Nicolas Cage almost played Will Ferrell’s role in Wedding Crashers

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

It's hard to imagine anyone else playing Will Ferrell's short but memorable role of Chazz in 2005's WEDDING CRASHERS but according to director David Dobkin, while speaking with the "Spitballing Podcast", it came so down to the wire to get Ferrell that he had Nicolas Cage ready in his back pocket in case Ferrell wasn't available.

Will Ferrell was only on set for a day to play Chazz who famously utters the now very famous "MOM, THE MEATLOAF" line. Nicolas Cage was nearly the one to don the signature robe and express his desire for meatloaf as Dobkin goes on to explain:

"So I needed a bottom out moment and I was like you know we talk about Chazz, what if you went to go see Chazz and he was crashing funerals? And it was just so grim that it sends you back to your friend. So Owen wrote most of that scene and it was really funny. We were trying to get Will till midnight that night before he was shooting. It was one day. We were having a very hard time confirming him and we had Nick Cage as a backup. I never told anyone that."

Even though Ferrell has made that scene a pretty signature moment of movie comedy over the last 15 years, I could completely see Nicolas Cage stepping in and taking on the role of Chazz with ease and I think it could've been just as funny. Cage may have brought his signature Cage intensity to the cameo but it may have made the moment funnier in a completely different way that would've stood out. 

Will Ferrell recently said that he was surprised that people still yell "meatloaf" at him on the street.  Considering Ferrell has appeared in other iconic comedies like OLD SCHOOL, ANCHORMAN and STEP BROTHERS, and was featured more prominently in those films, he would get lines from those movies more often but the Chazz "meatloaf" scene in WEDDING CRASHERS is one of its biggest moments so it's not all that surprising to me that fans reference that scene a lot.

Do YOU think Nicolas Cage would've been a better choice for that scene or is it just right with Will Ferrell stepping in as Chaz?