As swiftly as rumors of progress on the “Anchorman” sequel descended upon us, Will Ferrell has just as quickly applied the brakes on the story.
“I thought we were [moving forward]. Yeah. I kept saying that. I was told we were,” Ferrell revealed in an interview with HitFix regarding the potential meeting regarding the sequel. “Now I’ve heard it’s too hard to get everyone together. So hopefully [Adam Mckay’s] going to be able to talk to all of the guys individually and see if there’s a time and place we can figure out how to do this.” With the success of his “Anchorman” co-stars, namely the rise of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, it was always going to difficult to round up the old gang.
Possibly more disconcerting though, Ferrell added that word on a sequel is more wishful thinking than any sort of constructive planning. “We weren’t necessarily [planning a sequel] and then the legacy of that movie has just kept building and building and we just kinda got excited,” said the actor. “We just think it’d be really fun to do. Yeah, it could be terrible. But if they’re gonna pay us to do it, why not?” Not exactly words that will strike confidence in the hearts of fans.
Meanwhile, Ferrell’s planned reunion with Sacha Baron Cohen in the Apatow-backed comedic take on the “Sherlock Holmes” tale looks set to be put on hold until the release of Guy Ritchie’s revisioning of the famous detective starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. “I think everyone just wants to see… [Ritchie’s take is] probably going to be a hit franchise and whether that is something you want to go up against,” Ferrell noted. “Would it just inform the audience to allow for us to do a comedy version or would it feel like we’re just trying to copy them, even though I think we wrote our script before they did?”
The project is making strides forward though. “We’ve got a script written by Etan Cohen (“Tropic Thunder”),” Ferrell added. “I just met with Sacha, like, three weeks ago. We’re talking about it some more.”
Ferrell and working partner, Mckay, also have the action comedy “The B-Team” on the horizon. Written by the co-exec of “Entourage” and co-writer of “Land Of The Lost,” Chris Henchy, the film will be headlined by Mark Wahlberg and Ferrell as an unlikely cop duo.
