Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

The idea for a comedic take on a woman invading the all-male bastion of the news desk in the 1970s was inspired by a decidedly more serious documentary on the women who actually broke that glass ceiling. Will Ferrell was watching the documentary, which featured interviews with several anchormen of the 1970s, and found some of the interviews with the newsmen to be unintentionally funny.

Ferrell immediately contacted his former “Saturday Night Live” colleague and writing partner Adam McKay with an idea for a new comedy about an old challenge. “I called Adam with an idea to do a script about the petulant male-dominated world of the newsroom and how these men dealt with a woman for the first time, and he said ‘great, let’s do it,’” Ferrell recalls.

Director and co-screenwriter Adam McKay later watched the documentary and offers, “There were all these interviews with anchormen of the day who were talking about how upset they had been that a woman had come in to work with them. We were laughing so hard at these guys with perfect ties admitting that they were completely freaked out by a woman coming into the news office.”

The veteran newscasters’ recollections of being self-described “male chauvinist pigs” was the spark that led to the creation of Ron Burgundy. With the character of Ron Burgundy at its center, Ferrell and McKay wrote the screenplay about the top-rated news team in San Diego who believe that the word is anchorman for a reason. “Once we had the character down and got the name, we were really excited,” McKay says. “Basically, Will found the foothold and it developed out of that. We even started hearing that Ron Burgundy voice. That’s all we needed and we were off.”

The writing team then enlisted the help of producer Judd Apatow and executive producer Shauna Robertson to develop the screenplay and bring it to the screen. Apatow had worked briefly with McKay years earlier when, he says, “Adam punched up a script that I was trying to develop. I thought he was truly one of the funniest guys I had ever come across.”

He was happily surprised when McKay called and asked him to produce the project. Apatow also acknowledges that finding a vehicle on which to work with Will Ferrell was “just a dream come true. I have been a fan of Will’s for years. I think he is hilarious and had always hoped that I would have the opportunity to work with him. Together, Will and Adam are two of the nicest guys that you could collaborate with. They are extremely talented and have a great time working together, and that becomes infectious and raises the level of everyone’s work.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Adam and Will were twins separated at birth,” jokes Shauna Robertson. “They have the exact same sense of humor. It’s really random to find two people who work together so well.” “Anchorman” marks Shauna Robertson’s second collaboration with Will Ferrell, following the hit Christmas comedy “Elf,” which she produced. After seeing him as a wannabe elf, she says, “I am really excited for people to see this Will Ferrell because I think the role of Ron more accurately represents who he really is. Obviously he is not a crazy anchorman, but this is his sense of humor above and beyond anything else he’s ever done.”

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