Holy sh*t!! Harrison Ford signs on for Anchorman 2...

If you watched Conan O'Brian over the years, you know that Mr. Ford is actually a pretty funny guy.  He has a droll and rather deadpan sense of humor that generally came out best on O'Brian's couch, probably because Conan never pried into his private life. He's made no secret of his desire to do comedy and I've spent the last 15 years or so wondering why he never got that call from the Farrely Bros or whatever dominant comic filmmakers were occupying the industry at a given moment.  Hell, the serio-comedic melodramas of Judd Apatow would be a perfect fit for someone like Ford.  But it appears that the call has finally been made and answered, because Ford is in fact joining the cast of Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.


I'll be honest, offhand I couldn't have cared less about this film.  I saw the first Anchorman once in theaters on opening night in June 2004, enjoyed it well enough, and haven't given it much thought since.  The first third is an absolute mess, a prelude to the 'this isn't really a movie' syndrome that has affected the likes of The Other Guys.  Still the picture has its fans so a reasonably budgeted sequel seemed like a no-brainer.  The good news is that it appears that Harrison Ford is going to exit the industry in something resembling a blaze of glory.  He was half-asleep in Cowboys and Aliens and I have no real desire to see him return to the world of Star Wars in some 'I've got nowhere else to go!' capacity.  Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull felt like the last hurrah of a soon-to-retire icon, which gave the story more emotional oomph than it may have deserved.

 This is exciting news precisely because it is so unexpected and frankly a long-time coming. This with his somewhat unlikely supporting role in the upcoming Jackie Robinson biopic 42 (along with him basically playing Dan Rather in the noble failure Morning Glory and whatever part he plays in Enders Game) signals that Mr. Ford is more concerned with doing what interests him versus attempting to maintain his action-hero stardom in the likes of Firewall.  This surprise casting news, along with the recasting of Christina Applegate (as opposed to the usual revolving door of female leads that franchise pictures often practiced in the pre-trilogy era), actually have me somewhat interested in a project that I had mostly written off as a nostalgia fest. I don't know whether Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues will be any good.  But I'm pretty sure even the casually curious will now be there on opening night to see what Harrison Ford can do in this very specific and against-type sandbox.  Well played, Anchorman 2.  Well played...

Scott Mendelson