The Iconic Prop He Wishes He Kept

The Anchorman franchise was part of Paul Rudd’s launch into the wider comedy field, and there’s one thing he wishes he had done after the original 21 years later. Rudd was one of the primary cast of the Will Ferrell and Adam McKay-created movie series, starring as lead field reporter Brian Fantana alongside Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy, David Koechner’s sportscaster Champ Kind, Steve Carell’s meteorologist Brick Tamland and Christina Applegate’s Veronica Corningstone.

In a recent interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan to discuss his meta-fueled Anaconda reboot, Rudd was asked about any props he may have kept from his prior films. The Golden Globe and Emmy nominee admitted that while he didn’t keep any props, his biggest regret came from not taking the Sex Panther prop from the original Anchorman movie, explaining that it “occurred to me” after filming had wrapped, “Why didn’t I even try and get that?“

Seen near the halfway point of the original Anchorman film, Sex Panther was a special cologne Brian intended to use to try and seduce Veronica after Champ’s failure to do so, saying that, “60% of the time, it works every time,” to which Ron retorted, “That doesn’t make sense.” In stark contrast to his plan, though, the cologne ends up being so pungent that it causes an evacuation of the news station, and a radiation-level hose down of Brian.

Both Anchorman movies offered their star-studded rosters a number of comedic beats that fans continue to quote. From Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy telling San Diego to “go f–k yourself” to Champ’s iconic catchphrase of “Whammy” to Brick adorably trying to defend his love for “lamp” in the midst of a deep conversation between the male leads, Brian’s Sex Panther sales pitch remains Rudd’s most iconic from the original film.

Beyond just the unique nature of the prop, it’s also understandable that Rudd would look back on the Anchorman franchise and wish to have kept more from his time on set. In addition to being the star’s first mainstream film hit after the Oscar-winning Cider House Rules, it also was the start of his long-running collaboration with writer/director Judd Apatow, who produced the 2004 film and later worked on everything from The 40-Year-Old Virgin to the 2012 Knocked Up spinoff, This Is 40.

Actors keeping props and costumes has become a sneakily relatable trend, and Rudd having regretted not holding on to the Sex Panther prop from Anchorman is sure to ring true to fans of the 2004 comedy. The fact that the box in which the cologne was held also had a speaker built in to make the panther roar as the bottle rose up is sure to have made it a collector’s item if it was put up for auction. If the previously teased Anchorman 3 ever comes to fruition, Rudd may just have to push for Sex Panther to return in order to overcome not getting to take home the prop.

Release Date

July 9, 2004

Runtime

94 Minutes

Director

Adam McKay