At a moment when it seems audiences are not too intrigued by R-rated comedies (see the box office flops of “The Nice Guys” and “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping“), the idea of FX‘s wickedly funny and envelope pushing animated spy spoof “Archer” coming to the big screen seems like a dream. But right now, it’s really just a concept being tossed around by the team behind the show, rather than anything more concrete. But it’s the potential of doing it as a live-action movie that is particularly intriguing.
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“It’s all up to whatever [creator] Adam [Reed] wants to do, but he and I have definitely talked about it,” producer Matt Thompson revealed to The Daily Beast. “I think we talk about it once every two years. We vacillate between if you do it, why are you doing the TV show? And should it be live-action, or should it be cartoon? The talk is there, we just still haven’t decided. I don’t think there will be a movie before the last episode of ‘Archer’ airs on TV. I don’t think we’ll make a movie before the series finishes.”
That said, should the decision be made to bring Sterling Archer to life with an actor? Everyone involved seems to agree on who it should be. “If Archer goes live-action, I do believe it will be Jon Hamm,” Thompson added.
On paper, it sounds like a good idea, but in execution? Well, we’ll see. Hamm is hilarious and certainly knows the tone of “Archer,” having guest voiced Captain Hank Murphy. However, I’d argue much of the comedy from “Archer” comes from the fact that it’s animated, and I’m not sure the same humor would work transitioned to a live action setting. Moreover, Archer is H. Jon Benjamin‘s voice, and it would be odd to hear that dialogue coming from another actor (though, Thompson says maybe they could have Benjamin’s voice coming out of Hamm’s mouth; but then what’s in it for Hamm?).
Frankly, I’d be cool with a feature-length animated “Archer,” but that’s just me. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
