Anchorman 2

[Lord_Stewie]

Hey,

Who doesn't love Ron Burgundy, Brick, Fanatana, or even WHAMMY.

Judd Apatow talks Anchorman 2.

Judd Apatow breezed into London this week like a bearded typhoon, and naturally enough we went along and had a chat with him. But when we weren’t talking about his new movie, the excellent Funny People, or asking him about the biggest dog he’d ever seen, we decided to press him, Paxman-style, on the prospect of an Anchorman 2.

Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, as you all know, is an Empire favourite, and one of the funniest films ever made. Will Ferrell, who plays Burgundy, has been talking about doing a sequel with his writing/directing partner, Adam McKay, for a while now, but nothing concrete appears to have emerged so far.

So, who better to ask for the skinny on the return of Ron, Brick Tamland, Brian Fantana and Champ Kind than Apatow, who produced the 2004 classic? And what he had to say will shock you to the very core of your being. Probably. OK, it won’t. But you can’t blame us for trying.

“They’re making a movie now, Will and Adam,” said Apatow, referring to the duo’s cop comedy, The Other Guys. “But I guess it’s a little bit more a possibility than it was a year ago, when it wasn’t being discussed at all.”

Interesting, interesting… and so, what have those discussions yielded, Mr. Apatow? “When we made Anchorman, Adam and Will had a lot of ideas about what the sequel would be – they’d always laugh about where they’d take the characters.”

And where that is, as it happens, is in a particularly intriguing direction. “The great thing is, Will can be any age and play that character. Those anchormen sometimes have their jobs until they’re 75 years old. So we would always laugh that this movie could work if everybody’s really elderly.”

Ron as an OAP? Brian Fantana adding a catheter to the winning team of The Octagon, James Westfall and Dr. Kenneth Noisewater? Brick Tamland with a severe case of arthritic hip? This could take us into Grumpy Old Anchormen territory… but while we’d love to see the Channel 4 News Team back on the big screen in any incarnation, we’d rather not wait another four decades for it to happen.

Fear not, though – Apatow feels your pain. “I hope we do it before that,” he laughed. Amen to that, sir. Amen to that.

This is a possibility after all. I say go for it.

UPDATE

AUG 28TH:

More confirms Judd Apatow's intentions on making a sequel for Anchorman.

Before Judd Apatow became the writer-director whose name is synonymous with modern comedy, he was a producer on one of the best comedies of the decade that he didn't direct, Anchorman. Though the movie was only a modest success in theaters, it's become a cultural icon since then, and Will Ferrell, director Adam McKay and the rest of the cast have entertained themselves by talking up a sequel ever since.

Empire Online forced Apatow to talk about just that on his recent London trip, and he used a very curious word to describe it: "they." As in, "“They’re making a movie now, Will and Adam." Does that mean he won't be producing it, or just that McKay and Ferrell are the creative forces behind it, and he'll step in to produce when the time comes?

Really Apatow didn't have much to say about the movie-- he suggested that Ferrell could play the role into his twilight years, given how old news anchors can be, but says he hopes they'll make it before then. So, everyone, Judd Apatow does not hold the key to your Anchorman sequel. Get Will Ferrell to give up on a few other projects, and maybe it can happen.

--------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: April 29th, 2010:

The Film is scrapped.

Originally Posted by ed4246

Looks like this isn't happening.

http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=31924

Writer/Director Adam McKay, who will Will Ferrell created the legendary ANCHORMAN, just posted an updated on Twitter that will leave fans of the film crestfallen. ANCHORMAN 2 just isn't happening.

Says McKay: "So bummed. Paramount basically passed on Anchorman 2. Even after we cut our budget down. We tried."

Just two days ago MTV quoted McKay as saying that the entire cast was extremely generous in cutting their salaries to return for a sequel and that ultimately the decision was Paramount's to make. Turns out after a series of meetings, Paramount wasn't looking to get back into the ANCHORMAN game.

The story is still breaking (McKay just tweeted the information about a 1/2 hour ago) so it's unclear if the price was still too high or if the studio heard some of the plans for the movie and felt that the film (which McKay described as "bigger and crazier" than the original, which was pretty big and crazy) was a little too much of a risk.

Frankly I can't imagine a world where we see a sequel to the SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS but ANCHORMAN 2 can't get a greenlight. I'm in a glass case of emotion right now...

STAY CLASSY SAN DIEGO.