While most of the film community’s attention is turned towards the recent news that Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are assembling the News Channel 4 team all over again for an “Anchorman” sequel, on a quieter front it comes as no surprise that both have several films in various stages of development over at their banner Gary Sanchez Productions. One of those is a reteaming of “The Other Guys” co-stars Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in the previously titled “Turkey Bowl,” but now that film is receiving a whole new take from the men who took us on a trip with their “Hot Tub Time Machine.”
Now called “3 Mississippi,” which is actually a lot less generic sounding than “Turkey Bowl,” word from THR is that the writing-directing team of Sean Anders and John Morris are currently in negotiations to rewrite the Warner Bros. project. Anders is the one set to helm (McKay was previously going to direct), with both doing rewrites of the original script by "30 Rock" scribes Robert Carlock and Scott Silveri. The film will give a comedic sheen to the age-old story of families at war, telling of the 50-year feud between two families over an annual Thanksgiving touch football game. We can practically see Ferrell and Wahlberg grimacing at each other now, perhaps with dialogue reminiscent of the whole “Lion vs. Tuna” scene in “The Other Guys.”
This writer wasn’t particularly a fan of “The Other Guys,” but admittedly found the duo of Anders and Morris’ work on “Hot Tub Time Machine” a blast. Now the pair will be attempting to restore Adam Sandler to R-Rated glory days with “That’s My Boy,” which recently had a trailer drop that offered some semblance of promise. Perhaps the two will really take off with this movie, or maybe we’ll be left hoping that McKay had stepped in instead.
Apparently with their boarding the project, the studio now has hope that production will get going in September, leaving plenty of time for Ferrell to move over to “Anchorman 2,” which is looking to start shooting in early 2013.
