Actor James Caan has revealed that an Elf sequel ‘will never happen’ because of tension between star Will Ferrell and director Jon Favreau.
The 80-year-old Godfather star, who played the father of Ferrell’s character Buddy Hobbs in the 2003 festive classic, explained that he and the cast were both excited and prepared to make a sequel, but it never came to be due to friction between Favreau and Ferrell, 53.
‘We were gonna do it and I thought, “Oh my god, I finally got a franchise movie, I could make some money, let my kids do what the hell they want to do,”‘ he told Cleveland’s 92.3 The Fan’s Bull & Fox.
Bad blood: Actor James Caan, 80, revealed in a radio interview that the reason a sequel to the 2003 Christmas classic Elf will never happen is because star Will Ferrell, 53, and director Jon Favreau, 53, do not get along; from left, Amy Sedaris, Caan and Ferrell
Caan continued, ‘The director and Will didn’t get along very well. So, Will wanted to do it, he didn’t want the director, and he had it in his contract, it was one of those things.’
Reportedly the contracts were structured in a way that mandated both the director and actor to be on board for the project in order for a sequel to be made.
The film’s plot centers around an elf named Buddy who is raised in the North Pole by Santa’s helpers.
After learning he was adopted, Ferrell heads to NYC to meet his biological father while spreading Christmas cheer.
Classic Christmas: Director Favreau wanted to create a movie that exhibited some sense of nostalgia for the Rankin/Bass movies of the 70s and 80s and thus rewrote the script to have Ferrell’s character be of that time
Boiling over: Reportedly the Elf contracts were structured in a way that mandated both Favreau and Ferrell be on board for a sequel to occur. Will Ferrell and Jon Favreau appear at the Elf premiere in NYC in 2003
High hopes: Caan maintained that he and the cast were both prepared and excited to make the sequel before the onset beef got in the way; left to right, Ferrell, Caan and Favreau appear at the afterparty for Elf’s premiere in NYC in 2003
Favreau previously discussed how the project came to be and his inspiration for the film as the director wanted to channel festive stories that he grew up with as a child.
‘They were looking for somebody to rewrite it and possibly direct and I remember reading it, and it clicked,’ he said.
Favreau continued, ‘If I made the world that he was from as though he grew up as an elf in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, one of those Rankin/Bass Christmas specials I grew up with, then everything fell into place tonally. So for a year, I rewrote the script.’
The Iron Man director also revealed that Buddy was pinned as a ‘darker’ character in the original script for the project.
Out of place: The film’s plot centers around an elf named Buddy who is raised in the North Pole by Santa’s helpers who learns he is adopted so goes to NYC to meet his biological father
Rewrite: After a year of script re-writing Jon Favreau received interest from New Line Cinema who agreed to make the film. The film grossed over $220M worldwide; pictured at the Golden Globes in LA; January 2020
Instant hit: With a production budget of $33M the film grossed over $220.4M in total, and is one of the top holiday films of all time
He explained: ‘[Buddy] was a darker character in the script I had read originally. The character became a bit more innocent, and the world became more of a pastiche of the Rankin/Bass films.’
Rankin/Bass Christmas films, though mostly animated, epitomized holiday classics in the 70s and 80s, including movies like Jack Frost and Frosty The Snowman.
After the studio, New Line Cinema read the script and agreed to make it, they brought Favreau on to direct the project.
No return: When asked on WWHL with Andy Cohen if Ferrell would ever be game for an Elf sequel he replied, ‘I just think it would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back in the elf tights: Buddy the middle-aged elf’; seen in February
The beloved Christmas movie scored at the box office.
With a production budget of $33M the film grossed over $220.4M in total, and is one of the top holiday films of all time.
On an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2013, Ferrell came out staunchly opposed when asked about plans to make an Elf sequel.
‘Absolutely not’ the actor said.
‘I just think it would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back in the elf tights: Buddy the middle-aged elf’.