Christina Applegate Was Offered an ‘Offensive’ Salary for ‘Anchorman'

My small town was not ready for Anchorman. The Will Ferrell vehicle may have hit the country (or at least teenagers) by storm, but I distinctly remember a local morning radio DJ playing a clip from the movie and lamenting what comedy had become. I haven’t watched that film in years, but I remember laughing for the entire runtime. I was, of course, enamored with the four male leads and their comedic antics, but that made Christina Applegate’s ability to go toe-to-toe with them even more impressive.

It’s plenty fun and silly to be big and craaaazy in a comedy movie, but someone has to be a counterpoint, and Applegate nails that in Anchorman. Without her grounding the film, not just in her delivery but in its message about changing times and social structures, it just doesn’t work. She’s integral to everything, and they’re lucky they got her to be in it at all, which makes it even more disappointing that the studio tried to underpay her for her work.

Applegate was a well-established star when Anchorman came out. They were lucky to have her. And yet, the studio still tried to lowball her. In a recent appearance on The View (via THR), she revealed that she almost walked away from the whole thing. “When they came in with the initial offer, it was, you know, a little offensive,” Applegate explained to the hosts. “And I said I can’t. I know my worth, and I can’t do that.” Luckily, standing her ground worked out, because, at least, the creators knew her worth as well.

The television star was convinced to do the film by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, who took money out of their salaries to pay her more. “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,” Applegate noted. “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.”

I love it when stories like these have nice endings. Not only did Aplegate get her proper bag (or at least something close), but she also has fond memories of the experience. It was all worth it. If only they had done a sequel to the movie at some point. That could have been fun. But, alas, we’ll never… what’s that?