Was Will Ferrell’s Sherlock Holmes’ Onion Eating Referencing Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott?
Will Ferrell’s character rendition of Sherlock Holmes has an odd habit of eating raw onions. Some have started to wonder if the onion eating habit is an intentional reference to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s viral video stunt from a few years back.
Ferrell recently sat down with the Daily Telegraph and set the record straight about the rumor.
If you aren’t familiar with the name, Tony Abbott served as the prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. During the last year of his term, an odd video of the prime minister eating a raw onion with the skin on unexpectedly went viral. It became a running joke and the source of hundreds of memes and parody videos across the internet.
Fast forward to current day, Will Ferrell was getting ready for the box office debut of his newest comedy film Holmes and Watson where he takes on his newest role as the outlandish detective Sherlock Holmes. In his portrayal of the famous detective, Ferrell gave the character an onion eating habit that got the world wondering whether it was indeed a fun reference to the onion-eating former Australian leader.
When asked about the coincidence, Ferrell revealed that the addition of the onion eating was just a humorous joke and told The Daily Telegraph that he never saw the clip, the Daily Mail reports.
The actor appeared shocked to hear that a joke about the prime minister eating an onion in real life was actually something that happened.
“Was that on a dare?” Ferrell asked reporters during the interview before making a comment about how the bit might get a few extra giggles from the film’s Aussie viewers.
Film Review: Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly in ‘Holmes & Watson’ https://t.co/70WeEXbJg8
— Variety (@Variety) December 25, 2018
Past films that have featured Sherlock Holmes have usually had a bit of humor to them, especially those starring Robert Downy Jr. Ferrell’s rendition of the much-beloved character promises to deliver a much more comedic take on the famous detective and his witty sidekick Watson.
The character of Dr. John Watson is being played by Ferrell’s longtime friend John C. Reilly. This will be the pair’s fourth film together.
According to Ferrell, the real humor of the film is driven by the characters’ frequent bad judgment calls. He says that the fact that they are so academically and scientifically gifted but yet lack certain aspects of common sense makes their actions and solutions just that much more hilarious.
Comedian #WillFerrell reveals whether the odd onion-eating habit he gave his #SherlockHolmes character was inspired by former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's stunt in 2015 https://t.co/dZEBLyVhgM
— ?The_News_DIVA? (@The_News_DIVA) December 23, 2018
“The comedy comes from not using the best judgment even though they are so smart – like trying to shoot down an infestation of bees with a pistol,” Will Ferrell explained.
Holmes & Watson hit theaters yesterday.
