If they listened closely, I’m pretty sure Paul and Steve would have been able to hear my voice sweating.
Going in, I knew the chances were slim: of the 40-plus journalists from campus newspapers across North America who were in the conference call interview with me, only a handful would be chosen to ask a question.
Still, with the odds utterly unfavourable, I was possessed by a sort of excited nervousness. After all, no matter how Lady Fortune spun her wheel, I would still be able to tell people that I was, for about twenty minutes, on the phone with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell.
In 2004, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy was released to favourable praise, earning the admiration of critic and viewer alike. Now, nine years later, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is on the verge of release, and is a successor that was born more out of camaraderie than anything else.
“For me,” said Rudd, “mainly [revisiting] it was like working with these guys again who I love. And, you know, it was such a blast doing the first one that I want — I would jump at the chance to come back and beat a dead horse.”
“I think we all felt exactly that same way,” added Carell. “We all just wanted to do it for the sake of doing it, and I think we all would have done it in a vacuum. Even if there was no film and any camera, we would have come back and done it, because it’s so much fun.”
Almost a decade later, and the experience working on films of all budgets (Carell and Rudd have recently fluttered toward indie fare, the former recently being in The Way, Way Back, the latter in Prince Avalanche), getting back into the character of Brian Fantana was, for Rudd at least, a bit of a challenge.
“At times,” Rudd said, “it didn’t seem difficult at all, like I feel we know these characters pretty well. But I would say throughout the shoot, there were — there were many moments where I thought, oh god, am I doing this right? I felt where I fell a little off track.”
Carell actually benefitted from the time away. “And the more lost I felt, the better that served me. The more out of sorts I felt, in general, the better I think that played into Brick. I am as a human being no smarter than I was 10 years ago, so that I haven’t improved as a human being. I haven’t evolved in any way. So that really helped me with Brick.”
Being naturally talented comedians, both Rudd and Carell — as well as the rest of the film’s hilarious cast — did their fair share of improvisation. “There were just so many fertile minds working,” said Carell. “We ended up with way more material than we needed.”
When it came to specific details about the movie, Rudd and Carell remained close-lipped, playfully avoiding questions pertaining to the return of Sex Panther, Brian Fantana’s signature cologne, as well as the recruitment of the film’s
big-name cameos.
What Carell had to say about the latter, though, is that “not much arm-bending had to be done,” as “people just wanted to be part of the silliness.”
And I suppose wanting to be part of the silliness, wanting to bask in it with the Channel 4 News Team, holds true for the audience, as well.
You stay classy, U of T.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues opens in theatres Wednesday, December 18.
