40 Fun Facts About Step Brothers

Which two actors play the title characters, Brennan Huff and Dale Doback?

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reunited two years after their first film together, and Reilly shares the story credit with Ferrell and the director.

How old are Brennan and Dale when the film begins?

Brennan and Dale are 39 and 40, both living at home with a single parent when Nancy and Robert meet at a conference and marry.

Which actress plays Brennan's mother, Nancy Huff?

Mary Steenburgen plays Nancy Huff, who marries Robert Doback soon after they meet at a conference; she had played Ferrell's stepmother in Elf five years earlier.

What is Dale's father Robert's profession?

Robert Doback is a doctor; Nancy meets him at a medical conference, and Richard Jenkins plays him as the physician who despairs that his grown son lives at home.

The first big fight between the two step brothers erupts when Brennan touches what?

Brennan rubs his testicles on Dale's drum set after being warned never to touch it — prosthetics, on screen — and the house-wrecking brawl follows.

What finally turns the two step brothers from enemies into best friends?

Dale punching Derek in the face, after Derek mocks them both, instantly makes the pair best friends, since Brennan has wanted to hit his brother for years.

Who plays Derek, Brennan's smug younger brother?

Adam Scott plays Derek, the smug younger brother who takes over selling the family house; Scott went on to Parks and Recreation and Severance.

What kind of business does Derek run?

Derek's business is helicopter leasing, and he later hires Brennan to work there; his plan to sell the family house is what splits up the step brothers.

What is the name of the entertainment company Brennan and Dale found?

Prestige Worldwide, 'the first word in entertainment', is pitched to Derek's investors with a wildly inappropriate music video that ends the meeting.

The step brothers' music video is shot without permission on what belonging to Robert?

They film 'Boats 'n Hoes' aboard his sailboat — the boat Robert planned to retire on — and wreck it; Robert's dream of sailing the world dies with it.

The film's climax takes place at which event, organised by Brennan?

The Catalina Wine Mixer, the industry party Brennan organises for Derek's company, hosts the finale, where the step brothers perform and the parents reconcile.

What song does Brennan sing at the climactic event, with Dale on drums?

Brennan sings 'Por ti volaré', the Spanish-language version of the Italian hit 'Con te partirò', while Dale plays the drum solo that gets the crowd roaring.

The song Brennan performs at the finale was originally sung at the 1995 Sanremo Festival by which tenor?

Andrea Bocelli introduced 'Con te partirò' at the 1995 Sanremo Festival, where it finished fourth, before it became his signature song worldwide.

Six months after the finale, what is the boys' company doing?

The parents have remarried, and the boys are, more or less, functioning adults.

Which actress plays Denise, the therapist Brennan becomes infatuated with?

Andrea Savage plays Denise, whose patient Brennan misreads her professional warmth as romance; Savage later created and starred in the sitcom I'm Sorry.

Which of these comedians appears in the film as one of the interviewers at the job interviews?

Seth Rogen cameos as the sporting-goods interviewer baffled by the tuxedoed pair; Ken Jeong plays another interviewer who takes an instant dislike to them.

Which two comedy heavyweights produced Step Brothers?

Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow produced it — Miller as Ferrell's longtime manager, Apatow a year after his Knocked Up and Superbad.

Step Brothers opened in second place at the US box office behind which film?

Step Brothers opened to about $31 million on 25 July 2008, second to The Dark Knight's second weekend, and went on to about $128 million worldwide.

What was the film's production budget?

The production budget was $65 million; the film grossed about $128 million worldwide, roughly double its cost, before becoming a home-video and cable favourite.

Who composed the score for Step Brothers?

Jon Brion composed the score; he had previously scored Punch-Drunk Love and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and produced records for Fiona Apple and Kanye West.

Where in Los Angeles County was the film's climactic party filmed?

The climactic party was shot at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, on the coast south of the city, standing in for an island resort.

What grade did opening-weekend audiences give Step Brothers on CinemaScore?

