Original script for Will Ferrell hit ‘Anchorman’ was bizarre

A plane filled with news anchors crashes right into a mountain, and their lives grow to be a battle for survival against hostile predators.

Eventually, they have to consider — will we have now to eat human flesh to survive?

While this seems like a well-recognized movie plot, it’s not for the movie you would possibly expect: It was one among the initial versions of the Will Ferrell comedy classic “Anchorman.”

As Saul Austerlitz writes in his recent book, “Sort of a Big Deal: How Anchorman Stayed Classy And Became The Most Iconic Comedy of the Twenty-First Century” (Dutton),” that script, then titled “Motion News Man,” was still a really funny tackle a shopworn premise.

“Ron convinces the pilot he knows easy methods to fly the charter jet, and he immediately crash lands it within the mountains,” Ferrell once explained of Anchorman’s iconic principal character, Ron Burgundy. 

“They clipped a cargo plane . . . and it was carrying only boxes of orangutans and Chinese throwing stars. Throughout the movie we’re being stalked by orangutans killing, one after the other, the team off with throwing stars, [with] Veronica Corningstone saying things like, ‘Guys, I do know if we just head down, we’ll hit civilization.’ ”

“Anchorman” was created by Ferrell and director Adam McKay, a former SNL head author and Ferrell’s writing partner on the show.

Together, they created classic sketches like “Celebrity Jeopardy.”

Their first film script, written while each were still on the show, was “August Blowout.”

Ferrell was set to play Jeff Tanner, a master Seventies automotive salesman who directly addresses the viewer while standing on his automotive hood in a Southern California traffic jam, describing himself as “rugged, sexy, and American,” and “fully tricked out with all of the features.”

“I include a confident handshake, an excellent ass, a saddle in my bedroom, and aside from some screwup by JCPenney, a near spotless credit report,” Jeff says to the camera.

“And guess what? That’s all standard.”  

Paramount showed some interest, but Ferrell was still little known. Even after a successful rewrite by Tina Fey, the studio selected to make David Spade’s “Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star” as a substitute.

Sometime later, Ferrell was home one night, watching an episode of A&E’s “Biography” on pioneering newswoman Jessica Savitch. 

Her fellow anchor Mort Crim was talking in regards to the brutal sexism Savitch faced, including from himself, and he casually remarked, “You’ve gotten to recollect, back then I used to be an actual male chauvinist pig.”

“Something in regards to the offhanded nature of the remark — male chauvinist pig, no biggie — tickled Ferrell’s fancy, and he called McKay to see if he was also watching,” writes Austerlitz. 

The pair found a deep well of humor in “news anchors, whom [McKay] had grown up believing to own godlike authority, behaving like toddlers.”

They wrote the news-anchor plane crash script — then called “Motion News Man” — and director Paul Thomas Anderson even considered producing it before ultimately finding it too out-there.

In any case of Hollywood rejected it, the pair’s manager suggested bringing Judd Apatow in for guidance.

Subsequent re-writes saw the plane crash/cannibalism storyline fade, and the battle of the sexes between the characters then generally known as Rod Burgundy and Alicia Corningstone grow to be more distinguished.

After Ferrell became a star in 2003 because of his roles in “Elf” and “Old School,” doors swung open for the pair.

Even Steven Spielberg was reportedly dismayed that his DreamWorks had let a previous option for Ferrell’s next film lapse.

But DreamWorks eventually won the rights to the film in a bidding war, and Ferrell and McKay began assembling their fantasy forged — which looked nothing just like the eventual forged of the film.

Initially, they imagined John C. Reilly as sportscaster Champ Kind, Ben Stiller because the suave Brian Fantana, and Chris Parnell as dense weatherman Brick Tamland.

James Spader even read the script and one way or the other saw himself as Brick.

He told McKay that he would do anything to get the role — except audition for it.

While it’s hard now to assume anyone but Steve Carell as Brick, “Bob’s Burgers” actor Jay Johnston also auditioned well for the part, and Ferrell and McKay agonized for days over the alternative before finally agreeing on Carell.

Several of the film’s major roles got here all the way down to tough selections. 

While Stiller was by then too famous for a supporting role, there have been two great actors up for the a part of Brian Fantana: Paul Rudd and Bob Odenkirk.

Eventually, Ferrell and McKay agreed on Rudd, as he had a “cheesy playboy quality” they felt was essential for the part.

Reilly was already committed to Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” leaving the a part of Champ open for Ferrell’s SNL co-star David Koechner.

For the crucial role of Veronica Corningstone, Amy Adams and Maggie Gyllenhaal gave implausible auditions.

But Ferrell and McKay felt that Adams looked too young to play Veronica, and Gyllenhaal a bit too high class. Christina Applegate filled these gaps, and her audition made it clear that she could be Veronica.

Ferrell and McKay accomplished the film’s script, however the filming involved each script-reverent takes and opportunities for improvisational madness, which were indicated after securing solid takes of the scripted material by McKay yelling out, “Let’s let the squirrel out of the bag!”

A lot of the movie’s scenes found the actors improvising countless lines.

Some were utilized in the film, and others wound up on various unrated or extra DVD versions.

After Koechner’s Champ talks about waking up in a Japanese family’s rec room after a heavy night of drinking, Koechner improvised other versions, including, “I woke up this morning and I s–t a squirrel . . . rattling thing’s still alive.”

Carell, a veteran improviser from his days at Second City, didn’t miss a beat as he replied, “I’m sorry, Champ. I feel I ate your chocolate squirrel.”

There have been less funny moments behind the scenes as well.

Within the film’s climax, where Veronica finds herself trapped in a bear pit, Applegate appeared opposite an actual bear.

The crew had been warned to not make any sudden gestures for fear of triggering the bear, and wires were installed “to provide the bear the impression that the pit was electrified,” writes Austerlitz, “but they were merely for show.”

But attributable to a miscommunication, a scene where Victoria waves her arms to get Ron’s attention unintentionally gave the bear the instruction to surge forward.

“The bear unexpectedly lunged in Applegate’s direction, its claws prolonged,” writes Austerlitz. “The bear’s handler leaped in, grabbing Applegate across the waist and throwing her out of the best way. Applegate was yanked out a side door and away from the bear.”

Applegate was “shaking uncontrollably,” and McKay shut down production for the remainder of the day.

“Anchorman,” a moderate box office stumble on its July 2004 release, grew into one of the quotable and memeable movies of its era, spawning familiar, oft-repeated lines including “I’m in a glass case of emotion,” “I’m sort of a giant deal,” “You stay classy, San Diego,” and “Sixty percent of the time it really works each time.”

Due to Ferrell and McKay, Ron Burgundy’s glass case of emotion has made him one of the iconic movie characters of the past quarter-century.

“[Ron Burgundy] has grow to be an archetype, an easy recognizable holy buffoon,” writes Austerlitz. “Whether we love Ron, despise him, or are tired of him . . . he’s the rare character to tackle a meaning and significance beyond the story through which we discover him.”