Will Ferrell returns as TV news star Ron Burgundy in "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," opening Dec. 18.
How much fun is it to work with Will Ferrell[1] ?
Obviously, a lot: After the success of “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” show business A-listers — we’re talking Harrison Ford, Jim Carrey, Liam Neeson[2] , Sacha Baron Cohen and even Kanye West — were lining up for bit parts in the sequel, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” opening Wednesday.
And then Ferrell couldn’t get rid of them.
“Some people didn’t leave [even after they were done],” says director Adam McKay[3] , Ferrell’s partner in crime since their “Saturday Night Live” days.
It's not all serious for lead anchor Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and his news team (from left, David Koechner, Paul Rudd, Ferrell and Steve Carell), reunited for "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues."
“Sacha ended up staying for an extra day. Kanye was doing background work. We were like, ‘You can go.’ And he’s like, ‘Nah, man this is fun!’ He was in the background, mime-fighting people who were barely in focus.”
A scenery-chomping comedy will do that — even for Oscar-caliber leading men like Neeson, who reveled in his chance to put aside pretension in an “Anchorman” rumble scene.
“At one point, I gave him the most generic command ever: ‘Yell, “They’re flanking us!” ’ ” says McKay. “But the way he said it, it instantly became a thousand times cooler.”
Ferrell agrees, praising Neeson in “Funny or Die” argot: “Liam definitely could kill you in five different ways.”
In "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," it's now 1980 and Ron Burgundy has brought his San Diego team (and their new perms) to New York to work at a fledgling 24-hour news network. From left: Paul Rudd, Will Ferrell, David Koechner and Steve Carell.
That the likes of Rob Roy or Han Solo — and a half-dozen others we can’t name or risk ruining the movie for everyone — were rushing to Atlanta for cameos shows how big the “Anchorman” franchise has become despite the modest $85 million that the 2004 original earned at the box office.
But Ferrell’s star has risen — and “Anchorman” has become a huge hit, not only in DVD sales and as a cable TV staple, but also from the number of quotes that have made it into the pop culture lexicon (“Stay classy, San Diego!”) and the volume of celebrities begging for parts in the followup.
The original film wasn’t always so well received, Ferrell admits.
RELATED: INSIDE 'AUGUST BLOWOUT,' THE WILL FERRELL MOVIE THAT WE NEVER GOT TO SEE[4]
Desk set: Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) with wife and co-anchor Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) in "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues."
“One of my best friends went on a double date to see it and the other couple left halfway through the movie,” the star says, changing his voice to a mortified whisper, “ ‘This is not funny, we’re going, okay?’
“But I think ... once people had second or third viewings they started catching up to it, they started noticing the weird and peculiar things ... that they didn’t notice at first.”
“Anchorman 2” is set in 1980, when Ferrell’s San Diego-based Ron Burgundy[5] loses out on a national anchor position to his wife, Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) — a woman! — but rebounds with a job offer from a fledgling 24-hour news network. The job at GNN allows him to reunite with his news team — sex-crazed correspondent Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), perpetually offensive sportscaster Champ Kind (David Koechner) and dim weatherman Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) — and bring them to the big time in New York.
It’s anyone’s guess whether a rival anchor (James Marsden), an ethical boss (Meagan Good) or their own ineptitude will get them fired first.
Writer-director Adam McKay and writer-star Will Ferrell on the set of "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues." Their early screenplay collaboration "August Blowout" was never filmed.
As with most legends, Ron Burgundy’s has humble origins.
The character was loosely inspired by Philadelphia TV personality Mort Crim, who now freely admits to being sexist toward co-worker Jessica Savitch when the station brought her in to be its first female news anchor in 1974.
“Because Adam and I were both kids of the ’70s, we both used to watch the local news and be like, ‘I know they’re great friends, I just know it!’ ” says Ferrell of his initial pitch a decade ago to McKay. (The two have since collaborated on “Talladega Nights” in 2006, “Step Brothers” in 2008 and “The Other Guys” in 2010. They also teamed to start the website Funny or Die.)
“Like, ‘Look, they’re laughing, they love each other! They hang out on weekends, they must!’ And the idea of playing with that in an ensemble comedy just made us laugh.”
It snowballed into something even larger than Burgundy. Ferrell and McKay recount fans quivering when they would approach him at book signings for the Ron Burgundy “autobiography,” or the crush of requests for him to make appearances in character.
He says yes to some of them: reading the news as Burgundy for a station in Bismarck, N.D. station; a spate of Dodge Durango commercials that actually increased sales of the car; the chance for the California-raised actor to fulfill his boyhood dream doing color commentary for the Canadian curling championships. (It made national news when Ferrell-as-Burgundy correctly called one of the competitors’ “choking” on an important shot.)
“What I loved is it was obviously working comedically, but I got some feedback from when I went to Toronto and there was a journalist there who said, ‘I talked to my mom who was a middle-aged woman and a huge curling fan and she was like, “Who is this guy with the mustache, who is this guy ruining the show, get him out of there!” ’ ”
esacks@nydailynews.com
References
- ^ Will Ferrell (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ Liam Neeson (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ Adam McKay (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ RELATED: INSIDE 'AUGUST BLOWOUT,' THE WILL FERRELL MOVIE THAT WE NEVER GOT TO SEE (www.nydailynews.com)
- ^ Ron Burgundy (www.nydailynews.com)
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