Opening-weekend audiences gave it a B on CinemaScore, matching its lukewarm reviews at the time; its reputation grew over years of cable reruns and quotation.

In which year was the first official real-life version of the film's climactic event held?

The island's first official wine mixer was staged in 2015 at Descanso Beach in Avalon, seven years after the film, and became an annual September event.

Ferrell and McKay's production company, whose 2019 break-up complicated any sequel, was called what?

Gary Sanchez Productions, founded in 2006 and named for a fictional Paraguayan investor, ended in 2019 after McKay cast Reilly, not Ferrell, as Jerry Buss in Winning Time.

Which comedy website did Ferrell and McKay launch together in 2007, the year before Step Brothers?

Funny or Die launched in April 2007 with 'The Landlord', in which Ferrell is berated by McKay's two-year-old daughter Pearl; Chris Henchy co-founded the site.

Which film did McKay and Ferrell make immediately before Step Brothers?

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) paired Ferrell's Ricky Bobby with Reilly's Cal Naughton Jr., the start of the double act.

The film's director later won an Academy Award for the screenplay of which film?

The director shared the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for The Big Short with Charles Randolph; Vice and Don't Look Up brought him further nominations.

John C. Reilly voiced the title character of which 2012 Disney animated film?

Reilly voiced Wreck-It Ralph, the arcade villain who wants to be a hero, in the 2012 Disney film and its 2018 sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Will Ferrell was a cast member of Saturday Night Live during which years?

Ferrell's SNL run, 1995-2002, produced his George W. Bush impression, the Butabi brothers and Spartan cheerleader Craig; Elf followed in 2003.

Will Ferrell earned a Golden Globe nomination for a rare dramatic role in which 2006 film?

Stranger than Fiction (2006) cast Ferrell as an IRS auditor who hears Emma Thompson's narrator plotting his death, earning him a Golden Globe nomination.

Which studio released Step Brothers?

Sony Pictures released it through its Columbia Pictures label on 25 July 2008, with an unrated cut following on DVD and Blu-ray that December.

The parents threaten to throw Brennan and Dale out unless they do what?

Robert and Nancy give the pair a deadline to find jobs; the resulting interviews, attended together in tuxedos, go about as well as expected.

Which Rob Riggle character works alongside Derek?

Rob Riggle plays Randy, Derek's loud-mouthed colleague; Riggle was then a Daily Show correspondent and a Marine Corps reservist who had served in Afghanistan.

The Sarah Brightman duet version of the finale song, 'Time to Say Goodbye', became the biggest-selling single in the history of which country?

The 1996 duet, recorded for boxer Henry Maske's farewell bout, topped the German chart for weeks and sold about three million copies there, Germany's biggest single ever.

Who plays Alice, Derek's frustrated wife who begins a secret affair with Dale?

Kathryn Hahn plays Alice, who is electrified when someone finally hits her husband and pursues Dale in a series of increasingly unhinged bathroom encounters.

After becoming best friends, what do Brennan and Dale go to do in the garage?

Dale's 'Do you wanna go do karate in the garage?' seals the new friendship, delivered seconds after 'Did we just become best friends?'

What did Robert want to be as a boy, according to his late-film speech?

Robert recalls that as a boy he wanted to be a dinosaur, ending with the line 'Don't lose your dinosaur' — a plea not to crush the boys' wildness.

In what unusual format did Ferrell, Reilly and McKay record the home-video commentary track?

The trio sang the entire commentary as an improvised musical, with the film's composer accompanying them live on piano and NBA guard Baron Davis dropping in.

Which Oscar-winning actress said the finale at the Catalina Wine Mixer always makes her cry?

Marion Cotillard, who won the Oscar for La Vie en Rose, has said the step brothers' finale performance reduces her to tears every time.

Dale says Brennan's singing voice is 'like a combination of' Jesus and which pop star?

Dale tells Brennan his singing voice is 'like a combination of Fergie and Jesus', though Brennan has refused to sing in public since a high-school talent show.