Will Ferrell admitted why he turned down a sequel to “Elf” despite the $29 million dollar paycheck.
“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place,” Ferrell said, “which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money.'”
Noting the script’s rehashed premise, he said he mulled over what his motivation would be for doing such a film and confessed, “I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.'”
And while the movie is a holiday staple in most families, there was a point where Ferell believed it was the end of his career.
He recalled a moment when he was in New York City wearing Buddy’s fashionable yellow tights and thought to himself, “Boy, this could be the end.”
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But thankfully, “Elf” amassed $222.3 million during its box office run and captivated audiences everywhere.
This past week, Ferrell opened up about his upcoming Apple TV series, “Shrink Next Door,” as well as how earnestly he tries to make other’s lives birghter when he is not in front of the camera.
“We feel like we’re constantly letting people down,” says Ferrell of comedian-actor types.
“People come up to me all the time, like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s you! Do something funny!’ and I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
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And with everything going on in the world, at the end of the day, Ferrell just wants to make you laugh.
“There’s just so much going on in the world, and sometimes it’s nice to turn your brain off,” says Ferrell, who’s reminded of one of his heroes, Steve Martin, who has also spoke about comedy in the 1970s in the same way.
“Coming out of the ’60s, which were so contentious, Steve was like, ‘Everyone’s doing message comedy, and I just want to walk out with an arrow shooting through my head,’ and that’s kind of how I feel right now.”
And while his next project isn’t anything like what he just described, it is something that has challenged the actor.
“It definitely pushed me beyond my comfort zone,” says Ferrell, “but I’m getting more interested in doing things that scare me to death.”