This week, the eagerly awaited sequel to one of the funniest films of all time, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues will be on release nationwide. Last week, we were lucky enough to catch up with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell to chat about how they felt when they heard the project was going ahead, their characters and a certain lamp quote.
How did you guys feel when you found out the movie was going ahead?
Carell: Excited. I had resigned myself to the fact that it was never going to happen. There were a few false starts along the way. Will doesn’t make sequels, it’s just not something he really wanted to do. This was one of those films where we all felt inclined to jump in and be a part of it.
Rudd: We all noticed individually that no matter what we were promoting or wherever we were, particularly in Ireland and England or Australia, they would always ask about Anchorman 2. Those questions always happened with more frequency. It was a bit of slow burn.
Were you always all in for doing a sequel?
Rudd: There was never really a question about it. The main reason was we loved playing the parts but I think we all really had a blast working with each other. The first one was just really fun.
How much do you actually improvise the characters?
Carell: It’s hard to determine in the final product how much is improvised and what is scripted.
Rudd: At a certain point, you no longer really remember.
Carell: We always started as scripted, and the script was hilarious, then Adam would encourage us to go off script and try other things. Sometimes it ended up being the script, sometimes it didn’t. Percentage-wise, that was hard for us to figure out.
Did you feel you had to respect the fan love for the film and the legacy?
Rudd: We wanted to acknowledge the original one in the right way, maybe have a couple of specific call backs to the first one. Will and Adam were conscious of doing something new here and something different. We didn’t want to make a carbon copy.
Do you guys ever get sick of people shouting at quotes at you?
Carell: I don’t get sick of it. I think it’s giving people enjoyment. More than anything, I marvel at the fact that this movie brought people so much joy. It did well when it came out, but over the years, it grew somehow and I think it’s great. I’m really proud that people love it and take it as their own.
Rudd: Yeah, it’s cool to be a part of something like that. It feels like you’re not spitting in the wind. (laughs)
What quote would you guys get the most? For you Steve, it must be lamp!
Carell: I love lamp. Yeah.
That’s kind of made our day.
Rudd: It’s a pretty good one, I love lamp. It’s concise and short. I get 60% of the time it works, everytime. That one takes a while to get out! I probably get it the least.
How did you get back into the characters?
Rudd: We all just slipped back into it, really. There were things about that that were great. It felt like time hadn’t really passed. There was another side, time has passed. We’ve all seen the movie and I had certainly moments where I wondered was I doing it right! Getting back into it wasn’t too tricky. There were little things that weirdly helped that were external. It just feels like the character.
Carell: They’re not the most layered characters in a movie!
Rudd: Steve makes a good point, it’s not like we were playing Lincoln! (laughs)
Carell: I didn’t have to do that much research to play Brick… A lot of it came back by just being with everyone else and watching what they were doing. I would watch Will. He is SO good at playing Ron Burgundy that you could throw anything at that character and he’s been improvising a lot! He’s been playing that on his feet. It’s remarkable to watch how in the character he can be.
Rudd: That guy is a genius.
Do you guys ever get to a point where you can’t continue a scene because of laughing?
Rudd: Sure! There are some where we will have moments and we will get over it. It seems like both in this one and the last one there were one or two scenes that really slowed us down for shooting for the day. It just started like an inferno.
Carell: The scene in the Lighthouse. It was a very long and very fun day. It was one of the last scenes the four of us shot together. That was almost impossible to get through. Will was on fire that day. He was killing us. It was pretty special.
Lastly, we must ask you the all important question. Which do you prefer, Tayto or King? Would you like to taste the crisps?
Carell (without hesitation): Yes (munches happily on a crisp) That first one is a nice light crispy flavourful.
Rudd: It’s a nice vintage.
Carell: The second one is more potatoey.
Rudd: It seems like number two has a thicker, heartier substance.
Carell: There’s less seasoning on number 2.
Rudd: When can we open our eyes by the way?
Carell: Mine were open the whole time.
Rudd: They were both great.
Carell: I’m going to say number 2.
Rudd: Yes, number 2. What was that? King? We conferred with each other. Tayto is brilliant. When I’m over here, I buy King. They’re both pretty delicious. King was a little bit of a heavier chip.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is in cinemas this Wednesday.
