DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Anchorman (Unrated, Uncut & Uncalled For) (1 Viewer)

[Matt Stone]

There's no insert in Wake Up Ron Bergundy.

 

[ToddS]

My Wake Up Ron Burgundy had an insert. It is quite funny too.

 

[Matt Stone]

Really...hmmm. Mine didn't have one, and neither did the one a friend of mine bought.

 

[Tom Brennan]

The insert is quite heavy. It's Ron Burgundy's hysterical day planner.

 

[TonyD]

found that earlier in this thread.

 

[Vincent-P]

Has anyone bought the 2 pack from Best Buy and recieved the "day planner" insert? I got mine from there with the extra exclusive bonus disc, but I didn't get the insert. I'm curious if there is a connection. I'm probably going to try exchanging it for another copy, but I wanted to check if it might be a fruitless effort.

 

[Jason Adams]

Mine got the insert. I got it the very day it was out...it's possible those inserts were for a limited printing.

 

[AnthonyC]

I ordered from Amazon and did not get an insert. :frowning: I also didn't know about the BB disc until after it arrived... I really hope they offer a way for me to get these two items; I'd love to have them.

 

[Timothy Alexander]

I also got the "Many Months of Ron Burgundy" insert inside the Wake-Up Ron Burgundy case, and I bought my copy from Best Buy. It's pretty damn hilarious.

 

[mike caronia]

no insert, bought at best buy.

 

[Matt Stone]

Same here. Damn Best Buy.

 

[Josh Sieg]

my insert for the regular anchorman was an advertisement for other dreamworks titles. But i did get the book with Wake Up.

 

[CraigF]

Another of my "for those on the fence and don't mind waiting a bit" cheapskate consumer alerts: Anchorman will be two-packed with Old School for somewhat less than the current price of Anchorman alone.

 

[AnthonyC]

Anyone have contact info (email) for Dreamworks? I really want the booklet and bonus disc if there's any way to get them without returning the set I already have.

 

[jonathan_govols]

Any new news about what the commentary on the Full Frame PG-13 DVD is like? I appreciate it.

 

[mike caronia]

Like everybody doesn't have Old School already! HA

YOU'RE MY BOY BLUE!

 

[Tom Brennan]

Was this a really troubled production? While making it did the filmmakers realize the movie wasn't working and decided to drop the Alarm Clock sub-plot and instead go with the panda sub-plot? It seems that way after you watch the second disc, since what's shown isn't very good and jokes in it sometimes seem more polished in the final film.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

I picked up my copy of "Wake Up" along with one for my brother at a BB in Columbus, OH. Neither had the daily planner insert. That's really weird.

 

[Jason Adams]

Even the narration on the Wake Up DVD says that sometimes things material has to be changed because test audiences didnt find them funny.

 

[Jeff Krispow]

Well, I do have an answer for you about this -- my wife's an actress (does tons of TV, film & occasional stage work), and always gets called in to do some background work for Will Ferrell's films (except for Elf, since that filmed in New York, and not in Los Angeles where we live).

Anyway, Paula spent several weeks working on Anchorman, as she was part of the main Channel 4 News Team staff. (If anyone is really interested, she can be seen in many of the newroom scenes in both the regular and the Wake Up films, especially in the conference room scenes. She's the cute skinny sandy-blonde-haired gal who has this long waaavy "strand" of hair hanging over her shoulder. For example, she's at the right side of the frame glaring at Fred Willard at ~14:32).

Anyway, Paula was called in during the main production to work on the newsroom sequences, which were shot during August-September 2003 in Glendale, CA. About three months later (December 2003), she was called back in for extensive reshoots, this time at Griffith Park and the old Los Angeles Zoo location. The production needed a zoo location for approximately two weeks of reshoots, but this schedule would be too disruptive for a regular "working" zoo -- which meant filming at the Los Angeles Zoo or San Diego Zoo was out. Thankfully, the old Griffith Park Zoo location was still around (it closed in 1966 when the "new" L.A. County Zoo opened -- if you're familiar with Griffith Park, it's located behind the Merry-Go-Round area). The production fixed it up, populated it with some loaned animals, and filmed all the new zoo footage. Additionally, they needed to film all new newroom wraparounds relating to the new panda storyline, but unfortunately the newsroom set was struck months earlier -- so the production set up a large tent nearby and rebuilt the entire newsroom. Yowch!

