Answer the Telephone Like Buddy the Elf Day is observed annually on December 18th.
Buddy the Elf was played by Will Farrell in the 2003 movie Elf. Simply answer the phone and say “(Insert your Name) the Elf, what’s your favorite color.”
Use #AnswerThePhoneLikeBuddyTheElfDay to post on social media.
- WILL FERRELL WAS ONCE A MALL SANTA. And his A Night at the Roxbury co-star Chris Kattan was his elf. This was back when the pair were pre-Saturday Night Live, and part of the comedy troupe The Groundlings.
- Peter Billingsley, who memorably played the Red Ryder-wanting Ralphie in the 1983 holiday classic, popped in to play Ming the elf. It’s an uncredited role, but between the glasses and those bright baby blue eyes, Billingsley stands out as an A Christmas Story Easter egg.
- As a writer/director/actor, Favreau has often appeared in his own films. He fronted Made with friend Vince Vaughn, and later found a sweet supporting role for himself in Iron Man. You may have picked him out as the doctor in Elf, but on the DVD commentary, Favreau revealed he also tapped in to his inner narwhal and provided the voices for some of the stop-animation critters who see Buddy off from the North Pole. He also voiced the rabid raccoon Buddy encounters.
- MACY’S STOOD IN FOR GIMBELS. The sprawling department store that takes up a whole block in Manhattan was digitally altered to transform into Elf‘s Gimbels. A bit awkward: Gimbels was once a real department store, and a noted rival of Macy’s. Though immortalized here and in the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street, the department store closed its doors in 1987, its 100th year of operation.
- The concept of the film was originally pitched in 1993, with Carrey attached to the lead role. But the film took over 10 years to be made, and he was eventually replaced with Will Ferrell. Carrey went on to star in two other Christmas films: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and A Christmas Carol.
- Will Ferrell actually got quite sick due to all the sweets he had to consume while filming. (Remember the spaghetti with syrup? Gross!) Ferrell complained of trouble sleeping and headaches because of all the sugar.
- The Scenes Where Buddy Is Exploring NYC Were Filmed Last. “The last day of shooting in New York, we just took cameras,” the Elf director revealed about shooting Will’s adventures in New York City. “We didn’t even have the director of photography. We just took a cameraman and a film loader and some PAs and went around the city in a van, jumped out and threw people some money and got to use all different locations … with all real people around him [Ferrell]. I put him in those situations and he had to improvise and stay in character while dealing with people who, for the most part, didn’t even know they were in a movie.”
- Forced perspective was used instead of CGI to make it look like Buddy was a giant.
- WHEN BUDDY SANG IN SANTALAND, THOSE LYRICS WEREN’T IN THE SCRIPT.
- Remember when Buddy was escorted out at the Empire State Building? As it turns out, one of the security guards was played by Will’s real-life brother Patrick.
- Will Ferrell’s reactions in this scene are totally genuine. Director Jon Favreau used a remote control to manually pop the jack-in-the-boxes in order to surprise Will Ferrell.
Sources:
