Will Ferrell Set to Star in Comedy About a Shakespearean Theater Company

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 12: Actor Will Ferrell arrives at 2011 MOCA Gala, An Artist's Life Manifesto, Directed by Marina Abramovic at MOCA Grand Avenue on November 12, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for MOCA)
Photo: Frazer Harrison/2011 Getty Images

It looks like Will Ferrell will be trying his hand at 16th-century humor. Variety reports that Sony has bagged a comedy pitch about the “intense, competitive world inside a Shakespearean theater company,†with Ferrell in mind to star. David Guion and Michael Handelman — a pair that has found success on such scripts as Dinner for Schmucks — will pen the as-of-now-unnamed project. Production schedule, cast, and most other details about the film are also under wraps at the moment. Ferrell will next come to theaters as James King (a white-collar guy with deep pockets who gets cuffed for embezzlement) in the Kevin Hart co-starrer Get Hard and as Mugatu in Zoolander 2, among other roles. A Shakespearean theater company sounds like golden territory for Ferrell and his comic personae — especially anything involving a Mr. G–from–Summer Heights High–esque character.

Will Ferrell to Star in Comedy About Shakespeare