Okay, so those are the production specifics, but what about the reasons behind the reshoot itself? Here's exactly what Paula was told about the reasons behind the reshoots, and what she has to say about the filming:

Anchorman wasn't really a "troubled production" -- Ferrell and McKay knew the movie they wanted to make, and made it. Unfortunately, they did run into problems with the test screening audiences (as Jason reported above, and the Wake Up Ron Burgundy commentary touched upon).

During the original shooting, there was no newborn panda storyline whatsoever. The main story hook for the movie -- their "big news story" -- revolved around this radical underground militia group calling themselves "The Alarm Clock Gang" who rob banks and kidnap Veronica. Ron and his fellow newsteam members rescue Veronica and capture the gang. The first test screening of the original cut was held in Glendale, CA at the end of November 2003, and the results weren't good -- while the test audience enjoyed the majority of the film, the main "bank robber" storyline tested horribly… really horribly. Paula wasn't told what the exact responses were, other than they "weren't good" and "the test audiences just hated it." And that was enough for the studio to take action… The studio demanded that the film be reworked and ordered the production to do whatever reshoots were necessary to fix the problem. The "bank robber" plot was out and would have to be replaced with something more appealing to audiences -- the result being the entirely new Panda storyline ("everyone loves Pandas, right?"). As stated earlier, the new storyline involved both filming the zoo sequences and any panda-related newsroom wraparounds.

Unfortunately, test audiences these days wield far too much power with the studios these day, who will drastically rework any movie in an attempt to make it "attractive" and/or "entertaining" to the widest number of audiences possible. Since the studios care far more about the almighty dollar and maximizing boxoffice profits, they are happily willing to sacrifice filmmaker integrity just to ensure that "Mr. & Mrs. Average" (represented by test audiences) likes every single film they see. (As far as we're concerned, movies shouldn't be tailor-made to fit every audience or individual -- filmmakers should make the movies THEY want to make, and if audiences happen to enjoy the result, terrific -- but if not… tough darts, baby! Go watch something else.)

Test screenings for the revised cut of the film started in late February 2004. The majority of the film tested well again, as did the new Panda storyline, which received much higher ratings from the audience, and favorable ones at that.

Also, my wife says the reason they had enough footage to create the alternative-universe Wake Up Ron Burgundy film (not so much a "second" film as an alternate reality "what if" tale) isn't entirely because of the jettisoned "Alarm Clock Gang" footage. Ferrell and company would shoot long take after take after take, testing out different ideas a multitude of different ways, hoping to eventually strike comedy gold. As you can tell from some of the extras, Farrell often just babbles (er, imprivises) endlessly (which is why they often had 16 hour + shooting days), and they'd pull the best bits from these super-long takes to use within the final film.

One perfect example of this "type" of shooting can be found on the Best Buy exclusive "Breaking News! Hilarious Stuff You Can't Live Without" bonus disc (for those of you who have it). This bonus disc contains an Easter Egg featuring one lengthly unedited take (running 8:02) where Ron Burgundy gives the eulogy during Baxter's funeral (which if you haven't seen the film isn't a spoiler, since it was completely cut). FYI: To access this egg, at the Main Menu, select "Today's Headlines" and press RIGHT. This will highlight a circular Channel 4 station logo. Press ENTER to view the scene. (You can also access it directly via Title 5.)

That's why so much of the footage from Wake Up Ron Burgundy is similar yet different… while the basic idea behind the scene would be the same, and the general setup identical, Ferrell would explore it differently each time, enough so that the end results would be varied and different enough from the previous take. Paula also said that Ferrell shot so much "improvisational explorations" that they could likely easily create yet another "alternative storyline" movie should they wish to.

Well, that's the full story of, er, everything Ron Burgundy. We hope that this answered whatever questions you had about the production and/or reshoots, and maybe a few other related things as well. If anyone has any other questions about the production itself, feel free to ask… if she knows the answers, Paula says she'll be happy to answer…

Regards to all,
Jeff and Paula