Elf star reveals the scene that was CUT from iconic 2003 Christmas movie – and how his ‘two word’ role turned into a ‘crazy’ 22-HOUR shoot with Will Ferrell

It recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and is without a doubt one of the classic Christmas films that families around the world watch every year, and now the Elf star has revealed what it was like working alongside Will Ferrell.

In the 2003 film, directed by Jon Favreau, Will, 56, plays Buddy Hobbs, aka Buddy the Elf, an eccentric man who was raised by Santa’s elves and ends up going on a quest to find his biological father, Walter Hobbs, played by Walter Hobbs. James Caan – in New York.

The film also stars Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen and Peter Dinklage, but perhaps one of the holiday hit’s most memorable characters is the post office worker with whom Buddy ends up getting drunk after mistaking the alcohol for syrup.

Mark Acheson is the man who took on the role of Buddy’s unlikely sidekick and spent almost an entire day improvising with Will on set, even filming an epic Christmas carol singing scene that was cut from the film and never actually saw the light of day. day.

Will Ferrell will play the title character in everyone’s favorite Christmas movie, Elf.

The feel-good holiday movie was released in November 2003 and continues to be a hit with families around the world every year.

Mark Acheson played the role of a postal worker who ends up befriending Ferrell’s character Buddy Hobbs.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Mark revealed that he was hired to say just two words in the film, but ended up spending 22 hours on set and, as fans know, he appears in the film more than once.

“The whole movie, the whole movie was a huge surprise for me – both how I showed up in it, and what happened afterwards, and how everything happened afterwards,” the 66-year-old actor explained.

“I was only invited to play one role; I did not audition for the film. Favreau asked if I could come in and say one line: “Work leave,” and that would be the end of my day. I said, “So I’m going to work with Will Ferrell? Of course, yes, I’ll swing by and do it!”

“And then that day we worked 22 hours and added everything else, and it was all a huge surprise to me. This is indicative of the very last day of filming. Only later did I find out that it was the very last day of filming for the entire film!”

When asked how he made it through such a long day on set, Mark replied, “Well, I did a lot of sixteens.” I’ve done a lot of sixteens in my career, but 22 is definitely crazy. I showed up on set and they gave me one of the most beautiful trailers of my life, and I thought, “Well, this will be great, I won’t be here long, but I’ll love it,” but then I won’t have to appear in the trailer at all. !”

Mark continued, “It was the very last day of photography on Elf, which meant the crew didn’t have time to do the work, which is why they delayed us 22 hours, and I think Favreau and Ferrell just wanted to add as much material as much as they could. they might have thought because it was their last blow in front of the camera.”

One scene that never made it into the film (and footage that Mark still hasn’t seen two decades later) involves Buddy the Elf dousing Mark’s character with buckets of water while they were filming a memorable dance scene.

“The very last thing Favreau said… and it really puzzled me… was that we had a dance at the very end where Will Ferrell is dancing on the tables and Jon Favreau says, ‘Mark, we want Will to give you a plumbing, catch up.’ water on you and did a kind of flash dance and we want you to sing a Christmas carol as loud as possible while gallons of water are pouring on you all at once and we’ve dammed the whole area so we don’t flood the streets so you good do you relate to this Mark?

Mark was hired to say only two words, but ended up having several scenes in the film.

The 66-year-old actor confirmed that the scene where he lies next to Will was improvised.

Elf grossed $220 million worldwide against a $33 million budget and continues to be one of the most popular Christmas films.

Bob Newhart (left) also stars in the film and plays the role of Papa Elf, Buddy’s adoptive father and the film’s narrator.

“And I said, ‘Yes, I absolutely love this idea!’ and they drowned me like a rat! I walked into that trailer at the end of the day, 22 hours later, and I was completely wet and drowned, and I couldn’t believe what a day I had!”

The actor confirmed that he still hasn’t seen the footage all these years later: “There’s no outtakes or anything like that, which really confused me because I understand it’s not in the film, I understand, but you can think something like that. It took two hours to set up, it would have been somewhere in the exits, but no!’

Mark also revealed some behind-the-scenes secrets regarding the part of the film where he and Will lie side by side and laugh after their characters drink too much alcohol.

Referring to their conversation, Mark confirmed: “It was all improvised. They put some notes on the ceiling about ages, ideas of where to go, but just said, “Have fun.”

“It was a very difficult performance,” Mark joked at the time. “Lying next to one of the funniest guys in film and television and laughing. It was one of the easiest shifts I’ve ever done, and Will Ferrell and Jon Favreau… I just followed them and they were so sweet and nice to me.”

In fact, Mark also revealed that John actually had to convince film bosses to keep his scenes in the film because they weren’t impressed with the scene where his character tells Buddy he’s 26 years old.

“I was so happy with how they kept me in this movie, but the producers really wanted to cut me out of the whole picture, and Favreau had to fight for me,” Mark said.

“They said, ‘Who the hell would believe this guy is 26?’ and Favreau said, “What a joke!” I mean, I was actually 46 when I said that line!”

Zooey Deschanel plays Jovie, an unenthusiastic Gimbels toy store employee and Buddy’s love interest.

Will and director Jon Favreau at the Elf premiere in New York, November 2003.

The Chronicles of Riddick actor admitted he had “so much work to do” while starring in Elf, but had no idea at the time that the film would be such a huge success.

“I was very amazed, and I didn’t know the film would become so popular, and I certainly didn’t know it would become a classic,” he said. “I’ve only done two or three similar projects that are similar in some way, but this one definitely deserves attention.

“I’m always happy when I get a residual check from Elf because it’s always substantial and never goes down, and I like it because it’s kind of like my retirement account because I’m 66 now and I’m halfway through pensions.”

However, despite his fond memories of working on the film, Mark admitted that he doesn’t watch Elf every December: “I watch it from time to time, but I don’t watch it every Christmas like other people do.” !’

“It’s been a big benefit for me because it’s like free advertising for my career, over and over again every year. But I saw it a couple of weeks ago because I was going to Las Vegas for a convention to sign autographs, and I looked at it and thought, “This is a well-made movie.” It was done well, it really was.”