The 66-year-old actor (left) was only due to give two lines in the film. Instead he stayed for 22 hours.
The 66-year-old actor (left) was only due to give two lines in the film. Instead he stayed for 22 hours.
Elf recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary, now a star of the film has revealed the surprise scene that was cut.
Recalling what it was like working with Will Ferrell and director Jon Favreau, Mark Acheson, the memorable mailroom character in the festive film, who Buddy (Ferrell) ends up getting drunk with after mistaking his alcohol for syrup, said he only took the role because he would get to work with the huge star.
Speaking to Daily Mail, he said he was asked to appear in the film to say a total of two words however that soon turned into a 22-hour shoot day and he appeared in the movie more than once including in a scene that was cut in post-production.
Mark Acheson was surprised to see a huge scene he filmed was cut from the movie.
Explaining the scene, Acheson confessed he still hasn’t seen the footage but said it included Buddy the Elf pouring buckets of water on to the star’s character during an unforgettable dance scene.
“The very last thing that [Jon] Favreau [said] ... and this is something that’s really puzzled me ... is that we were doing the dancing thing at the very end where Will Ferrell’s dancing on the tables and Jon Favreau goes, ‘Mark, we want Will to pull a water main down on you and force water down on you and do like a Flashdance sort of thing and we want you to sing a Christmas carol as loud as you possibly can with the gallons of water coming down on you all at once, and we’ve got the whole set dammed off so we won’t flood the streets, so are you good with that Mark?’,” he said.
Enthusiastically, Acheson said yes he was “absolutely golden” with the idea, adding “they drowned me like a rat! I walked into that trailer at the end of the day, 22 hours later, and I was just completely soaked and drowned and I couldn’t believe what kind of day I’d had!”
Mark Acheson confessed he doesn't watch the film every December.
He continued to reveal to the British news outlet that he hasn’t yet seen the footage and was taken aback by the fact it wasn’t even included in the outtakes.
“There’s no outtakes or anything like that, which really threw me because I understand it’s not in the movie. I get that, but you’d think something that took two hours to set up would be in the outtakes somewhere but no!”
Elsewhere in the interview about the film - which also stars Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, and PeterDinklage - he said Favreau had to convince bosses to keep Acheson’s scenes in the film, particularly the one where he called Buddy 26.
Admitting he was “so happy” with his work in the film, profilers wanted to cut him out of “the whole picture”. He told the news outlet, “They said, “Who the hell is gonna believe this guy is 26 years old?” and Favreau went, ‘That’s the joke!’ I mean, I was actually 46 when I delivered that line!”
Acheson said despite the fun he had on set, he doesn’t watch the film every December but is so thankful to have been a part of it because it is like “free advertising for my career over and over again every year”.
He said he receives a residual cheque each year which he uses as his “retirement account” as he is now 66 and “semi-retired”.
