Fans Saw Will Ferrell Streaking While Filming ‘Old School’ Scene
The instant Will Ferrell announced his plan to go streaking down the quad and into the gymnasium in filmmaker Todd Phillips’ collegiate classic Old School, comedy movie history was changed forever.
The SNL star helped establish his reputation as a film actor in this most ridiculous way by doing that on camera. In the process, the community of Pasadena, California got a glimpse of Ferrell, who was dressed simply in shoes and a “marble pouch” as he rocketed to box office fame.
Will Ferrell, who supposedly took 110 takes of this sequence in particular, was initially taken aback but eventually on board for his big n@ked scene. He acknowledged as much during a recent appearance on IMDB’s That Scene with Dan Patrick podcast, and he didn’t stop there.
Ferrell detailed how he cleared the area surrounding the set for the scene where Frank the Tank is caught by his wife streaking along a key public thoroughfare:
“This street, it’s in Pasadena, kind of looks like the main street, so they had all of these pretty little storefronts. One of which was a gym – after work, everyone’s getting their workout in, 6:00 at night and people on the treadmills, right in the window. No one has told them there is going to be a man running n@ked. The first take, I’m running, doing my lines, but I’m hearing muffled shrieks [screaming] it’s the people on their treadmills screeching! And by the third take, everyone was gone – they cleared out.”
Will Ferrell said that he was offered $29 million to feature in an Elf sequel but declined because he didn’t believe in the idea.
The sequel to the 2003 picture, which grossed over $222 million at the box office, has a plot that is too similar to the first, according to the actor.
The actor and comedian was featured on the cover of The Hollywood Reporter this week, where he discussed the success of Jon Favreau’s 2003 picture (Iron Man).
“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place, which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money,'” he explained. “And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.’”
He also revealed that there were times during the making of the film in New York City, after departing Saturday Night Live after seven brilliant seasons, when he thought to himself, “Boy, this could be the end.”
Ferrell has previously expressed concern that the Elf could jeopardize his career. Corden informed Ferrell on The Late Late Show that it was a “brilliant film,” before asking if he had any worries.
Ferrell said, “Yeah, there were moments. The first two weeks of shooting were kind of all the exteriors in New York and so, you know, still kind of discovering what this movie’s going to be and running around New York City in yellow tights.
“People recognising me from Saturday Night Live going, ‘Are you okay? What’s going on?’ and thinking to myself this is either going to be a home run or people are going to go, ‘Whatever happened to you? Why did you do that one about the elf?’”
After being raised by Santa’s elves in the North Pole, Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf travels to New York City in search of his biological father.
It isn’t the first time Ferrell has discussed a sequel to his hit film. In December 2013, he appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen to clear the air about Buddy the Elf’s possibilities of appearing on the big screen again.
Ferrell told Cohen at the time, “Absolutely not. It would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back into the ‘Elf’ tights.”
Ferrell and Favreau do not get along, according to James Caan, who plays Ferrell’s biological father in Elf.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I finally have a franchise movie,'” Caan remarked of the sequel. “I can make some money, let my kids do what the hell they want to do.'”
The director and Will, however, “didn’t get along very well,” according to Caan. “Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director, and [Favreau] had it in his contract. It was one of those things.”
