McFarland was born in
Louisville, Kentucky. He attended
DeSales High School and the
University of Louisville. In 2010, with producing partner
Riza Aziz, McFarland co-founded
Red Granite Pictures. In 2011,
Variety named McFarland to their list of
Top 10 Producers to Watch. McFarland's first production under the Red Granite banner was the romantic comedy,
Friends with Kids. Written and directed by
Jennifer Westfeldt,
Friends with Kids also starred
Jon Hamm,
Adam Scott,
Kristen Wiig,
Maya Rudolph, and
Chris O'Dowd. In 2012, McFarland went on to executive produce the dramatic thriller,
Out of the Furnace, starring
Christian Bale,
Casey Affleck,
Zoe Saldaña, and
Forest Whitaker, and directed by
Scott Cooper. Next McFarland produced
The Wolf of Wall Street.
The Wolf of Wall Street is based upon
Jordan Belfort's best-selling novel of the same name. The book was adapted into a screenplay by
Terence Winter. The film stars
Leonardo DiCaprio,
Jonah Hill,
Matthew McConaughey, and
Margot Robbie, and was directed by
Martin Scorsese. Released on December 25, 2013, by
Paramount Pictures,
The Wolf of Wall Street was a commercial hit and garnered critical acclaim including a
Golden Globe win for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy for star
Leonardo DiCaprio and five
Academy Award nominations including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture for which McFarland received a nomination. In 2013, McFarland completed production on
Horns, a supernatural thriller starring
Daniel Radcliffe,
Juno Temple and directed by
Alexandre Aja. The film is based on the best-selling
novel by
Joe Hill and was released October 31, 2014, by Dimension-RADiUS. McFarland was also a producer on the sequel
Dumb and Dumber To, directed by Pete and Bobby Farrelly. The film featured
Jim Carrey and
Jeff Daniels again playing Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, respectively, and was released on November 14, 2014, by
Universal Pictures. It opened number one at the box office to generally negative reviews. McFarland was executive producer on the film ''
Daddy's Home'' directed by
Sean Anders and
John Morris. Shot in New Orleans, it re-teamed
Will Ferrell and
Mark Wahlberg for the first time since 2010.
Red Granite Pictures co-produced and co-financed the film with
Paramount Pictures, in association with
Gary Sanchez Productions. Paramount Pictures was also the worldwide distribution partner. The film was released on December 25, 2015. McFarland produced
Papillon, a remake of the 1973
film of the same name based on
the best-selling autobiography by the French convict
Henri Charrière. The film starred
Charlie Hunnam as
Henri Charrière ("Papillon"), and
Rami Malek as
Louis Dega. It premiered in September 2017 at the
2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Papillon was released August 24, 2018. In 2018, he formed the independent production company for both television and film called McFarland Entertainment. ==Malaysian 1MDB scandal==