Skip to footer

'Anchorman 2' director Adam McKay hints at plot details

'Anchorman 2' director Adam McKay gives some cryptic clues about the sequel's plot.

|
Frank Masi/Dreamworks Pictures/AP
'Anchorman' stars Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and Steve Carell are all expected to return for the sequel.
  • By Kofi Outlaw Screen Rant

The subject of Anchorman 2 has been bouncing around Hollywood for years, but it was just a few weeks ago that Ron Burgundy himself, Will Ferrell, appeared in character on Conan to announce that he and Paramount had reached a deal to bring the suave San Diego newsman back for a sequel.

 Today, we have Anchorman director – and frequent Will Ferrell collaborator – Adam McKay talking about the sequel film, with a few hints about what’s in store for Ron and the Channel 4 News Team’s new adventure.

Well, first off, we went and did some other movies; that was the initial delay. By the time we heard from enough fans and heard enough of the demand for a sequel, it had been a few years. We went to the studio and they kind of weren’t into it initially. They said the original one made pretty good money, but for what it made we’ll give you this and this, and it was a very low budget. We would have all been working for free to do it.

We were playing with the idea of doing “Stepbrothers 2″ or another original movie. And just at the last second I said, go check in with them again and see if it’s just 100 percent dead. And, crazy luck, a movie had fallen through for them, their view on it had kind of changed and that was it.

Regarding how the modern media is now even more of a reflection of all that Anchorman sought to mock:

Part of what inspired the movie was just how ridiculous the news had become. It was all ratings driven. The people were getting better and better looking. The weather women were getting outrageously beautiful. It was all about the voice and the hair.

Since we made the movie it’s gone even more so in that direction. We talk about all these anchormen on the air now and they’re all kind of Ron Burgundy-esque guys. So yes, sadly, the character has gotten more and more relevant as the news has gotten to be nothing more than a ratings-driven profit machine…The ridiculousness of “Anchorman” got less and less observed.

In regards to what Anchorman 2 might be about:

I don’t want to give away too much, but I’ll just give a couple pieces of ideas that we’ve kicked around. Keep in mind we’re still writing the story, but I’ll say one phrase for you: custody battle. I’ll give you that. I’ll give you one other one: bowling for dollars.

Personally, I tend to use Anchorman as my personal barometer for where people’s comedic sensibilities lie. I thought the movie was hilarious the very first time I saw it; others were brought in by home video / cable viewings of the film. Since that time, The Legend of Ron Burgundy has grown to be, well, “legendary” (at least in a cult-following sort of way). I welcome a sequel with open arms, and truly hope that early reports that the setting will be moved up to the 1980s era are true – there is so much skewering of that era still to be done.

Kofi Outlaw blogs at Screen Rant.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 'Anchorman 2' director Adam McKay hints at plot details
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2012/0412/Anchorman-2-director-Adam-McKay-hints-at-plot-details
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe