William H Macy stretches his comic muscles in Ricky Stanicky

Across a long career in film and TV, William H Macy’s work in acclaimed projects, such as the Coen brothers’ classic Fargo and the US adaptation of Shameless, has earned him an Oscar nomination and four Screen Actors Guild Awards. So, no wonder a performer of Macy’s calibre had to pause on the set of new comedy Ricky Stanicky, when Dumb And Dumber director Peter Farrelly asked him to do something unlike anything he’d done before. Macy plays Zac Efron’s straight-laced boss in the film, who doesn’t realise his hand gestures during meetings and conference presentations make it look awfully like he’s fellating a penis. If that makes the movie sound a little lowbrow, it’s because it most definitely is, but in the hilariously ribald way of other films made by Farrelly and his brother, Bobby, such as There’s Something About Mary and Kingpin. Sitting on a Zoom call with PLAY and Farrelly, Macy laughs when asked what direction he was given when it came to performing the salacious gesture described above. “First of all, he came prepared,” Farrelly laughs, jumping in before Macy can answer. “And he showed up to set, and, honestly, and he’ll tell you himself, he was walking around his own house practising for a long time. “So, I don’t remember if I had to give William any direction — did I?” “The balls,” the Oscar-nominated actor deadpans, while doing a cupping gesture with his hands. “That was almost a bridge too far.” Macy’s work in Fargo and Shameless has proven how adept the actor is at comedy, although both projects trade in a much darker brand of humour than you typically find in a vintage Farrelly film. This was precisely the appeal of his latest movie, which sees Efron’s character, Dean, and his mates hire an alcoholic Atlantic City actor, played by John Cena, to bring to life their imaginary friend, Ricky Stanicky, who for years had been the perfect alibi to get out of trouble with their respective partners. Sounds like a brilliant plan, but, as you might expect, things soon take a turn for the worse, when Ricky doesn’t want to leave and becomes highly involved in their lives, increasing the risk Dean and co will be busted for their years of subterfuge. “I would call it broad comedy, and I’ve never until now really done one,” Macy says. “And I always wanted to, because I enjoy them, I gravitate towards them (as a viewer), and it was a joy — we had such fun on the set.” Ricky Stanicky was shot in Melbourne early last year, with the Victorian capital doubling for Providence, Rhode Island, and both Macy and Farrelly loved their time Down Under. “It’s a great town,” the actor says. “Pete and I were talking about it might be one of our favourite cities.” “It’s my favourite city in the world,” Farrelly confirms. “Loved it. It’s a beautiful city. Great people. And the crew was stupendous.” When the director learns PLAY is based in Perth, the compliments keep coming. “Perth is one of my favourite music towns, you’ve got Empire of the Sun, Tame Impala, Little Birdy, Sleepy Jackson — that’s a lot of good music,” he gushes. Though you could be forgiven for thinking Farrelly’s stock-in-trade as a filmmaker veered towards the vulgar, there’s one movie on his resume that says otherwise — his Oscar best picture-winning, 2018 biographical comedy-drama, Green Book. “The hard part of that project was writing the script, and then hopefully getting two guys like Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, and then you just kind of sit back and watch them go — it was unbelievable,” Farrelly recalls. It’s fair to say returning to mainstream comedy brings a level of comfort, but that doesn’t mean Ricky Stanicky can’t have a message to accompany the laughs. “One of them is that you can always change; you can always change and grow,” the director agrees. “And there’s a subtle theme here of, ‘have faith, and faith will be given unto you’,” Macy adds. “(Dean and his friends) were lying to get out of their responsibilities at home, so they could extend their youth a little bit, and Ricky lied to get into something, and he became that thing that he was faking, and there’s a lesson there, you know.” Ricky Stanicky is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video from March 7.