The film recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and is without a doubt one of the classic Christmas films watched by families around the world every year. Now an Elf star has revealed what it was really like working with Will Ferrell.
The 2003 film, directed by Jon Favreau, stars 56-year-old Will as Buddy Hobbs – also known as Buddy the Elf – an eccentric individual who was raised by Santa's elves and eventually sets out to find his biological father Walter Hobbs – played by James Caan – in New York City.
The film also stars Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen and Peter Dinklage, but perhaps one of the holiday hit's most memorable characters is the postal worker – with whom Buddy ends up getting drunk after mistaking his alcohol for syrup.
Mark Acheson is the man who took on the role of Buddy's unexpected sidekick and spent almost an entire day on set improvising with Will, even filming an epic Christmas carol-singing scene that was cut from the film and never actually saw the light of day.
Will Ferrell plays the main character in the popular Christmas film Elf
The feel-good festive film was released in November 2003 and continues to be a hit with families around the world every year
Mark Acheson played the role of a mailroom clerk who eventually befriends Ferrell's character, Buddy Hobbs
Speaking exclusively to , Mark revealed that he was hired to only say two words in the film but ended up spending 22 hours on set and as fans know, he appears more than once in the film.
“The whole film, the whole film was a big surprise for me – both the way I acted in it and what happened and then how it went after that,” the 66-year-old actor explained.
“I was only asked to sing one line, I didn’t audition for the film. Favreau asked if I would come over and recite one phrase, “work release,” and that would be the end of my day. I said, “So I can work with Will Ferrell?” Sure, yeah, I’ll come over and do it!”
“And then we did 22 hours that day and added all the other stuff, and it was all a big surprise to me.” That's indicative of the very last day of filming. I didn't know until later that this was the very last day of shooting for the entire film!'
When asked how he survived such a long day on set, Mark replied: “Well, I've done a lot of sixteens.” I've done a lot of sixteens in my career, but 22 is definitely crazy. I showed up on set and they gave me one of the most beautiful trailers I've ever had in my life and I thought, “This is going to be nice, I won't be here long but I'll enjoy it,” but then I was allowed never be in the caravan at all!'
Mark continued: “It was the very last day of photography for Elf and that means the crews had no turnaround time and that's why they kept us for 22 hours and I think Favreau and Ferrell just wanted to add as much as they could.” I could imagine that because it was her last step in front of the camera.”
In a scene that never made it into the film – and footage that Mark still hasn't seen two decades later – it involves Buddy, the elf, drenching Mark's character with buckets of water during the unforgettable dance scene turned.
“The very last thing Favreau did [said]…and this is something that really confuses me… is that we did the dance thing at the very end where Will Ferrell is dancing on the tables and Jon Favreau says, “Mark, we want Will to pull down a water pipe.” .” on you and pour water down on you and do something like Flashdance and we want you to sing a Christmas song as loud as you can while the gallons of water pour down on you all at once and that's what we have. The whole complex is cordoned off so we don't flood the streets. Are you good with that, Mark?”
Mark was only hired to say two words, but he ended up having several scenes in the film
The 66-year-old actor confirmed that the scene where he lies down next to Will was completely improvised
“Elf” grossed $220 million worldwide on a budget of $33 million and remains one of the most popular Christmas films
Bob Newhart (left) also stars in the film, playing the role of Papa Elf, Buddy's adoptive father and the film's narrator
“And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m absolutely thrilled with this idea!’ and they drowned me like a rat! At the end of the day, 22 hours later, I walked into that trailer completely soaked and drowned and couldn't believe what a day I'd had!'
The actor confirmed that he still hasn't seen the footage all these years later: “There's no outtakes or anything like that, which really threw me off because I understand it's not in the film, I understand that, but you could imagine something like this. 'It took two hours to set up, it would be somewhere in the outtakes, but no!'
Mark also revealed some behind-the-scenes secrets about the part of the film where he and Will lie side by side and laugh after their characters drink a little too much alcohol.
Referring to their conversation, Mark confirmed, “Everything was improvised.” They hung a few notes on the ceiling, things about age, ideas about where to go, but they just said, “Have fun.”
“It was a really tough gig,” Mark then joked. “Lying and laughing next to one of the funniest guys in movies and television.” “It was one of the easiest changes I've ever made, and Will Ferrell and Jon Favreau… I just followed them and they were so kind and nice to me .”
In fact, Mark also revealed that Jon actually had to convince film bosses to keep his scenes in the film – because they weren't impressed with the scene where his character tells Buddy he's 26 years old.
“I was so happy with how I stayed in this film, but the producers wanted to cut me out of the overall role and Favreau had to fight for me,” Mark revealed.
“They said, 'Who the hell is going to believe this guy is 26 years old?' and Favreau said, 'That's the joke!' I mean, I was actually 46 when I said that line!'
Zooey Deschanel plays the role of Jovie, a listless worker at Gimbels toy store and Buddy's love interest
Will and director Jon Favreau at the New York film premiere of Elf in November 2003
The Chronicles of Riddick actor admitted that starring in Elf gave him “so much work,” but had no idea at the time that the film would be such a huge success.
“I was really amazed and I didn't know it would be such a huge success and I certainly didn't know it would become a classic,” he said. “I've only done two or three like this that are kind of similar, but this is definitely the best.”
“I'm always happy when I get a balance check from Elf because it's always big and never goes down, and I love that because it's kind of like my retirement account because I'm 66 now and semi-retired.”
However, despite his fond memories of working on the film, Mark admitted that he doesn't watch Elf every December: “I watch it every now and then, but I don't watch it every Christmas like other people do are forced.” !'
“It's been a huge benefit to me because it's like free advertising for my career every year.” But I watched it a few weeks ago because I was going to a convention in Las Vegas to sign autographs and when I watched it I thought, 'This is a well-made film.' It was really well-made.'