AnchoRman
As the cult newsroom comedy turns 15, director Adam McKay reopens the leatherbound book of the film’s history to tell Buff the story of Ron Burgundy’s creation. It’s kind of a big deal.
Director Adam McKay reflects on The Legend Of Ron Burgundy as it turns 15.
Without exaggeration, we were laughing every single day on set,” smiles director Adam McKay, recalling the shoot for his 2004 cult comedy Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy. Fifteen years have passed since he and star Will Ferrell introduced us to the goofy-obnoxious world of antiquated newscaster Ron Burgundy and his fine-suited news team. However, with the character more beloved than a fine Scotch, the fond and fresh memories surrounding McKay’s debut feature make it hard to believe so much time has passed. “It felt like the first time you went to a buffet and they had actual lobster and crab legs,” he laughs. “It was the best feeling throughout the whole movie.”
Having met on Saturday Night Live, McKay and Ferrell became fast friends thanks to their shared sympatico humour. When the opportunity arose to transition those skills to the big screen, they wound up creating a truly iconic comedy character. “It came from Ferrell seeing a documentary,” reveals McKay of Anchorman’s inception. “There was a newscaster from Philly who was being pretty honest about the fact they were really horrible to Jessica Savitch, the first woman newscaster. Mort Crim was the guy’s name and he had this incredibly avuncular voice. It started with Ferrell doing an impression. This authoritative voice being a brat just endlessly made us laugh.”
As writing progressed, the duo quickly hit comedy gold. “We kept going deeper with the character and realised we’d tapped into the type of guy who we remembered as kids: the kind of guy who would wear a duff cap and ride a little MG convertible,” laughs McKay. “We started looking at that time in the ’70s where the news started caring about ratings and wanting to get the story, no matter how junky it was. There was satire, a bit of nostalgia and then there was the commentary on the gender politics of it all – and who would have guessed the movie would have aged so well in that regard? It’s pretty cool. As much of a broad comedy as it was, the movie was pretty on-point when it came to that.”
With their ballpark set, McKay and Ferrell started breathing life into their hyperbolic characters. “We spent way too much time on the names,” chuckles McKay. “We wouldn’t start writing until we had them. All you had to do was look at the actual names of real newscasters. Walter Kronkite? That sounds like somebody threw a bunch of hard syllables together. The names were essential and we spent two full days kicking around ideas. Brick Tamland, Wes Mantooth, Brian Fantana – we tried five or six different variations before settling on the one we liked,” he reveals. “Ron Burgundy we got pretty quickly. It just felt right. You had ‘Ron’, which is always good, then ‘Burgundy’ added a little more strength to it. It wasn’t as unwieldy as some of the others.”
Production took place across LA, and while it came with the typical day-to-day stresses of any shoot, McKay only has warm memories – battles and all. “The idea of the rival news teams was in one of our first drafts,” says McKay, recalling the film’s gloriously OTT battle of the anchormen. “It was one of the craziest shooting days I’ve experienced because it wasn’t a big-budget movie and if you’re having a giant gang-fight involving people getting hit by tridents, having their arms cut off and set on fire: that’s a lot of money. We didn’t have that, so we shot the whole thing in one day. It was 100 degrees out and blistering hot but we were having such a blast.” He smiles. “We were just so happy to be doing it.”
When McKay and Ferrell’s passion project hit audiences, it was a warmly received yet moderate hit – however its real potential was yet to emerge. “About a year after it came out it was Halloween and my wife kept seeing people dressed as Ron Burgundy. Will, too. It was weird. Then we started hearing lines pop up in really odd places,” remembers McKay. “‘Stay classy,’ ‘That’s how I roll,’ ‘60 per cent of the time, it works every time,’ – there was a period of about a year and a half where we were hearing it everywhere. It was really cool.”
Fifteen years on, McKay’s debut remains a fan favourite, while Ron has taken on an entire afterlife of his own (including returning for a 2013 sequel, viral appearances and a podcast). “The nice thing about Burgundy is he can age. We could do a third Anchorman when Ferrell’s 60 if there’s a demand for it,” reasons McKay. “News in America has taken a bizarre and scary turn – it could be interesting to see Burgundy and Corningstone come back at some point. I wouldn’t rule it out.”