The magic of filmmaking is sometimes not very magical at all. Remember how many scenes from Ferrell's family-friendly breakout hit, Elf, involved the man-child gorging on sugary treats? The spaghetti covered in maple syrup? The gulping down a liter of soda? The more spaghetti cover in licorice, marshmallows, M&Ms, Pop Tarts, and chocolate and maple syrup? No one would ever eat like that in real life. Except Will Ferrell, who actually ate all that crap during filming. Which means he's either a sadist, or is entirely too dedicated to the little details of a production. It should be mentioned that even the cotton balls Buddy the Elf eats in the doctor's office are actually made of un-dyed cotton candy. And who knows how many takes of that they had to do to get it exactly right? (Probably thirty or more, if it was particularly delicious cotton candy.) Because of the crazy high sugar intake, Ferrell suffered from headaches constantly on set and had difficulty sleeping at nights because he was too jittery and wired.
