Elf in Real Life
No doubt Will Ferrel was the absolute perfect choice to play Buddy the elf. The character is believably sweet, naive, and completely loveable and Ferrel brought Buddy’s personality to life with ease. It turns out, he was kind of freestyling it.
The SNL actor has had plenty of practice with improv, but his role in Elf took it to another level. In the New York City street scenes, Buddy can be sun waving to people, taking flyers, dodging cabs, and even mistaking a man for Santa. Turns out those were all real people and Ferrel was just going with the flow.