Will Ferrell, Adam McKay gave pay to boost Christina Applegate’s Anchorman role

Christina Applegate has revealed that her co-star Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay donated a portion of their salaries to her after she received a low pay offer for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

The Dead to Me actress revealed that Ferrell and McKay wanted her to play Veronica Corningstone in the 2004 workplace comedy so much that they were willing to give her a portion of their salaries after she turned down an "offensive" initial offer.

"When they came in with the initial offer, it was, you know, a little offensive," Applegate said. "And I said I can't. I know my worth, and I can't do that."

However, the film's director McKay and leading man Ferrell, who played the titular Ron Burgundy, intervened to get her onboard.

"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," she praised.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, set in San Diego in the 1970s, follows top TV anchor Ron, whose world is turned upside down when a woman, Veronica, is hired to join the male-dominated news team and fights him for the position of anchor.

Applegate shared that she learned a valuable lesson in improvising from watching Ferrell and their co-stars Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner go off-script. She admitted that she was "so scared" when McKay encouraged her to "make stuff up" because she wanted to say her lines in Ferrell and McKay's script.

"I had never done improv before. Learning from that group of dudes... that is the masterclass that people pay for," she gushed. "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."

Applegate and the core cast reprised their roles for the 2013 sequel Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.