15 Things You Didn't Know About Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy

15. The Plot Was Inspired By A True Story

Although Anchorman is regarded as an outlandish, over-the-top comedy, the inspiration for the film is grounded in reality and was inspired by a documentary Will Ferrell saw on television one night, which was based on female news anchor, Jessica Savitch.

The documentary focuses on Savitch’s rise in the male-dominated newsrooms of the '70s and how her co-workers reacted to a female news anchor infiltrating their industry.

Ferrell found that some of her colleagues’ comments in the documentary were unintentionally funny and was fascinated by the petulant reaction by the men when a woman first entered their newsroom.

He recalled one of Savitch’s former co-anchors, Mort Crim, literally admitting in the documentary that he "was a real male chauvinist pig. I was not nice to her."

With comments like that, you won’t be surprised to learn that Crim was the main inspiration for the Ron Burgundy character.