News team, partially assemble!
HitFix’s Drew McWeeny sat down with “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” stars Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, who address their status as “The Comedy Avengers” and discuss the massive amounts of improv they did for the sequel, alongside returning co-stars Will Ferrell, David Koechner and Christina Applegate.
Rudd notes that the sequel’s PG-13 status didn’t stop the cast from going blue in some of their on-the-spot jokes. “[You] don’t even worry about the rating, he explains. “You don’t think about it in those terms. I’m more interested in not holding back in any way.”
Director Adam McKay was a key part of the equation, allowing the stars to try new things, according to Rudd, who explains and how the foursome’s impromptu rendition of Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight” ended up in the first movie. Carell echoes the praise, noting that McKay “gave everyone the freedom to fail” even on the first film.
It was previously reported that McKay has enough unused footage for an alternate version of the film which would feature entirely different jokes (he did something similar with “Wake Up Ron Burgundy!” the first time around), and it’s not too difficult to imagine it being available on DVD and Blu-ray, or, possibly, in a theater near you.
“Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” is now in theaters.