Director Adam McKay encouraged Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate to ad-lib while making Anchorman, leading to some of its funniest bits.
We all know that San Diego comes from the German for whale’s vagina, but did you know that a lot of the banter between Ron Burgundy and co-anchor Veronica Corningstone was off the cuff? As much as TV anchors need their scripts to deliver the news, Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate were encouraged to venture far off of theirs when making 2004’s Anchorman.
Ferrell and Applegate recently got together on the latter and Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s joint podcast, MeSsy (via EW), to reflect on their time filming Anchorman, particularly how director Adam McKay would make frantic calls from behind the camera. As Ferrell put it, “A lot of that stuff, Christina and I going back and forth insulting each other, some of that was scripted, but so much of that was like, ‘Just keep going!’ Adam just wouldn’t yell cut, so you just had to keep going. At first it feels like a burden, but then it unlocks a part of your brain to where now you’re going into a whole other area that you didn’t even know.”
Applegate – who broke out as a true comedic talent on Married…with Children – held her own against Ferrell on Anchorman, matching wits and timing to great satisfaction once she got used to the style. “When he wouldn’t cut, my hands would get sweaty. I was like, ‘No, I can’t, please cut.’ Sometimes he would just yell out lines. Remember he would yell out the most bizarre sh*t?…In the middle of the scene, he was just like, ‘Call her a pirate hooker!’ Just bizarre stuff!”
So it seems like we can pretty much thank Adam McKay for encouraging such a loose attitude when making Anchorman, which in turn led to some of the movie’s funniest moments, especially between Ferrell and Applegate, an experience the actress has spoken highly of before. While the 2013 sequel was a disappointment, the original stands as peak Will Ferrell – in movies, at least; we’ll always love him on SNL the most.
What is your favorite scene from Anchorman? Were you surprised at Christina Applegate’s holding her own against Will Ferrell?