Will Ferrell video a huge Internet hit

By Stone Martindale Apr 17, 2007, 16:34 GMT

03/28/2007 - Will Ferrell - Blades Of Glory Los Angeles Premiere - Mann\'s Chinese Theater - Hollywood, CA © David Gabber / Photorazzi

Viral video has been graced with film star Will Ferrell, and his latest effort a homemade-looking Internet video called "The Landlord", a two-minute movie in which Ferrell plays a slacker who is accosted by his angry landlady: Pearl, played by a 2-year-old.

"I want my money!" she yells at Ferrell's character, then laces him with some salty toddler language.

Pearl's spoken lines like "pay me, you b*tch" are subtitled.

Initially posted on FunnyOrDie.com, "The Landlord" quickly went viral and had scored over 1.5 million views.

Writer and director Adam McKay, Ferrell's longtime friend and collaborator confessed to being behind the video and insisted there was no corporate entity involved. "It's just us," McKay said. "That's the fun — this isn't brought to you by GE or Viacom or whoever."

The video took about 45 minutes to make, McKay said to the Los Angeles Times. "Will and I were just screwing around and it was like, hey, that's a good idea, let's film that."

McKay plays Ferrell's friend in the short and is also the father of Pearl (it's her real name).

ferrell-pearl-video

The LAT reports that McKay, and the production company he co-founded with Ferrell set up FunnyorDie.com so they'd have an easy, fun way to showcase their short-form ideas as well as a place less-established filmmakers could come to show off theirs.