It’s almost Christmas and that means Elf is at the top of our watchlists for this month, but we could have had a sequel if the lead actor had accepted a massive payday.

That cotton-headed ninny-muggin.

If you’ve not been blessed enough to watch the 2003 film, it centred on Buddy (Ferrell), a human who was raised by elves at the North Pole.

When the (unsurprising) news reaches him that he’s not actually an elf, he travels to New York to find his biological dad, played by the late James Caan.

That’s when he encounters Zooey Deschanel (Jovie), and the pair have a few singing scenes and develop an unlikely romance.

The film also includes a fantastic list of celebrities such as the late Bob Newhart (Papa Elf), Mary Steenburgen (Emily) and Peter Dinklage (Miles Finch), as well as director Jon Favreau playing Dr. Leonardo.

Elf was super successful following its release and managed to gross a whopping $220 million (£178.9 million) at the box office against its $33 million (£26.8 million) production budget.

Elf is one of the most beloved Christmas flicks out there (Warner Bros.)

But even though fans would have been amazed to have been able to come back for round two, it seems not even a huge cheque could convince leading man/elf Ferrell to revive his iconic role for a sequel.

He’s obviously presented himself in numerous different roles since then, but fans will struggle to ever see him as anything but the excitable Buddy who just wants to spend his time asking people their favourite colour.

The film is so loved that many have called for a sequel over the years, and you might be either delighted or devastated to hear that one was actually written – just never made.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, Ferrell admitted he never expected Elf to be the hit that it was.

Ferrell wasn’t onboard for a sequel (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

While dressed in his yellow tights, he recalled thinking ‘this could be the end’.

Remembering calls with his manager about test screenings, the actor said: “He was like, ‘Well, the family one went great, but we could really get eviscerated in this next one. I’m looking at a bunch of what look like USC frat boys about to go in’.”

The success of the film inspired the idea for a sequel, but Ferrell explained that he wouldn’t have been able to promote a follow-up without being honest about why he’d taken the job – which was, of course, a giant chunk of money.

Had Ferrell accepted the opportunity to return as Buddy, he would have walked away with an eye-watering $29 million (£23.6m) payday.

I know a lot of people who would put on an adult-sized elf outfit for a lot less, but Ferrell explained: “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.’

“And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie’.”

Jim Carrey has embodied some incredible characters throughout his illustrious career in the entertainment industry, spanning nearly five decades.

But for the actor and comedian, there is only one film role which he would consider reprising.

The 62-year-old, from Ontario, Canada, has worn many hats throughout his time in Hollywood, proving that this is a guy with some serious range.

There’s Ace Ventura, Bruce Nolan and Hank Evans, to name a few – but taking on all of these personas hasn’t been easy for Carrey.

He has previously opened up about the mental and emotional toll that masquerading as other people for movie roles has had on him.

“As an actor you play characters, and if you go deep enough into those characters, you realise your own character is pretty thin to begin with,” Carrey told The Wrap in 2017.

“You suddenly have this separation and go, ‘Who’s Jim Carrey? Oh, he doesn’t exist actually’.”

So it’s no wonder that the Dumb and Dumber star was ready to call it quits and leave the acting world behind back in 2022.

Thankfully, Carrey later cancelled his plans to retire – so naturally, the next thing on the minds of fans was what role he would step into.

Jim Carrey has played a host of legendary film characters over the years (Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

Or, more specifically, whether he was ready to take a trip down memory lane and revive one of his legendary characters for another film.

This topic of conversation came up while Carrey was doing press ahead of the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in December last year.

The Yes Man star was asked which character he would love to play ‘one more time’ – and it’s good news for fans of the Grinch.

Carrey told Comicbook.com: “Oh, gosh, you know, if we could figure out the Grinch…

“The thing about it is, on the day, I do that with a ton of makeup and can hardly breathe. It was an extremely excruciating process.”

“The children were in my mind all the time.

“‘It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids.’

“And now, with motion capture and things like that, I could be free to do other things. Anything is possible in this world!”

The comedian revealed he’d like to star as the Grinch again, on a few conditions (Universal Pictures)

Carrey has been candid about his experiences on set while filming the 2000 Christmas classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

He previously compared his hours spent sitting in a makeup chair while being transformed into the green and hairy character to being ‘buried alive’.

It was that bad that he had to undergo CIA training on how to endure ‘torture’ in a bid to help him through it – so shooting the film really wasn’t just a regular day at the office.

Carrey even considered backing out of the role after his first day, as it took eight and a half hours to complete the look.

The actor had to endure being plastered in facial prosthetics as well as being encased head-to-toe in green yak fur and wearing coordinating contact lenses – which he complained the fake snow on set kept getting into.

