"You will laugh. Then you will laugh some more. Then you will laugh still again."
Stephen Hunter WASHINGTON POST
"Will Ferrell headlines a great comedy cast in a story that is as ridiculous as it is hysterical."
Jeff Otto IGN FILMFORCE
"It's a cute, silly, likable movie without much weight or intensity, but it's also pretty funny."
Michael Wilmington CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Whether he's fighting Kodiak bears or throwing burritos at bikers, Ron Burgundy is the perfect outlet for Will's unique brand of sincere witticism."
Joshua Tyler CINEMABLEND.COM
"Wonderfully silly all the time."
Desson Thomson WASHINGTON POST
"The good news is - the film is fresh, imaginative and full of laughs."
Tony Toscano TALKING PICTURES USA
"Anchorman establishes Ferrell as a formidable comic force reminiscent of Steve Martin when he was The Jerk or Chevy Chase when he was Fletch."
Jeffrey Overstreet CHRISTIANITY TODAY
"Ferrell has an absolutely magical way of making complete morons lovable."
Tom Long DETROIT NEWS
"Perfectly captures the hilarious desperation of the local news personality."
Jimmy O FILM SNOBS
At A Glance
"An engagingly knuckleheaded comic vehicle for former Saturday Night Live trouper Will Ferrell." Steven Rea PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
Those cinemagoers who have seen "Zoolander", "Old School" and "Elf" will recognize that Will Ferrell is one very funny guy indeed. The news only gets better. Will Ferrell, who cut his comedic teeth on the "Saturday Night Live" show is even funnier in his latest bigscreen starring role, "Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy" the idea for which, came about after Ferrell watched a television documentary that featured television newsmen from the seventies. Ferrell found them so funny he contacted his "Saturday Night Live" buddy Adam McKay and put the idea to him. "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. McKay had the same reaction when he later watched a tape of the same interviews. "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," he said. "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 upshot was that Ferrell and McKay set out to write a screenplay based on the period when men believe the word anchor 'man' meant that news reading was their soul domain. "Once we had the character down and got the name, we were really excited," McKay said. "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." Next step was to enlist the help of Cable ACE Award winner Judd Apatow who had worked on comedy shows such as "The Larry Sanders Show" and on the acclaimed series "Freaks and Geeks". Apatow had briefly worked with McKay and was impressed with his work noting; "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 admits to being "happily surprised" when McKay offered him the producers job. The bonus was Apatow was a Will Ferrell fan. He says landing the producers role was "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." Executive producer Shauna Robertson who produced the smash hit "Elf", in which Ferrell played the lead, was happy to be back for a second time. She was impressed with the way Ferrell and McKay worked so well together. In fact she had a theory as to why it was so. "I wouldn’t be surprised if Adam and Will were twins separated at birth," she joked. “They have the exact same sense of humor. It’s really random to find two people who work together so well."
When it came to casting one thing was very obvious. Will Ferrell was destined to be Ron Burgundy. While Ron is the anchorman for the newsteam, it won't take viewers long to realize that Ron's not all that well endowed when it comes to the brain cells. That is most evident when he takes on Veronica Corningstone. "Ron thinks he is a lot smarter and more talented than he really is," notes Ferrell. "He has somehow gotten by on his charisma and although he is,let’s face it, a terrible journalist, San Diego just loves him." I might add here, not only San Diego will love Ron, Will. Both women and men will get a huge laugh out of Burgundy the male chauvinist, although three decades ago I doubt if it would have been a laughing matter. Burguny's character is surrounded by associates heading up the news who fuel the chauvanism theme. "Ron Burgundy is the king of his town," says Apatow. "He and the rest of the guys are having a ball, drinking and smoking and living their male chauvinist lives." But that's only until Veronica Corningstone comes to town, right? "Veronica’s arrival is the most shocking thing the men could ever imagine happening," McKay comments. "They may have seen weather girls before, but this woman is coming in as a reporter and that had simply never happened. To make matters worse, she is not only obviously beautiful, but they can tell she is smart and strong." And just as Will Ferrell 'is' Ron Burgundy, Christina Applegate makes a spirited and most refreshing feminist out of Veronica Corningstone. The team had tested 100 actresses for the role without finding their Veronica. Until Aplegate walked into the room. "We had to get the perfect person. Without exaggerating, I think we read more than 100 actresses for that role, but no one fit the bill," McKay recalls. "Then Christina walked in, and that was it. She’s such a good actress and so funny, and she can improvise, which is important when you’re working with Will, so we just had to have her." Veronica has the same effect on poor old Ron. He too must have her. So what did Applegate think of the theme for the film? "If you look back at tapes of newscasters during the early ‘70s, they seem incredibly misogynistic. No offense to any of them, but it was a man’s world," she says. "You could smoke and even have your scotch while doing the newscast; it was just a completely different world run by these very macho men. So, that’s what Veronica steps into. They have their perfect world where they have everything under control, and in walks Veronica and turns everything upside down." Oh yes Veronica you sure do. Now if all that sounds tempting, wait until you see "Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy". It's an hilarious hoot!
Crew Bytes
"Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy" was .......
directed by Adam McKay ["Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy" and "Bewitched"]; screenplay by Adam McKay ["Saturday Night Live"] and Will Ferrell ["Saturday Night Live"]; costume design by Debra McGuire ["Just Married" and "Orange County"]; production design by Clayton R Hartley ["Almost Famous", "The Other Sister", "Double Take" and "American Pie III"]; edited by Brent White ["Matilda", "The Slaughter Rule", "Panic" and "Glory"]; director of photograhpy Thomas Ackerman ["Beetlejuice", "Jumanji", "Snow Dogs" and "Are We There Yet?"]; original music by Alex Wurman ["Hollywood Homicide", "Criminal", "Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind" and "Thirteen"] produced by Judd Apatow ["Heavyweights", "Celtic Pride" and "The Cable Guy"] and co-produced by David Householter ["Clockstoppers", "Mercury Rising", "The Core" and "Elf"].
Casting About
"Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy" stars .......
Will Ferrell ["Old School", "Zoolander", "Elf" and "Bewitched"]; Christina Applegate ["Wild Bill", "Mars Attacks!", "The Big Hit" and "Wonderland"]; Paul Rudd ["200 Cigarettes", "The Cider House Rules", "Clueless" and "The Object Of My Affection"]; Steve Carell ["Curly Sue", "Melinda and Melinda" and "Bruce Almighty"]; David Koechner ["Waking Up In Reno", "Man On The Moon", "A Guy Thing" and "My Bosses Daughter"]; Chris Parnell ["Jingle All The Way", "The Ladies Man" and "Down With Love"]; Luke Wilson ["The Royal Tennebaums"]; Jack Black ["High Fidelity", "Evil Woman", "Orange County", "Shallow Hal" and "The School Of Rock"]; Tim Robbins ["Toy Soldiers", "Twister", "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Truth About Charlie"]; Ben Stiller ["The Royal Tenenbaums", "Zoolander", "Along Came Polly" and "Dodgeball"]; Vince Vaughn ["Swingers", "Made", "Old School" and "Starsky & Hutch"] and Fred Willard ["Waiting For Guffman", "Best In Show", "A Mighty Wind" and "Harold and kumar Go To White Castle"] as Ed Harken as KVWN4 station boss.
The Story
"Ron may be an idiot, but Anchorman is no dope." John Anderson NEWSDAY
Ron Burgundy is a man's man. Loved by everyone he heads up the news team at television station KVWN4 in San Diego. It's a man's world in the 70's and Ron Burgundy is Number 1 when it comes to the ratings war. Until, at a celbration party, Ron spots a beautiful blonde woman. He's immediately attracted to her. He wants to give her a bit of the old Burgundy charm. But Veronica Corningstone isn't interested, nor is she impressed by ron's feeble attempts to press her flesh with him. You see, Veronica is a career woman. One of those new fangled feminists. When station boss Ed Harken announces that Veronica is joining the station there is an outcry. But never fear, Veronica will be covering the meaningful news stories, such as local cat shows and Chinese Pandas at the zoo. But Veronica has a bigger fish to land. She wants to become an 'anchorwoman'. Suddenly the all male news team is under threat. No longer do they want to get her in the sack. They just want to get rid of her. Watch out guys. This lady has claws!
The Verdict
"Infectiously funny! Outrageouly stupid! Gleefully chauvinistic! Ridiculously sexist! Ron Burgundy may be all of these but boy is it fun. The clothes. The hair. The pants. The all male news team. We've seen it all in the 70's and "Anchorman; The Legend Of Ron Burgundy" brings it back in a slapstick, romantic comedy that will have you cracking up. Stay on for the outtakes during the closing credits. Burgundy is back in fashion. Ron Burgundy that is! Recommended? You betcha it is."
The Cast
Will Ferrell
Christina Applegate
Paul Rudd
Steve Carell
David Koechner
Fred Willard
Chris Parnell
Kathryn Hahn
Fred Armisen
Seth Rogen
Paul F Tompkins
Danny Trejo
Scot Robinson
Ian Roberts
Darcy Donavan
Renee Weldon
Jerry Minor
Holmes Osborne
Shira Piven
Lili Rose McKay
Thomas E. Mastrolia
Jay Johnston
Laura Kightlinger
Monique McIntyre
Bob Rummler
Chuck Poynter
Fred H Dresch
Glen Hambly
Stuart Gold
Bill Kurtis
Luke Wilson
Dave Allen
Jack Black
Tim Robbins
Ben Stiller
Vince Vaughn
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Ron Burgundy
Veronica Corningstone
Brian Fantana
Brick Tamland
Champ Kind
Ed Harken
Garth Holliday
Helen
Tino
Eager Cameraman
MC
Bartender
Waiter at Tino's
Stage Manager
Hot Blonde
Petite Brunette
Tino's Bassist
Directo
r Mother
Child
Biker Guy
Eyewitness News Member
Donna
Yelling Woman
Bum
Announcer
Doctor
Middle Class Dad
Nursing Room Resident
Bill Lawson - Narrator
Frank Vitchard
Homeless Man #2
Angry Biker
Public TV News Anchor
Hispanic TV News Anchor
Wes Mantooth
The Crew
Directed by Adam McKay
Written by Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Produced by Judd Apatow
Co-Produced by David B Householter
Executive Produced by Shauna Weinberg & David O Russell
Original Music by Alex Wurman
Cinematography by Thomas E Ackerman
Film Editing by Brent White
Production Design by Clayton Hartley
Art Direction by Ginny Randolph
Set Decoration by Jan Pascale
Costume Design by Debra McGuire
Key Makeup Artist Denise Dellavalle
Key Hair Stylist Joy Zapata
Production Manager Diane L Sabatini
Run Time 94 minutes
Rated M15+ [AUST]
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