You can always tell Christmas is near when carols fill the air.
What better way to renew your spirit than by bingeing on Christmas movies?
A movie that still gives us fuzzy feelings more than two decades after its release is Elf.
Although you’ve probably seen this holiday classic more than once, these feel-good facts will make you love it even more!
Will Ferrell used to work as a mall Santa.
Elf isn’t Will Ferrell’s first rodeo working in Santa’s enterprise.
He worked, alongside his co-star Chris Kattan, in the mall during Christmas as part of a comedy troupe.
Ferrell was Santa, while Kattan was his elf. It seems like destiny brought Ferrell to play Buddy, as the role gave elves some much-deserved love.
Will Ferrell caused accidents during the filming of the movie.
What would you have done if, while driving through New York in 2003, you spotted Will Ferrell in his cute elf outfit with a pointy hat?
Well, this sight was enough to cause more than one fender bender.
People were so shocked to see Ferrell on the streets that they took their eyes off the road for too long.
Thankfully, no one got severely hurt in the accidents.
Will Ferrell’s reactions to the Jack in the Box toys were genuine.
Remember the scene where Buddy tests out an endless lineup of Jack in the Box toys?
You’d think that after trying so many, he’d be used to them.
Yet, when Jack pops out of the box, Buddy reacts shocked. Well, Will Ferrell wasn’t faking it.
The crew held the controls for the box and would randomly push the button to release the Jack in the Box so that Buddy would be shocked each time.
Jim Carrey almost played Buddy in the movie.
It’s hard to imagine anyone but Will Ferrell as Buddy. However, when David Berenbaum wrote Elf in 1993, Will Ferrell wasn’t on his mind.
He originally pictured Jim Carrey for the role.
A decade later, Jim Carrey wasn’t available when production started for Elf.
It all worked out in the end because Will Ferrell embodied the role of Buddy in a way no one else could have.
The “nice list” contained the crews’ names.
As a kid, waking up to presents on Christmas morning meant you made it onto Santa’s nice list, but you never got to see the list yourself.
Luckily, the crew got to spy on Santa’s list.
The nice list that Santa showed Michael contained the names of everyone who helped with the movie’s production.
It was a heartwarming way to appreciate their hard work.
The cotton balls were actually cotton candy.
When Buddy visits the doctor’s office, he pushes lots of cotton balls into his mouth.
He later revealed that they weren’t cotton balls but cotton candy.
Will Ferrell swallowed mouthfuls of cotton candy between each take for that scene.
That was only one of the many scenes where Ferrell ate so much sugar, which took a toll on him.
Coupled with working so hard and getting little sleep, Ferrell suffered headaches on set.
They used CGI for the snow.
I hate to break it to you, but most of the snow you saw on your screen was fake.
It was good CGI because it had us fooled for a long time.
The pile of snowballs on Ferrell’s arms during the fight scene was computer generated.
The snowflakes that drifted across your screen at the movie’s start were also fake.
They took clever shots to make Ferrell bigger!
Not all iconic scenes on Elf were computer generated.
They used platforms and angles to make Buddy seem much bigger than the other elves.
In their scenes together, Papa Elf would sit several feet behind Buddy.
These creative shots made the other elves appear much smaller.
Will Ferrell cried during the premiere.
No matter how many times we’ve seen Elf in the past, it still tugs on our heartstrings.
Will Ferrell felt similar overwhelming emotions during the premiere and shed tears.
One scene that got him is when everyone in Central Park is singing, and Buddy is singing along while seated in the back seat of the sleigh.
They almost made a sequel.
The movie did so well at the box office that they were ready to make another one.
After all, what’s better than one great movie? Two great movies!
Unfortunately, Will Ferrell turned down the role despite receiving an offer of $29 million.
He just felt it was too similar to the first one.
We may never see an Elf sequel, and that’s completely okay!
We can always pop the movie on our screens during the holiday season or whenever we feel like it.
After all, the movie became a Christmas classic for a reason, right?