Carrey even admitted that he ended up putting his leg ‘through a wall’ in his trailer as a result of how bogged down and frustrated he became with the get-up.

So, like he said, there’s a few issues which need to be ironed out before he locks himself in for a sequel to How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

But you never know, there’s the off chance that one day we could all be cosied up watching Carrey step back into the shoes of the iconic character.

Will Ferrell has admitted he was ‘so embarrassed’ by his real name when he was growing up.

Yep, the iconic household name that we all know and love so well isn’t actually his real one.

The 56-year-old, known for countless films such as the likes of Get Hard, Step Brothers and Elf, refused to even use his real name on the school register when he was a kid.

On today’s (9 July) episode of Christine Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s MeSsy podcast, Ferrell appeared as the celebrity guest to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Ferrell and Applegate’s comedy hit Anchorman: The Legend of Rob Burgundy.

Will, or is it? (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

But obviously, they didn’t just talk about the legendary film as they looked back on his launching career on Saturday Night Live in the 90s.

Applegate asked her co-star if he always liked being part of groups when he was growing up. And he admitted he always felt that ‘being funny was an easy way to make friends’ when he was younger.

This then led to the Daddy’s Home star making a confession about his name.

“This is a minor thing in terms of — it’s not really even trauma — but I remember feeling so embarrassed because my real name is John, John William Ferrell, so first day of school, I’d be John,” he revealed.

“The teacher would be like ‘John Ferrell?’ and it was so embarrassing to me to have to say ‘Here, but I go by Will, I don’t go by John.’ “

Will and Christina in Anchorman (CBS via Getty Images)

He even described it as ‘excruciating’ when his teachers would forget to call him Will.

And this wasn’t even just a choice he made himself.

“My parents named [me] John but they called me Will. I grew up as Will, but on a rule sheet, my legal name is John Ferrell,” the star added.

It made it even worse for him when other kids at school would then start asking him why he kept correcting his teachers.

“I don’t know why that was so embarrassing to me to have to explain ‘I’m actually Will.’”

Well, quite the minor life problem I guess. Oh, but he knows it.

“People are probably going to be listening to this going ‘That is the lamest thing ever,” Ferrell joked, as Applegate replied: “We just lost anyone named John.”

A Netflix film with a crazy opening scene which appears as one-shot over the course of 12 minutes has been leaving fans begging to be able to ‘watch it for first time again’.

This is a feeling I’m sure many of us can relate to, the idea of going back and enjoying your favourite film or show for the first time again.

While rewatches can bring new angles, ultimately, nothing beats your first watch of an unreal film.

The fiery film has had viewers obsessed (Netflix)

And this Netflix thriller from 2022 has you immediately hooked from the action packed 12 minute scene, with several sneaky cuts hidden within it to appear as one continuous sequence.

The film focuses on a group of French youths who begin to riot after their leader’s younger brother is murdered by police.

Check out the trailer here:

The film, in question, is Athena, and it follows the group of youths turning their council estate into a fortress after raiding a local police station.

The opening sequence sees them raiding the station, escaping in a stolen police van, before returning to their estate triumphant.

Athena has received positive reviews, with a 6.8 on IMDb and 86 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

One comment on a TikTok video of the opening sequence said: “Wish I could watch Athena for the first time again,” while another called it ‘the best movie I’ve ever watched’.

In fact, a few people commented that.

The insane opening scene is a stand out (Netflix)

Dylan Roth of The Observer said in their 2022 review: “Athena is an engrossing and unflinching polemic, an “action-tragedy” that’s both a feast for the eyes and a dagger to the heart.”

Meanwhile, Tomris Laffry of RogerEbert.com said in their three out of four star review: “A fast-moving political thriller and urban drama that feels genuinely cinematic, with technical finesse to spare.”

Even critical reviews were effusive, however, about the film’s crazy opening sequence, which you can see here:

IndieWire’s David Erlich, in a 2.5 star review, said on Letterboxd: “Pardon my French, but the first shot of Romain Gavras’ Athena — a sketch of a Greek tragedy transplanted into a housing project on the outskirts of Paris — is absolutely f**king insane.

“Even in a digital age where dazzling long-takes have become a dime a dozen (and all too easy to fake), the oner that ignites this roman candle of a movie about a police siege on a poor neighbourhood is something else.”

In a video shared explaining the making of the 12 minute scene, director Romain Gavras said (via Collider): “On a traditional shoot, a scene can be energized by the editing, by making cuts.

“But since we had the ambition of making a tense film, where we are held in complete suspense from beginning to end, we don’t need dull moments.

“Especially for this scene, where we start in a police station, go into a van, and we arrive at the council estate two miles away.”