Will Ferrell and Adam McKay produce Stepfather

Just what is it about stepfamilies that has Will Ferrell and Adam McKay so obsessed at the moment? They’re already planning Step Brothers, which sees Ferrell and his Talladega Nights co-star John C Reilly as newly minted stepsiblings who become competitive when their parents marry.

And now Paramount Vantage has bought Brian Burns’ pitch Stepfather for the pair to produce alongside Chris Henchy for their Gary Sanchez Productions company.

The broad comedy concept apparently follows what happens when an ideal stepfather becomes part of a family. "This is sure to be a great film," Paramount Vantage honcho John Lesher told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's really relatable, and I can't believe no one's made a comedy about the perfect stepfather when the real father comes home. What's cool about it is it relates to Brian's own life. He recently married a woman who has kids. It's based in a world he knows."

Adam McKay, meanwhile, has been blabbing about why they took on the project: "When Will, Chris and I first told Gary Sanchez about this, a tear came to his eye, for Gary was raised by a stepfather," McKay gushed to the Reporter. "But when we told him about the comedic take Brian had on the subject, he let out a laugh that echoed throughout the valleys of Paraguay. 'Buy it,' he said. Then we drank and shot skeet. That's how most of our meetings end - shooting clay pigeons." Uh huh. Really.

Listen boys, this Gary Sanchez-is-real deal is funny, but sooner or later someone’s going to have to ‘fess up to the truth that you’re just having fun with it. Either that, or convince Sacha Baron Cohen to play the part when “Gary” needs to be seen out and about for meetings.