I respect actors who have made it to a certain point in their careers that they become a picky about the roles they want to play. Add Will Ferrell to that list. There is no need for an Elf sequel… and Ferrell knew it and apparently turned the film down.
The good folks over at Filmwad give us this:
In an interview with Moviehole today, Will Ferrell denounced plans for an “Elf 2” stating that although it was in the works – New Line had tried to talk him into doing a sequel to the family comedy hit – he rejected the idea.
“Elf 2 got killed”, says Ferrell. “I killed Elf 2”.
The part I REALLY like about this story is that Ferrell turned it down because he didn’t want to do it… he didn’t say “pay me a bajillion dollars and I’ll do it”… or “Yeah I’d like to do it… but I’ve got you over a barrel with your pants around your ankles, so you give me what I want or this movie don’t get made” (ahem… Chris Tucker… cough).
Ferrell has lots on the go, and knows he doesn’t have to go back to a film he already did. That’s part of the reason I doubt Old School 2 will get made… or if it does… it’ll be without Ferrell. We’ll see.