In a case of life imitating art and Adam Scott, /Film reports that the first annual Catalina Wine Mixer will be held this month. The party is inspired by the biggest fictional helicopter leasing event in the Western Hemisphere as seen in Step Brothers, the 2008 movie in which Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly played the titular bros with arrested development. It was the film’s climactic event that healed old family wounds, caused some hallucinations, and even prompted Ferrell’s character to lose his stage fright.
The Santa Catalina Island Company, which holds the title to the island, is promoting the event (sans expletive) set for September 13, which was a long time in coming. Apparently, the organizers were inspired to throw their own fucking Catalina Wine Mixer after the movie debuted, but things just didn’t come together. (That, or they took a cue from the film’s stars and waited for someone else to take care of it.) The wine-and-chopper party joins the list of other unofficial tie-ins that includes the time someone actually built The Homer car, or the founding of the Albuquerque Isotopes, or some other non-Simpsons example.
The real Catalina Wine Mixer will stay true to movie form and feature gourmet food, fine wine, live music, DJs, and of course, helicopter rides. The film’s fictional band, Uptown Girl, won’t make an appearance, which is good news for anyone who’s not into ’80s Billy Joel doo-wop. And sadly, it looks like Prestige Worldwide, the band comprising Brennan/Nighthawk (Ferrell) and Dale/Dragon (Reilly), won’t make it either. But the Dan Band, a real band that’s been featured in Old School and The Hangover, will headline the show.