ANCHORMAN 2 Will Partly Be A Musical
According to director Adam McKay, Anchorman 2 is partly going to be a musical. In fact, it was originally envisioned as a Broadway Musical, so he's just going to bring that vision to the big screen. It's no surprise, after all McKay likes to throw musical moments into his films. The director recently told The Playlist in an interview, "There will be some music in Anchorman 2 though for sure, we have some songs already written. We were going to do Anchorman 2 as a Broadway musical first, for like six months and then go shoot the movie. That was our initial idea."
He went on to explain that there will be whole song sequences, and that he hopes his actors will sing live on set like Tom Hooper did when shooting Les Miserables.
The music sequences we have done -- we did 'Afternoon Delight' [in Anchorman], Adam Scott and his family singing 'Sweet Child O' Mine' [in Step Brothers], we did a whole song for Talladega Nights that got cut out, a big, big musical number -- we always do it live on the set. And my thing is, if the actors get freaked out, don't sweat it, we can always re-record it later. And every time we've done it, we end up using the live track from the recording. We'll probably do it the same way in this. This one might have a little more movement in it, and the only problem with that is the actors get winded.
Seeing what Mckay has done with music in the past, I can see these musical numbers being absolutely hilarious. McKay went on to say, "Even thought it's going to be a big silly movie, it's all about the rise of the new media and 24 hour news cycle, and there's a lot of interesting points to make about that while being silly." He was then asked if Ron Burgundy would get a Mr. Smith Goes To Washington moment to make a rallying cry.
It's been discussed, there's a little wisp of [talk]. We'd never do it straight ahead, we gotta fuck with it in some way. Because Ron Burgundy isn't quite Jimmy Stewart in character, so if he does, he's not going to do it well. But there's a little bit of that going on. I mean what is this 24 hours news, and this wall of white noise information, has it really been good for our country? The great thing when you find a point of view like that is that it doesn't have to be preachy or didactic, it's also funny. It's just funny that Americans have to contend with 2000 channels, and 60 different specific news sources, and the confusion that it creates, and the junk that we get to see is hilarious. That's what we're always kinda looking for, what's the point of view that's got life to it and plays.
Like the first film McKay, hopes to bring in a ton of big cameos. He even dropped a few names saying, "We're talking about for Anchorman 2 creating a murderer's row of the best day players ever. Like having every single one line or three line role, just be someone we just love. Someone like Ian Roberts or Rob Huebel or Paula Killen -- just making sure every day player is a homerun."
I'm sure McKay will end up getting the film he wants, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Anchorman 2turns out! What do you think about the sequel having musical numbers, and the cameos he's looking to bring in?