With the recent announcement from Ron Burgundy himself that ANCHORMAN 2 was headed into production we’ve been left with scant details on what the story will be. Director Adam McKay had some information to share in a recent interview with Salon, dropping some cryptic hints that can easily set the imagination ablaze given the talent involved.
“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.”
It’s kind of amazing that two little snippets of information can enlighten so much potential. If you’ve seen ANCHORMAN, and I know you have, then you can easily see how the characters could run with just about any concept thrown at them. McKay also discussed the motivation for the first ANCHORMAN and how a sequel is even more relevant now.
“It’s crazy — “Anchorman” is a movie that certainly fit the time when it came out and every year it gets more and more relevant. 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,” said McKay.
McKay continued, saying, “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 that is never going to examine any of the real power in this country.”
I’m absolutely stoked for this project. ANCHORMAN may well be my all-time favorite comedy, so to see more of the Channel Four News Team in action (and probably in a new era) is pure gold. Yeah, we all know that sequels can be problematic in living up to an original, but with the entire cast reassembled I have a good feeling about this. It’s science.
Stay tuned for more breaking news as we continue our ANCHORMAN 2 watch.