Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson stopped by the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto for an exclusive screening of the first two episodes of their new golf comedy.
Will Ferrell is taking his particular brand of chaos to the golf course in The Hawk, a new Netflix comedy that gives the actor something he has surprisingly never had before: a leading role in his own television series.
Ferrell stars as Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, a former golf legend attempting to recapture the success that once made him the biggest personality in the sport. More than two decades after reaching the top of the golf world, Lonnie needs one final major victory to complete a career Grand Slam.
Ahead of the show’s Netflix debut, Ferrell and co-star Luke Wilson stopped by the TIFF Bell Lightbox for an exclusive Toronto screening, where attendees were treated to the first two episodes.
Judging by those episodes, The Hawk is hilarious. It has the sharp comedy audiences expect from Ferrell, but the series format gives its dysfunctional relationships and running jokes more room to develop. Beneath the loud clothing, extravagant tour bus and relentless bravado, there is also a surprisingly compelling comeback story taking shape.
That opportunity to let the characters and storylines unfold over a longer period was part of what attracted Ferrell to the project.
“To be in the writers’ room and creating those arcs, and having ideas that could extend for the entire time as opposed to having to wrap them up so quickly, was very appealing to me,” Ferrell said during the Toronto event.
Wilson, who plays Lonnie’s longtime rival, Golden Fisk, agreed that television offered a welcome change from the increasingly compressed nature of feature-film comedy.
“There’s so much whittling down,” Wilson said. “Even with a good script, they want comedies to be very short, and so it’s great to have a chance to expand on things.”
Lonnie is certainly the kind of character who benefits from the additional space. He is selfish, impulsive and almost entirely incapable of recognizing when he is the problem, although he continually finds himself attempting to repair the damage he has caused.
“He really doesn’t care about anyone but himself, and he’s always trying to make amends,” Ferrell explained.
“I think the word ‘braggadocious’ applies,” Wilson chimed in.
When developing the character, Ferrell looked back at the larger-than-life golfers he remembered watching growing up, including Lee Trevino, Arnold Palmer, Seve Ballesteros and Jack Nicklaus. He imagined them trading insults on the course while competing in unapologetically colourful outfits.
“When I was conceiving the idea, I wanted to return to what I always thought when I watched golf as a kid,” Ferrell said. “I just figured that they were always talking smack to each other on the golf course and wearing loud clothes.”
His comeback becomes even more complicated when his son Lance, played by Jimmy Tatro, emerges as golf’s new golden boy and a potential successor to the Hawk name. Molly Shannon plays Lonnie’s estranged wife, Stacy, while Fortune Feimster appears as Sam, his new caddie. Chris Parnell, Katelyn Tarver, David Hornsby, Gabriel Hogan and Aida Osman round out the ensemble.
Ferrell also created and executive produced the series, which allows him to build an entire comic world around a character who might have once been confined to a two-hour movie. After seeing the opening episodes, that extra room appears to be working in The Hawk’s favour.
Lonnie Hawkins may be chasing one final championship, but Ferrell has already found a format perfectly suited to his latest comic creation.
The Hawk premieres July 16 on Netflix.