10 Little Known Facts About Your Favourite Christmas Films
6. Will Ferrell Got Ill Trying To Live Like An Elf - Elf
As Elf celebrates its ten year anniversary (I know, shocking), its now safe to say its become something of a modern Christmas classic. Which is pretty impressive given the base concept - a man child comedy set at Christmas - doesnt sound immediately brilliant. What separates this from the Fred Clauses out there is a strong lead and smartly sticking much of the action in the real world. With Elf Jon Favreau constructed an ode to Christmas films past that managed to toss in references to just about every classic you can think of - Buddy goes to Gimbels (Miracle), contemplates his worthless life on a bridge (Wonderful Life), has a Dad redeemed by Christmas (Scrooge), while the whole North Pole is created from elements of countless US seasonal specials - but still had time to craft its own fairytale. The rules of the elves, as well as their highly imbalanced food groups (candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup), are a real highlight for fans, although you can imagine Will Ferrell regards them a little differently. Throughout the film Buddy consumes an awful lot of sweet treats thanks to his alien upbringing. I always assumed substitutes were used when filming, but no; everything (including that horrible pile of breakfast) was real and Ferrell willingly ate all of it, leading to all the queasy side effects youd expect from having a diet based entirely on sugar.
