Classic scene: Anchorman

“Hey everybody, shut the hell up, Ron Burgundy is on!”.

 Today’s scene is from Adam McKay’s 2004 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate, Paul Rudd, Steve Carell and David Koechner. While the film didn’t take home any awards or, in fact, any money at the box office, it remains one of the most oft quoted comedies of the last 20 years. 

Did you know… 

1) Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone may be fictional characters, but they were modelled after real news anchors. Corningstone was inspired by Jessica Savitch, host of PBS’ Frontline programme and weekend anchor for NBC Nightly News, while Burgundy was based on her male counterpart, Mort Crim. The two were one of the country’s first male/female anchor pairings on screen. When asked about how much truth there was in Ferrell’s portrayal, Crim said: “Any good parody takes a grain of truth and exaggerates it for the big screen. People ask me if I’m offended at all and I say not in the least.” 

2) The film could have looked very, very different. Farrell aside, McKay had suggested widely different actors for the major anchor roles, including John C. Reilly (Champ), Chris Parnell (Brick), Ben Stiller (Brian) and Ed Harris (Ed). Applegate also wasn’t a shoo-in for Corningstone’s role, and had to compete with more than 100 actresses, including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams and Leslie Mann. Ultimately Applegate had “that 50’s wholesome thing that we wanted”, so McKay. 

The clip first offers a look behind the scenes in a fun blooper reel, followed by a promo of Jessica Savitch and Mort Crim on NBC News.