Will Ferrell Turned Down $29 Million to Star in an Elf Sequel

Ho, ho, ho? More like, no, no, no. Will Ferrell recently revealed that he walked away from a $29 million dollar offer to star in an Elf sequel. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ferrell recalls turning down the small fortune he was offered to play Buddy—a large man raised by elves who loves Santa and spaghetti—because the script was so bad.

“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. “And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”

An enormous hit when it came out in 2003, Elf grossed $220 million against a budget of $33 million, and has since become one of the most successful Christmas movies of all time. (The film did receive a negative review from The Washington Post, which called Elf “the first and possibly the last Will Ferrell star vehicle.”) Still, a smashing success and a hefty paycheck were not enough to get Ferrell to don Buddy’s yellow tights again.

While Ferrell says his choice to turn down an Elf sequel was based on the material, other theories have been floated. In 2020, James Caan, who played Buddy’s biological father in the movie, discussed what went awry with the Elf sequel on radio station 92.3 The Fan, suggesting that it fell apart because Ferrell didn’t get along with Elf director Jon Favreau. “The director and Will didn’t get along very well,” Caan said. “Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director. He had it in his contract. It was one of those things.”

While the world never got a sequel, Elf has been adapted into an animated special, a video game, and a successful Broadway musical. And not for nothing, the original remains a Christmas classic. A lesson for Hollywood: Sometimes, it’s better to walk away.

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