Three Mississippi, which was tentatively titled Turkey Bowl for a while there, is a comedy about an annual tackle football game between two neighboring Philadelphia families.  Ferrell will play the leader of the perennially-winning family, and if Sandler's negotiations work out, he'll be the father of the team that always loses.

The circumstances behind Sandler's involvement are fairly convoluted but nonetheless interesting. The project apparently came about when Anchorman and The Other Guys director Adam McKay (an SNL veteran himself) and producer Owen Burke thought to create a comedic context for the rapid-fire comedic chemistry between Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin in Martin Scorsese's The Departed.  Thusly was Three Mississippi born at Warner Bros, with Baldwin set to play Wahlberg's pop and Ferrell once again teaming up with frequent collaborator McKay.

Here's where things get cockeyed, according to Vulture.  Wahlberg has long been attached to star in director Peter Berg's Navy SEAL true story, Lone Survivor, based on the book by Marcus Luttrell.  The adaptation is a passion project for Berg, who basically signed on to direct Battleship with the promise that Lone Survivor would be his next film in a sort of "one for them, one for me" deal.  By late February, though, Universal was getting the sense that the crazy-expensive Battleship might not be a runaway success, and the studio opted only to distribute Lone Survivor, leaving Berg and company to find independent financing.  They found it, but with the stipulation that Wahlberg make it his next project.

Ferrell and McKay, meanwhile, unexpectedly found their longstanding attempts to get an Anchorman sequel bearing fruit when Paramount greenlit another Ron Burgundy adventure in March.  In order to co-write the sequel screenplay and get production underway by February, McKay had to back out of directing Three Mississippi.  But Ferrell and Warner Bros. are ready to shoot the football comedy this fall, and neither are looking to wait until the both Anchorman and Lone Survivor are wrapped.

So Warner Bros. found a replacement director in Sean Anders, who, with his producing partner John Morris, made his feature debut with 2008's Sex Drive.  More recently, Anders directed Adam Sandler in this summer's R rated comedy That's My Boy, also starring SNL alum Andy Samberg.  Sandler, always loyal to his directors, presumably got involved through Anders.

So there you have it.  Sandler's in talks to co-star with Will Ferrell in Three Mississippi for director Sean Anders.  If you're jonesing for some Mark Wahlberg comedy, you can check out Seth McFarlane's Ted this June.