It has always seemed like it would take a holiday miracle forElf 2to ever happen, as Will Ferrell has made it clear he’s really not interested in returning as Buddy. If you ask his co-starFaizon Love, however, the potential sequel could do just fine without Ferrell back in the lead. In fact, Love suggests that a fresh direction might be exactly what something likeElf 2needs.
In the firstElf, Love played Wanda, the manager of the Gimbels store and the boss to Zooey Deschanel’s Jovie. Following reports of Ferrell turning down a $29 million paycheck to makeElf 2, Love spoke with TMZ about the situation. While he’s surprised Ferrell would leave so much money on the table, Love also sees his refusal to return as a good thing. The actor explains that now is the perfect time to introduce a Black elf as he feels audiences will embrace this change in 2021.
“I think Elf 2 could happen with Faizon Love. What’s wrong with a Black elf? I think America is ready for a Black elf. You had a Black president, you had an orange president, now it’s time for a Black elf. I was surprised [Will Ferrell] he turned down that much money… If they would’ve asked me to do it for some potato chips and $3500 [I’d do it]. He turned down $29 million? Wow. Whoa.”
Ferrell opened up recently about exactly why he didn’t want to return forElf 2. According to the actor, he wasvery unimpressed after reading the screenplaythey had in mind for the unmade sequel. He opined that the story was a retread of the firstElfand would have let people down, and he didn’t want to promote the sequel leading up to its release as if it was a good movie if he didn’t feel that it was.
That’s an understandable enough explanation, and given the roles that would keep coming for Ferrell, he wasn’t exactly strapped for cash either. Even so, Faizon Love questions this explanation, claiming that Ferrell even thought the firstElfwas “trash.” Love also takes some shots at Ferrell’s starring role in 2009’sLand of the Lost, a movie he accepted afterElfwhich was a critically-panned box office bomb andRazzie Awardwinner. This has Love wondering how exactly Ferrell decides which scripts are worth his time.
“The first one, he thought was trash. So, I don’t know how he’s reading his scripts, but I’ve seen some questionable [movies he’s made]. You know the one with him and the dinosaur,Land of the Lost, was that a great script? I don’t know. If you look at Land of the Lost right now, [and say], ‘This is a great script! Land of the Lost, this is gonna - wooo!'”
It’s always easy to look back in retrospect and realize which roles might have been mistakes. In any case,Elfremains one of themost popular Christmas moviesof all time, and it will likely remain that way for many years, with or without anElf 2. This news comes to us fromTMZ.
