Will Ferrell Appears On "Man vs. Wild"

[WyldeMan45]

This is the strangest and most crwative advertisement for a film I think I have ever seen. Will Ferrell is teaming with Bear Grylls on an upcoming "Man vs. Wild"

Will Ferrell is crawling into the extreme trenches with Bear Grylls for an upcoming episode of Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild."

Ferrell's "Man vs. Wild" seg is tied to the June 5 release of the thesp's Universal release "Land of the Lost."

Ferrell's appearance is part of a larger partnership between Discovery and Universal Pictures. Discovery previously integrated U's "Frost/Nixon" into an episode of "Cash Cab," while the studio's "Fast and Furious" was linked into an episode of Discovery's "Destroyed in Seconds."

In the "Man vs. Wild" episode, Ferrell joins Grylls in the far north of Sweden, where they spend 48 hours performing tasks such as rappelling down hundred-foot frozen waterfalls, tandem-abseiling off a helicopter and staying warm overnight in subzero temperatures.

The two also find food in the forest, improvise snow shoes and drink their own urine.

"Will did an amazing job in subzero, very unforgiving conditions," Grylls said. "He trusted me when it mattered, and we survived. ... He should be very proud of how he performed."

Ferrell called the stint on "Man vs. Wild" "a thrill of a lifetime, even though I did get urine-drunk, which is sad."

Discovery Channel prexy-general manager John Ford noted that the duo not only share a snow shelter but eat reindeer eyeballs together.

"That says it all," Ford said.

Discovery Communications ad sales prexy Joe Abruzzese points to the Ferrell guest spot as an example of working closely with advertisers on content integration, while Universal Pictures media promotions VP Annah Zafrani called it the studio's "most innovative project to date" with Discovery.

"We're able to connect 'Land of the Lost' to Bear's fans -- people who love adventure and mysterious worlds," Zafrani said.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...ryid=1236&cs=1