24 December 2023 , 20:49
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Millions of people believe that Elf is the perfect Christmas movie - but there's a missing scene which might have made it even funnier.
It's hard to believe, but according to one of the actors who starred with Will Ferrell in the 2003 comedy blockbuster, some potentially iconic material was left on the cutting room floor. Mark Acheson played Mailroom Guy, a minor part who was originally meant to sayy just two words.
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Mark Acheson and Will Ferrell in Elf (Entertainment Films)He told DailyMail that he didn't even audition for the role, he was just asked by director John Favreau to turn up and film the quick part on the last day of the shoot. He agreed as he wanted to work with Will Ferrell, but was unaware he would be on set for 22 hours and end up in multiple scenes.
The 66-year-old Canadian said: "It was the very last photographic day of Elf and that means no turnaround time for the crews, and so that's why they kept us for 22 hours, and I guess Favreau and Ferrell just wanted to add in as much stuff as they could possibly think of because it was their last kick in front of the camera.
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"I was only called in to do one line, I didn't audition for the movie. Favreau asked if I would come in and deliver one line, which is "work release" and that would be the end of my day. I said, 'so I get to work with Will Ferrell? Sure, yeah, I'll pop in and do that!'"
The film is about a human baby raised by elves in the North Pole and his search for his biological parents (New Line/Everett/REX/Shutterstock)Mark said that he has never seen one of the scenes that he and Will filmed two decades ago, but he has very vivid memories of it.
He said: "The very last thing that Favreau said... is that we were doing the dancing thing at the very end where Will Ferrell's dancing on the tables and Jon Favreau goes, 'Mark, we want Will to pull a water main down on you and force water down on you and do like a Flashdance sort of thing and we want you to sing a Christmas Carol as loud as you possibly can with the gallons of water coming down on you all at once, and we've got the whole set dammed off so we won't flood the streets, so are you good with that Mark?'"
Elf has become a Christmas classic since it was released in 2003 (PA)He agreed and added that the shot, which took two hours to set up, left him looking like a drowned rat - but he has never even seen a few seconds of the footage. Mark has other fond memories from making the film, including the thrill of being paid to have a laugh with Will Ferrell - and the annual royalties check is a delight, too.
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