Finally… an “Anchorman 2” trailer that features some actual footage from the film.
What amazes me is that they’ve got footage in there from the last day of shooting, which was only two weeks ago. I would imagine they’ve been cutting as they’ve been shooting because they’re going to be in theaters in December, and knowing the way Adam McKay works, they probably shot about a bazillion feet of footage to give themselves plenty of options for each scene.
When I was at the “Despicable Me 2” press day last week, I wrapped up my interview with Steve Carrell and, as I stood up to leave, mentioned that I had visited the very end of the shoot, and Carrell just lit up. He told me that he thinks it’s going to be completely insane this time, and even trying to describe his reaction to what they shot, he had a hard time keeping himself from laughing.
I’ve heard the same from other people on the film, and it sounds like they really pushed themselves to do something that would be worthy to follow up the film that basically set Will Ferrell and Adam McKay free to make their particular type of totally bananas character comedies. It seems hard to believe there was a point where “Anchorman” was considered a huge risk and was actually in turnaround, pretty much destined to never get made. Now when I talk to people about the second film, I can see how excited they are. “Anchorman” is beloved at this point, one of those comedies that people have basically internalized.
I like that they let you know the premise this time, and the early days of the 24 hour news cycle is a period that is positively ripe for comedy. It’s a really smart narrative next step for a sequel, and it captures another era that really defined our relationship with news in America. Can it be as funny as the first one? We’ll see.
“Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” arrives in theaters December 2013.