Will Ferrell on Making His First Christmas Movie Since Elf : Spirited Had 'a Wonderful Idea'

Skyler Caruso
·3 min read
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Will Ferrell Talks 'Timing' in Doing First Christmas Movie Since Elf Over a Decade Later
Will Ferrell Talks 'Timing' in Doing First Christmas Movie Since Elf Over a Decade Later

Cindy Ord/Getty

Will Ferrell says making his new Christmas movie Spirited with costar Ryan Reynolds all came down to great timing.

At the New York City premiere of Spirited at Alice Tully Hall on Monday, Ferrell, widely loved for his role as Buddy the Elf in the 2003 holiday film Elf, revealed that he and Reynolds had been in conversation about making the new movie as long as "five years ago."

"It was, you know what? The timing of things like that just happened when they happened," Ferrell told PEOPLE on Monday. "I mean, we had actually talked about this movie five years ago."

"Yeah, it was just a wonderful idea that I had responded to," Ferrell added. "I thought it was a really brilliant way to redo Christmas Carol, kind of from the ghost of Christmas present perspective and to also be in a musical for the first time where I really had to kind of do it for real."

RELATED: Will Ferrell Reveals He Turned Down Elf Sequel Despite $29 Million Payday

Asked whether fans can expect Ferrell to star in more musicals moving forward, the actor and comedian joked that he's "going to be starring in Mean Girls."

Will Ferrell Talks 'Timing' in Doing First Christmas Movie Since Elf Over a Decade Later
Will Ferrell Talks 'Timing' in Doing First Christmas Movie Since Elf Over a Decade Later

Rob Kim/WireImage

In Elf, Ferrell's Buddy the Elf travels to New York City to find his biological father Walter Hobbs (James Caan) after having been raised in the North Pole by Santa's elves.

The movie was a box office hit, grossing $223 million worldwide as it grew into an instant Christmas classic. In October 2021, Ferrell told The Hollywood Reporter that he turned down a $29 million payday for taking part in an Elf sequel because it had a similar premise to the 2003 original.

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"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 told THR at the time. "And I thought, 'Can I actually say those words? I don't think I can, so I guess I can't do the movie.' "

ELF, Daniel Tay, James Caan, Will Ferrell, 2003
ELF, Daniel Tay, James Caan, Will Ferrell, 2003

New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

In December 2013, Ferrell said there would "absolutely not" be a sequel to Elf. "It would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back into the Elf tights," he said on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live.

RELATED: Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell Bicker Through A Christmas Carol Retelling in New Spirited Trailer

In Ferrell and Reynolds' new movie Spirited, "the Ghost of Christmas Present selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits," each Christmas Eve, according to an official synopsis for the film. "But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge."

"Clint Briggs turns the tables on his ghostly host until Present finds himself reexamining his own past, present and future," the synopsis adds. "For the first time, A Christmas Carol is told from the perspective of the ghosts in this hilarious musical twist on the classic Dickens tale."

Spirited premieres in theaters on Nov. 11, before streaming on Apple TV+ Nov. 18.