Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day — 18 December

What is Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day?

On December 18, wear something green, pick up the phone, and celebrate Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day! There have been dozens of excellent Christmas movies released through the years, but perhaps none as lovable as Will Ferrell’s Elf. So, this December 18th repeat after us: “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?” 

History of Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day

We’re not exaggerating when we say that Elf is the best Christmas movie of the 21st century. In fact, it was recognized as such by Fandango users in 2017. But did you know that Elf as we know it could have been a completely different movie? Will Ferrell wasn’t even the original choice to play Buddy! Gasp! 

Screenwriter David Berenbaum had initially wrote the script for Elf in 1993 with Jim Carrey in mind to star as Buddy. The screenplay went through years of rewrites and edits with his later writing team consisting of Adam McKay and (second gasp) Will Ferrell. The script at this stage was very dark, and Jon Favreau initially didn’t have much interest in it, despite wanting to be apart of Ferrell’s first post Saturday Night Live film project. So instead of declining the opportunity, Favreau rewrote the script and turned Buddy’s world into an homage to the Rankin Bass Christmas specials.

Changing the movie from a raunchy dark comedy to a genuine Christmas movie allowed them to rate it as PG instead of the PG-13 rating the original script would have had. Will Ferrell took a huge risk and played Buddy in what he described as a role that could either make or break his future career. Terry Zwigoff was approached to direct the film, but declined due to a prior commitment to another Christmas comedy, Bad Santa. After searching for multiple directors, Jon Favreau eventually decided to direct it himself. With Favreau’s willingness to give Ferrell the flexibility to make Buddy his own (many of our favorite classic lines were improvised by Ferrell, including “You sit on a throne of lies”) Buddy was allowed to become the funny, charming, and charismatic character we all fell in love with in 2003!