In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, comedic actor Will Ferrell divulged that he had turned down a $29 million USD offer to make an Elf sequel.
Ferrell recalls the moment he refused the multi-million dollar deal to play Buddy, the man who was raised by Santa’s elves, just because the script was bad. He shared,
“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place, which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money.’ And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words?’ I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”
At the time of its release in 2003, Elf was a raving success, grossing $220 million USD against a $33 million USD budget, later becoming one of the most popular Christmas movies of all time. However, the film did receive one negative review from The Washington Post, which called Elf “the first and possibly the last Will Ferrell star vehicle.” Looking back at the film, Elf has in fact cemented Ferrel’s status as a “bona fide movie star.”
In other projects, Will Ferrell is currently filming a holiday musical film with Ryan Reynolds. The movie, titled Spirited is set to release on Apple TV+ soon. Ferrel can also be seen in Apple TV+’s latest series, The Shrink Next Door with Paul Rudd, dropping on November 12.
Elsewhere in entertainment, Jake Gyllenhaal is set to star in Guy Ritchie’s action-thriller The Interpreter.
