From Old School to Blades of Glory, Will Ferrell is arguably the most successful comedy actor today and he's got another inevitable hit on his hands with Semi-Pro, which opens this Friday. In the film, Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the coach/owner/star of the ABA's Flint Tropics, a basketball player who's looking to make his mark on the game after flunking out of the NBA.

While breezing through Chicago, Farrell took some time just before an EW photo shoot to talk to The Deadbolt about short shorts, weird hair, and the possibility of returning for sequels to Elf and Old School.

How short is too short when it comes to basketball uniforms?

"I don't know. That doesn't even enter my consciousness. I was going for historically accurate. When I had my first wardrobe fitting, I complained to the costumer that these aren't short enough. And she was like, 'No, that's what they said they wore.' And I was like, 'Look at these photos. Look at this guy. This guy's got a LOT tighter shorts.' It was revealed later that all the guys on the team, everyone, refused to go tighter than what they had. Kent Alterman, the director, was like, 'I wish I would have known that. I would have made everyone have as tight shorts as you.' Andre [Benjamin] and I had the smallest shorts. Jackie kind of had to have [them]. I like the juxtaposition of a guy who is supposed to be a sex symbol and shorts are just not sexy at all.

"But if you do look at a lot of the reference photos of the league, the players look ridiculous. The Lakers and the Celtics played in L.A. and the Lakers were paying homage to the '79 championship team that beat the Celtics. So, they came out in the short shorts and half the crowd started laughing and the other half started cheering. But they were so self-conscious that they changed during halftime. They came back in the regular uniforms. No one will be returning to those shorts."

What are your favorite sports comedies?

"[Slap Shot] was a model of what we were trying to do with this movie. When I think back - Breaking Away - that's a great sports comedy even though it's not like a laugh riot. It's more like a sensitive movie. I love Bull Durham. But I'm kind of a sucker for even the worst sports movie ever. I take that back. If it's like Air Bud, I won't shed a tear. But if it's relatively sincere, even if it's hokey - Adam McKay and I talk about this all the time - we'll watch it to the end. Many times on a flight, I'll have tears streaming down."

Is your character's hairstyle the first step in development?

"Not to sound too simplistic, but it kind of is. I don't really have a process. It's not like I collect pieces of fabric and have a cigar box where I keep trinkets of the character's life. I find myself piecemealing this stuff together and by the second week of the movie, I really feel like I have the person down. I guess I should have it down by the first day of shooting but it takes a while. But a lot of that is definitely [the hair]. We knew I was going to grow my hair out for this, so finding the headband [was important]. Another piece of the puzzle for me was that I wanted Jackie Moon to wear these neckerchiefs. I saw this thing with Rick Barry where he's giving a press conference and he had this scarf that was almost like a cape. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. Jackie's got to wear scarves. But, yeah, we put a lot of thought in to Ron Burgundy's hair. Ricky Bobby - something about short hair with sideburns is such a cocky look. But, yeah, that's a place where I definitely start."

Playing Ball with Will Ferrell Page 2