Will Ferrell details first time being on paparazzo’s radar

While Saturday Night Live was a big deal for Will Ferrell’s career, what really skyrocketed this comedian actor’s portfolio was Jon Favreau’s Christmas comedy, Elf. The film focused on a human living among elves only to go on an adventure to New York to find his biological father has become a household holiday film alongside the likes of A Christmas Story, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and a slurry of other classics.

Apparently, this film was what tipped his fame over the edge enough for paparazzi to get involved. Speaking to Kevin Hart in a recent episode of Hart to Heart (via Comicbook), Ferrell explained how he and his wife were walking around New York when people started following them.

“I remember walking around New York after the opening weekend of Elf. That was the first time my wife and I were walking around and people were following us around. That was a little exciting in a way and a little alarming. Like why is this guy walking on the other sidewalk walking the same speed I am? Why’s he doing what I’m doing? Why’s he dressed in all black? Why’s he taking photographs?”

He had mixed feelings about the matter, on one hand, it was exciting as the public was really taking notice of him after his years in the entertainment industry, but also found it a bit alarming. Here he was, in New York, with a man on the other sidewalk walking the same speed as him, copying him, and taking photographs.

When asked about returning to the role of Buddy Hobbs, he wasn’t opposed to it and was even offered $29 million for a sequel, one that has since been canceled. Ferrell simply worried the movie wouldn’t live up to the original, which is a fair assessment. It’s hard for sequels to be better or even comparable to its precursor and with such a legacy behind the 2003 New Line Cinema comedy, it’s hard to imagine how they could continue the story without rehashing it.