Will Ferrell reveals Elf joke that went over everyone’s head in Eurovision Song Contest

‘It was supposed to be such an obvious joke,’ actor says

Elf has become one of the best-loved Christmas films since it was released in 2003.

The film – starring Will Ferrell as a human named Buddy who was raised as an elf in the North Pole – is known for its funny quotes and comedy set-pieces.

Despite this, nobody seemed to pick up on a reference to Elf that was included in Ferrell’s latest movie, Netflix’s Eurovision Song Contest.

In the film, subtitled The Story of Fire Saga, Ferrell’s Lars and his best friend Sigrit (Rachel McAdams) are two Icelandic singers who are given the chance to represent their country at the annual music event.

One of the jokes in the film is that, in its world, everybody believes that elves exist, which was designed to be a nod to Elf.

However, according to Ferrell, it “flew by” viewers.

“You know what’s funny? Nobody got the subtext to that,” he told Variety.

“We were trying to put in this bit about how Lars has issues with elves and elves are stupid and thought, ‘That’s going to get such a funny laugh because of Buddy the Elf.’ But it just went over everyone’s head.”

He said it was “supposed to be such an obvious joke  that we should have my character just hate all things elf-related, and I starred in Elf".

Eurovision Song Contest was nominated for Best Soundtrack at the 2021 Grammy Awards last month.