The cast for this film was absolutely loaded with talent. From Steve Carell to Paul Rudd, to David Koechner, to, of course, Will Ferrell. Believe it or not, despite the film’s success, it initially struggled to get the green light from studios. For that reason, Ferrell admits, it is his favorite project of them all, “The one that stands out as the favorite, and it’s a hard choice, is Anchorman. Because of the journey that it took," Ferrell said. "And it’s kind of the Cinderella story of the movie no one wanted to make."
As Will admitted with The Ringer, getting the film approved was a challenge in itself. The script faced a lot of criticism early on and Will was forced to pivot eventually from the initial script.
The Rejected Version Was Based On A ‘70s Film
The initial version of ‘Anchorman’ was based on a ‘70s film entitled ‘Alive’. As Ferrell revealed with The Ringer, the film would’ve had a much different plot to work with, “The year is 1976, and we are flying to Philadelphia, and all the newsmen from around the country are flying in to have some big convention," he said. "Ron convinces the pilot that he knows how to fly the charter jet, and he immediately crash-lands it in the mountains. And it’s just the story of them surviving and trying to get off the mountainside. They clipped a cargo plane, and the cargo plane crashed as well, close to them, and it was carrying only boxes of orangutans and Chinese throwing stars. So throughout the movie we’re being stalked by orangutans who are killing, one by one, the team off with throwing stars.”
The first version of the film was a big-time fail according to studios. Ultimately, the film would get a complete makeover. Though even after its production was complete, some were unsure if the film would have any success.
Test-Screen Reactions Were Mixed
Watching the film for the first time, some would go as far as to say that they wanted their money back. Ferrell understood, some got the concept while others clearly didn’t, “Even in the testing that you do for the movie, some people got it right away, other people didn’t know what they were watching. We also had to reshoot the ending. … We even had one of the marketing people at the studio at the time say to other members of the press, ‘Oh, you don’t even have to watch it. It’s not that good.”
We can safely say that the film was a smash hit and nothing like what some predicted for the film. It might be Will’s best work of his entire career.
Sources: The Ringer & EW