Will Ferrell plays a plethora of iconic characters. But if there’s one character he plays that everyone knows come Christmas time, it’s Buddy the Elf from the Christmas movie Elf. We could have seen Buddy in an Elf 2, but Will Ferrell recently opened up about why he was opposed to making a sequel. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter on Oct. 28, Ferrell explained why he turned down this opportunity even though it offered $29 million.
The actor was very honest about how he felt about the second movie, saying he didn’t like the concept of the film. “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,'” Ferrell said in the interview. “And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.'” Ferrell further explained that he had doubts about the sequel’s success and thought, “Boy, this could be the end,” as he trotted around New York City in his “silly yellow tights.”
However, as The Daily Beast noted, co-star James Caan said last year there was more to the story. He said Ferrell didn’t get along with filmmaker Jon Favreau.
“We were gonna do it, and I thought ‘Oh my God, I finally have a franchise movie. I can make some money, let my kids do what the hell they want to do,'” Caan told 92.3 The Fan last year. “The director and Will didn’t get along very well. Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director. He had it in his contract. It was one of those things.”
It’s sad we may never get to see Buddy the Elf again, but just remember: sequels are never as good as the original.
