Where Are They Now? Will Ferrell, More

Smiling’s my favorite! Will Ferrell drew viewers in as the iconic Buddy the Elf in 2003’s Elf — and fans still can’t get enough of the silly holiday film nearly two decades later.

In the Christmas movie, Buddy goes to New York City in hopes of finding his biological father, Walter Hobbs (James Caan), after learning that he is a human and not an elf as he’d always thought. Before going to the Big Apple, Buddy was raised at the North Pole by Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) and never questioned why he was bigger than all of his elf friends.

Buddy’s arrival in New York throws Walter and his wife, Emily (Mary Steenburgen), and their son, Michael (Daniel Tay) for a loop since Walter was unaware his college sweetheart had a child after they split. Despite being on the naughty list, Buddy loves his dad and tries to help him get into the Christmas spirit — and eventually helps Santa (Ed Asner) save the holiday after his sleigh breaks down in New York.

Over the years, viewers have yearned for more from Buddy, his love Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) and the rest of the sweet characters.

“My favorite holiday film is, you know what, it’s got to be Elf, because once again [director] Jon Favreau … and Will Ferrell just knock it out of the park,” Jack Black told Variety in 2019.

Two years later, Ferrell and Deschanel reunited virtually to reenact one of their iconic scenes — when they sing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the Gimbel’s locker room — to raise money for Georgia Democrats ahead of the state senate elections.

The New Girl alum previously spoke about the memorable movie moment during an interview with Entertainment Weekly in November 2020, noting she wasn’t sure Ferrell could sing.

“He said he wasn’t a singer, so I wasn’t expecting much,” Deschanel, who is part of the duo She & He, told the publication. “But his dad [Roy Lee Ferrell Jr.] is a great musician. I should’ve known he’d be secretly good!”

In October 2021, Ferrell revealed that fans won’t be getting an Elf sequel anytime soon, revealing that he turned down a major payday on a second movie because of the story line.

“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, claiming he passed on a $29 million offer. “Which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money.’ I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”

Scroll down to see what the cast of Elf has been up to since the movie’s 2003 release: