Fans of Buddy Elf should be pleased to know that Will Ferrell will once again be visiting the North Pole. Only this time, he won’t have Christmas cheer on his side. No, he’ll have whiskey, designer watches, and the dehydrated food.
As Deadline reports, Sony Pictures, alongside producers Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, are putting together an Arctic survival comedy “in the vein of Wild Hogs and City Slickers.” The film is based on Guy Lawson’s article for The New York Times, aptly titled “Ice Pack: An Insurance Salesman and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar, and End Up at the North Pole”.
Back in 1968, Minnesota insurance salesman Ralph Plaisted led an expedition with fellow pals Dr. Art Auferhiede, Honda dealer Walter Pederson, and geography teacher Jerry Pitzel over 425 miles of ice on Ski-Doos. To their credit, they were sponsored, which explains the aforementioned liquor, gadgets, and snacks, and even better, they made it.
If Lawson’s name rings a bell, it should. He’s the same writer responsible for Todd Phillips’ forthcoming comedy, War Dogs, starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller. It would appear that he’s becoming quite the Hollywood hotshot. His book Octopus was snagged by HBO and his GQ article, “The Knife”, could potentially become a TV series for CBS.
Sometimes … journalism pays off.
