Will Ferrell Says James Caan Told Him He Wasn’t Funny On ‘Elf’ Set: “I Don’t Get You”

Will Ferrell says that James Caan, who played Buddy the Elf’s father Walter Hobbs in the 2003 Christmas comedy Elf, told him he wasn’t funny while they were on set.

Ferrell told Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler on their podcast MeSsy that the Godfather actor (who passed away in 2022) had some harsh words for him. “James Caan — may he rest in peace, and we had such a good time working on that movie — he would tease me,” said Ferrell. “We’d be in between setups, he was like, ‘I don’t get you. You’re not funny. You’re not funny.’ And I’m like, ‘I know! I’m not Robin Williams.’

“He’s like, ‘People ask me, “Is he funny?” And I’m like, “No, he’s not funny!” It was all with love.”

Ferrell added that Caan’s frustration with him while he was in character helped strengthen the comedy dynamic between the two characters. “I love that the whole time, he’s not acting,” Ferrell said. “He’s truly annoyed with me. Like, ‘Will this guy shut the f— up? Jesus!’ So I literally drove him crazy in that movie, just acting like that kid.”

The actor also noted that Caan’s grumpy father character was originally intended to become even more visibly angry.

“It was scripted a little more that he would get more frustrated and lose his temper with me, and he didn’t wanna do any of that,” Ferrell said of his costar. “He wanted to save it til that moment in the boardroom where he kicks me out and kicks me out of this life, like, ‘No, it’s gotta be this slow build.’ And he was totally right. He had plotted where his performance was gonna go.”

In the end, Caan understood Ferrell’s performance style once he saw the completed movie. “We were walking out of the theater at the premiere, and we walk out together, and he was like — I take it as like the best compliment, cuz he’s coming from James Caan — he’s like, ‘I gotta tell you, I thought everything you were doing while we were filming was way too over-the-top. Now that I see it in the movie, it’s brilliant,'” Ferrell recalled. “That was so funny, he’s walking out, shaking his head, going like, ‘Great job. I thought you were way too over the top. But no, it’s brilliant.'”

The Step Brothers star said that he was nervous the film wouldn’t do well as it was his first major project since he left Saturday Night Live.

“I just was kinda like my chin in my hand looking at myself in the elf costume going, ‘Oh boy Buddy. This better work. This could be your last movie,'” he recalled. “I just was like, ‘I hope, this is either gonna really work or it’s gonna be just disastrous’… and I knew it definitely wasn’t gonna work without committing fully to it’s fish out of water.”

Check out the full conversation between Ferrell, Applegate, and Sigler above.