Will Ferrell to star in Spanish-language comedy

As Ron Burgundy in 2004's Anchorman, Will Ferrell famously told his barking dog, "Baxter, you know I don't speak Spanish. In English, please." Eight years later, it turns out Ferrell was just being modest about his language skills. As the star of Spanish-language comedy Casa de Mi Padre (House of my Father), which has just been picked up for U.S. distribution, Ferrell will habla espanol with the best of them. Directed by Funny or Die's Matt Piedmont, the telenovela spoof, which was just picked up by Pantelion Films, is slated for release on March 16, 2012. 

In the movie, Ferrell will play a Mexican rancher named Armando Alvarez, whose brother Raul (Diego Luna) drags him into a drug war with powerful kingpin Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal, who, with former Y Tu Mama Tambien co-star Luna, will probably not recreate the hot, sweaty, naked, jiggly, profoundly homoerotic dynamic perfected in that film). The movie also features the talents of Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite), and Genesis Rodriguez (Entourage), who plays Raul's fiancee and Armando's love interest. 

On the film's struggle for a U.S. distributor, Ferrell told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year that the film is "a different kind of animal that I think people get afraid of, but they really shouldn't because it's unique and hilarious and just a surprising movie." Judging by the trailer, it's hard to dispute Ferrell's assessment of the movie, and if nothing else the concept sounds pretty cool, so to borrow a phrase from Anchorman, bring on the bilingual bloodbath.