Ferrell's loud & crazy on-screen, quiet & crazy off

EAST LANSING, Mich. - A cluster of media types is sprawled inside Michigan State University's Breslin Center, sipping on sodas and waiting for an encounter with a king of comedy.

Things are running behind schedule, but the mood is amiable enough because the payoff is getting to meet Will Ferrell. What will he be like? Will he come barreling in with arrogant bravado, like Chazz Michael Michaels from "Blades of Glory," or prance about with childish wonder, like Buddy from "Elf"?

The surprise is, in real life, that he's more like his reserved, wistful character from "Stranger Than Fiction," a guy who approaches life's tasks with a low-key politeness that's as ordinary as it is endearing.

On this day, his job is talking up "Semi-Pro," his new basketball comedy set in 1970s Flint, Mich. It's a disco-funky underdog story that gives Ferrell an excuse to wear horrendous clothing, wrestle a bear and attempt a death-defying leap over a line of sexy cheerleaders.

Clad in a Michigan State sweatshirt, Ferrell settles into a chair for a one-on-one chat. In a few hours, he'll be the star attraction at a comedy concert inside the same building. But for now, he's the soul of modesty.

The conversation shifts to classic '70s comedies and then to Ferrell's stomach as an acting tool.

He has no qualms about revealing his flesh, whether it's for a naked run through the streets in "Old School" or, most recently, the "Semi-Pro" trailer where he's stretched out like a Playgirl pinup, wearing only a discreetly placed basketball and a headband.

Does he have the only comedy abdomen in the business right now? In a flash, Ferrell slips into the mock-serious voice of the overly confident goofball he portrays so perfectly onscreen.

"I don't have the only one - I have one of the best," he deadpans. "It may not be the only one, but it's in the top three, at least."

It's also safe to call Ferrell one of the funniest people in film these days. The "Saturday Night Live" alumnus has attempted more nuanced roles in movies like "Stranger Than Fiction" and Woody Allen's "Melinda and Melinda," but he seems most at home in relaxed, lovably silly comedies.

And if a script has a sports theme, all the better. He's done the NASCAR thing in "Talladega Nights," coached a kids soccer team in "Kicking and Screaming" and pioneered all-male pairs figure skating in "Blades of Glory."

Now, with "Semi-Pro," he tackles the story of a fictional American Basketball Association team called the Flint Tropics.

Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the one-hit-wonder singer of "Love Me Sexy" who owns and coaches the Tropics, and who also serves on court as an eccentric power forward. His financially shaky team (whose very un-Rust-Belt-like slogan is "Let's get tropical") draws only a few die-hard fans to its games, which explains why Jackie can never deliver on the cash or food prizes he offers as audience promotions.

When the NBA hatches a plan to merge with the four best teams in the ABA, the Tropics go on a do-or-die mission to grab the fourth slot, with Jackie leading the charge, helped by a former NBA player named Monix (Woody Harrelson).

Ferrell, Harrelson, André Benjamin and other cast members traveled to Flint and Detroit last spring to shoot some scenes, including exterior shots at the Michigan State Fairgrounds (the outside of the State Fair Coliseum doubles as a Flint stadium in the movie) and in an alley next to Flint's Capitol Theatre.

"That was fun," Ferrell recalls of the alley scene in Flint, where his character lies despondently in a Dumpster. "It was so sweet. People were really nice to me and they were so appreciative that we were there."

In keeping with the renegade spirit and showmanship of the ABA, "Semi-Pro" isn't just set in the '70s. It captures the mood of a freewheeling comedy from that era, in part through using profanity and racy situations that aren't as common in Ferrell's PG-13 fare.

"We wanted this to have the feel of films like 'Slap Shot,' that were '70s comedies that had a little grit to them and were even shot darker, things like that," says Ferrell. "I thought it was a great idea, a very appealing thing." *