‘Elf’: Will Ferrell Roasted James Caan With a Bold Wrap Gift
When filming on the popular Christmas movie Elf wrapped, there was no Empire State Building snow globe or “Buddy the elf, wha’s your favorite color?” sweater for James Caan. Instead, the late actor received a sassy note as a wrap gift from his co-star Will Ferrell (Buddy).
James Caan didn’t find Will Ferrell funny on the ‘Elf’ set
Filming the 2003 Christmas comedy didn’t involve Caan, who played Buddy’s father, Walter Hobbs, constantly laughing at Ferrell’s jokes. “I like to do bits, but at the same time, I’m not like ‘on’ all the time,” Ferrell said during a July 2024 appearance on Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s “MeSsy” podcast.
Caan, who died in 2022, simply didn’t think the Anchorman star was funny, and he told him so. “In between setups, he’d be like, ‘I don’t get you. You’re not funny. You’re not funny,’” Ferrell recalled, saying Caan made the comments “with love.”
Ferrell’s response? “I’m like, ‘I know, I’m not Robin Williams.” At that, Caan shared, “‘People ask me, like, ‘Is he funny?’ I’m like, ‘No, he’s not funny.’”
Will Ferrell critiqued ‘The Godfather’ movies in an ‘Elf’ wrap gift note to James Caan
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Elf director Jon Favreau revealed that despite being “starstruck” by Caan on set, Ferrell joked with his co-star, even giving him a teasing note as a wrap gift about his turn in The Godfather movies. (Caan played Sonny Corleone.)
“Will would bust his balls a lot, which was fun, too,” Favreau said. “Will gave him, as a wrap gift, he wrote a note that said, ‘Great working with you. The first one is a little bit slow, but the second two are really good.’ And it was The Godfather trilogy.”
Favreau continued, explaining that Caan’s “great sense of humor” made it possible. “If you could make him laugh, all the tension disappears. We kept him laughing, and he kept us laughing,” he added, calling Caan “a lot of fun” on set.
Caan loved Ferrell’s performance as Buddy the elf
While Caan had doubts about the Saturday Night Live alum’s performance as Buddy, seeing Elf on the big screen changed his mind. In his podcast interview, Ferrell shared how Caan gave him the “best compliment ever” as they left Elf’s premiere.
“He was like, ‘I’ve got to tell you: I thought everything you were doing while we were filming was way too over the top. Now that I see it in the movie, it’s brilliant,’” Ferrell recalled his movie dad telling him.
Turns out, Walter’s hesitancy to embrace Buddy was Caan being “annoyed” with Ferrell.
“I love that the whole time, like, he’s not acting. He’s truly annoyed with me,” Ferrell said. “He’s like, ‘Can this guy shut the f**k up? Jesus.’ So I literally drove him crazy in that movie, just acting like that kid.”
“But that was so funny, he’s walking out, shaking his head and going like, ‘Great job, I thought you were way too over the top. But no it’s brilliant, it’s brilliant.’”
Stream Elf on Max and Hulu.
