was reported one way or the other, but that was really it."

"It's a shame because we had a great creative partnership," he said.

"I think both of us underestimated the complications that go with not just having a company, but a very successful company," McKay continued. "We had it for a long time and did a lot of cool projects."

McKay added that Ferrell had "publicly" said he didn't want to produce films. "So he was always half in and half out, but then he would love it and be proud of the company, but by the end, he wanted to move on," he continued.

"It had become too much extra work; it was never his passion," he explained. "I was really the one who wanted to produce, but a movie star's life is very different than a writer-director's life. So we split up."

The Vice director added, "But life goes on. We had a great run."

"I certainly have no hard feelings," he said, before concluding, "Who knows, we'll see what happens."

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McKay previously said that the split felt more "like a breakup," telling The Hollywood Reporter in 2021. "As clean as we both tried to make it go, there were moments afterward where we weren't exactly chummy."

"I kept trying to frame it like, 'Hey, it's okay. It's its natural conclusion,' but as I would say it, it didn't quite feel right. It felt like a breakup," McKay said at the time.

"I'm looking forward to when the dust has settled. I'd love to just go watch a Lakers game with him and kick back and get back to our old kind of rhythm," he said at the time. "But, yeah, I can't lie, at the end of it we were both kind of bummed out."

McKay said that he has no hard feelings. "I love Ferrell. Always will," he said. "I had the best, most fun run of my life with him. Yes, I wish I had talked to him about it out of respect, but we were both focused on our new companies and life just took over."

PEOPLE reached out to representatives for Will Ferrell and Adam McKay for comment.

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