Step Brothers director Adam McKay and Will Ferrell haven't spoken for years and may never again

Together they had made some of the most loved comedy films of the last 25 years.

However, director Adam McKay has opened up about his regret over a split with long-time collaborator, Will Ferrell, revealing that the pair may never speak again.

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In 2006, the comedy-duo they founded Gary Sanchez productions together, that gave us comedy classics like The Other Guys, Anchorman 2, and of course, Stepbrothers, and would have been responsible for a lot of the pair's output over the last 13 years.

However, in 2019, they released the film Holmes and Watson. The film was panned by critics and poorly received, and subsequently they decided to close down Gary Sanchez in 2020.

At the time, reports suggested that the split had been amicable, but since then it emerged that by the end, Ferrell and Sanchez were not on good terms at all.

McKay said in Farout magazine: “I fucked up on how I handled that.

“It’s the old thing of keep your side of the street clean. I should have just done everything by the book. In my head, I was like, ‘We’ll let all this blow over. Six months to a year, we’ll sit down, we’ll laugh about it and go, it’s all business junk, who gives a shit? We worked together for 25 years. Are we really going to let this go away?’"

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However, it transpired that Ferrell had taken it far more personally than McKay had anticipated. Despite reaching out to him, and bringing up a few 'slights' that he had received, they went ahead with the split.

Things seemed to go even beyond just splitting the company as well. It was reported that after McKay gave a role Ferrell was originally considered for to his Stepbrothers co-star- and McKay's original choice for the role - John C. Reilly, Ferrell was not happy.

He said: "I said, ‘Well, I mean, we’re splitting up the company.’ And he basically was like, ‘Yeah, we are,’ and basically was like, ‘Have a good life.’ And I’m like, ‘Fuck, Ferrell’s never going to talk to me again.’ So it ended not well.”

Now, McKay has expressed his regret over the split. He said that he didn't want to 'let it happen', but unfortunately it happened nonetheless.

He said: “Maybe there was a little shadow in there where I wasn’t able to confront a harsher, darker side of myself that would ultimately err on the side of making the right casting choice over a lifelong friendship. What are you going to do?”

UNILAD has reached out to a representative of Will Ferrell for comment.