The Will Ferrell Classic Christopher Nolan Calls His All-Time Favorite
Think Christopher Nolan’s favorite film is a cerebral classic like 2001: A Space Odyssey? The Inception and Oppenheimer director told Variety that one of his all-time favorites is Will Ferrell’s Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
Here is one I did not have on my Nolan bingo card: Christopher Nolan says one of his all-time favorite movies is... Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Yes, the Will Ferrell NASCAR comedy. Not 2001. Not a brooding arthouse classic. Ricky Bobby.
Nolan said it himself
Talking to Variety, Nolan did not hedge. He even dropped the Ferrell catchphrase for good measure.
"Talladega Nights, I am never gonna be able to switch that up."
He also quoted the movie directly: "If you ain’t first, you’re last." This is coming from the guy who is currently developing an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. I kind of love the contrast.
Why Talladega Nights actually tracks for Nolan
On the surface, Talladega Nights is loud, dumb-fun, and very American in how it roasts its own bravado. It is proud of being ridiculous — there is literally a sequence where Ricky Bobby tries driving blindfolded and plows straight into someone’s house. But underneath the pratfalls, it moves with purpose. In a tight 1 hour 48 minutes, it crams in running gags, side quests, and a carousel of weirdos, while still landing a clean moral arc.
That last part is probably where it clicks for Nolan. Ricky Bobby is, at heart, a classic Nolan lead: swaggering, broken, and forced to rebuild from failure — not miles off from Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins or the dueling obsessives in The Prestige. So maybe Nolan sees the craft under the silliness. Or maybe the man just likes fast cars and a dumb laugh between Oppenheimer edits. Both truths can exist.
Talladega Nights in a nutshell
- Director: Adam McKay
- Cast: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Gary Cole, Michael Clarke Duncan
- Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%
- Runtime: 1h 48m
About that sequel that almost was
Back around a decade ago, Adam McKay said he and Sony seriously kicked around a sequel. He told CinemaBlend they had a fish-out-of-water idea that would ship Ricky overseas.
"We had an idea about [Ricky Bobby], that he goes and drives over in Europe, you know, so it could be like an international, more of an international type movie, American driver going to Formula 1. We kicked it around a little bit."
Given the original pulled in $163.3 million worldwide in 2006 (per Box Office Mojo), of course the studio wanted more. But McKay ultimately backed off, saying it was more fun to keep inventing new worlds than to revisit old ones — hence no Talladega Nights 2.
Why people are talking about a sequel again
Lately, the chatter popped back up after Brad Pitt’s F1 movie started trending, which sent folks reminiscing about Ricky Bobby potentially tearing up European circuits. To be clear: nothing is confirmed by Sony or McKay. Fans are just daydreaming what a modern sequel could look like while remembering the quotes by heart.
Where to watch
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is currently streaming in the US on Hulu and Prime Video.
Would you actually want a Talladega Nights 2, or should Ricky Bobby stay retired on top? Let me know.