CraveOnline: Where was the real fast food place where you shot Whammy Chicken?
David Koechner: Atlanta. I think it was a Greek restaurant in Atlanta. Don’t know the name of it.
How many different versions of the commercial did you shoot?
There were several different tags of Champ believes in two things, good chicken and the one that’s in the movie is: Good chicken and that the census is a way for the U.N. to turn your children gay. Now, there are a bunch of alternates on that line. I don’t want to say any of them because I might get it wrong, but they were very funny. One was something like, “I believe in two things: Good chicken, and in 10 years there’s going to be a race war and I’m going to be ready for it.” “And I’m going to be armed for it” or something like that. There are probably 10 alternates on that line.
We also hear he got a settlement from his previous job. Were there lots of different versions of that story?
No, but there’s a bunch of different takes of Ron and Champ discussing what other things he used besides bats. Apparently, Champ will deep fry anything and sell it as chicken.
What was it like shooting that slow motion RV crash?
That was fantastic. It was a really big stunt so we shot in the RV and then we shot on green screen and then we shot on what is called a gimbal. They build another RV and it will turn all the way around like a washing machine. So that was a big set piece and then of course when it goes down the road, they have to do the flip. That’s a big piece.
But they let the four of you really go upside down?
Noooo. They started it. It goes to one tipping point, we’re all moving, and then of course professionals take it from there.
Were the props that hit you like the frying oil all CGI?
Yeah, I think no one’s going to think that was real hot grease.
No, but they could pour water on you for the shot and replace it in CGI.
No, there was no liquid actually used but I don’t know if I’m giving away movie magic. All that stuff was beautiful green screen. The dog was on puppet strings almost, this swing they had built for the dog to go over. It’s funny, because the dog moved naturally like it was swimming in the air. The dog was just doing that. It was moving its legs because it was looking for the ground, and then it bites my arm which is hilarious.
Did you ever think these movies would become big action movies with stunts and the battles with the news teams?
Well, of course there was the battle in the first film. That took one day to film. This time it took a week.
Is that because that was such a popular scene in the first one, they wanted to spend a lot of time on this one?
They wanted to heighten it. There is a jet strafing the whole park so that’s pretty amazing.
What were your thoughts on the idea of Ron Burgundy inventing right wing talk and car chase coverage?
It just made Adam and Will laugh that everything that’s bad in the news came from Ron Burgundy. Everything that’s flawed in the news, the things that people go, “That’s not news. You’re not reporting anything.” [That] it all was birthed by Burgundy, made them laugh really hard.
