Will Ferrell donated portion of salary to Christina Applegate after 'offensive' Anchorman offer
Christina Applegate has revealed Will Ferrell and Adam McKay gave her a portion of their salaries for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy to make up for the "offensive" deal she was offered.
Will Ferrell gave a share of his pay for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy to Christina Applegate after she received an "offensive" offer to star in the movie.
The 54-year-old actress played Veronica Corningstone in the 2004 comedy, which is set in a 1970s newsroom and she turned down the initial contract for the role, only for her co-star and director Adam McKay - who had written the film together - to agree to donate money from their own paycheques to make up the shortfall.
Speaking on The View, Christina said: “When they came in with the initial offer, it was a little offensive.
“And I said, ‘I can’t. I know my worth, and I can’t do that.’ They wanted me bad enough, and they said, ‘Well, we’re gonna chip in.’ Thank God they did because it was one of the best experiences of my entire life.”
Christina learned a lot from working on the movie, which also starred the likes of Paul Rudd, Steve Carell, and David Koechner.
She added: “It was such a lesson. I had never done improv before. Learning from that group of dudes… that is the masterclass that people pay for. Steve Carell, like, taught it. Adam McKay developed an entire new way of doing it with his group. To get in there and have that happen was absolutely magic and it’s been invaluable to me and my career.”
Christina went on to reunite with the cast on 2013 sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.
In 2024, Will appeared on Christina's MeSsy podcast - which she co-hosts with fellow actress and MS sufferer Jamie Lynn Sigler - to mark the 20th anniversary of Anchorman.
The 58-year-old funnyman recalled how the first test screening was "not good" due to the original ending which would have seen Veronica "abducted by a vigilante group", prompting them to quickly reassemble to shoot "an entirely new ending".
He said: “We put the movie together, we do our first test screening. You test screen your movie and it’s a score from zero to 100.
"We were like, ‘That seemed to play pretty great.’ We get the score back; it’s a 50. Not good. It’s not good. That can either go one way or the other.
"There’s a panic button that’s hit, or, luckily, the studio was like, ‘Let’s figure it out.’ They gave us a budget for reshoots.
"Judd [Apatow] really helped to be a steady hand in that regard. And so all of that, the whole pandas and the bears and all that, that’s five days of a reshoot. An entirely new ending was shot.”
