Marsden has just been cast as the nemesis of Will Ferrell's lead character, but further details on the role are still kept secret.
- February 22, 2013
AceShowbiz -
Ron Burgundy will face a handsome rival in "Anchorman: The Legend Continues". It has been confirmed that James Marsden will star as a rival anchor to the lead character portrayed by Will Ferrell.
Deadline first breaks the news of Marsden's casting, revealing that the "X-Men" actor has signed on to tackle the part of Burgundy's nemesis. Further details of the role are still scarce as the official plot is still kept under tight wraps.
The "Anchorman" sequel is set to kick off production this March in Atlanta. Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate will return as Brick Tamland, Brian Fantana, Champion "Champ" Kind and Veronica Corningstone respectively. Meanwhile, Kristen Wiig has just been cast as Tamland's wife.
Back in April 2012, director Adam McKay dished that the second Ron Burgundy movie would involve the Action News Team's efforts to adapt with trend change. He told Empire magazine, "We know these guys never deal well with change. And the good thing is that there's a big blast of change coming, according to the regular timeline. We're going to be throwing a lot of innovation at them, and they're not going to handle it well."
McKay elaborated further that the "Anchorman" sequel would be set in the late 1970s where 24 hours news trend had just begun. "It's right when all the news started changing with the 24-hour news cycle in '78 or '79," he explained.
"All of a sudden, local news stations diversified and had Latino anchors and African-American anchors," he added, "and any time you're talking about the diversity and the Action News team, that's always fun to deal with."
The original "Anchorman" revolved around Burgundy, who was a top-rated anchorman in San Diego during the '70s. The film grossed $90.5 million worldwide against the budget of a mere $26 million. The sequel is slated for a December 20 release Stateside.
