Taking part in a genuine classic is something that is incredibly rare, and while a studio will always have faith that their projects can do well, the truth is that few movies in history actually go down as classics. No matter how much success a performer has, being in a classic is always on the agenda. Whether it is Dwayne Johnson, Brad Pitt, or Jennifer Aniston, appearing in a classic is the definition of career goals.

Back in the 2000s, Elf burst onto the scene and quickly won the hearts of people everywhere. This film has turned into a legitimate Christmas classic over the years, and it still has a ton of charm to it. Interestingly, some of the movies best parts weren’t even in the script!

Let’s see which parts of Elf were improvised!

Will Ferrell’s Reactions To The Jack-In-The-Boxes Was Real

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Let’s be real, most people that love that movie Elf can practically quote the entire thing and probably have more than a few favorite scenes. When this movie is on, the scene with Will Ferrell opening up the jack-in-the-boxes to test them out is one that is guaranteed to bring laughs, and the truth is that Will Ferrell didn’t have to do much acting here.

Radio Times notes that the commentary to the DVD released of Elf talked about this particular scene and how it was all set up. Turns out, someone on set actually had a remote control and was able to control when the toys would burst to life and cause a reaction from Ferrell. Because of this, he had absolutely no idea what was coming, and this generated genuine reactions from actors.

We have seen techniques like this in the past, and solid results are usually on the other end. Sometimes, directors will omit things from the script for certain performers so that they are caught completely off guard when something happens. In this case, however, the person on set with the remote got to have some serious fun.

Trust us when we say that this is just one of many hilarious scenes that saw Will Ferrell use his natural abilities.

Related: Who Are Will Ferrell’s Three Sons?

Ferrell Improvised Buddy’s Trek Around New York

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Once Buddy gets to New York, he has a few things to learn about how life in the Big Apple is different from life at the North Pole. During this scene, fans get to see Will Ferrell clowning around New York, and the amazing thing here is that this was just Ferrell being silly without much direction.

According to Radio Times, Will Ferrell, director Jon Favreau, and one cameraman trekked across the city looking to have some fun with the character, and this allowed Ferrell to really shine. So, because there was no script or extras, fans are actually seeing genuine reactions from people who were watching Will Ferrell galavant around New York dressed like Buddy.

There aren’t too many shots from this time used in the film, but there were more than enough to warrant an entire scene. Clearly, Favreau liked what he saw from Ferrell, and the pair made some great movie moments together while having some fun out in New York.

When talking to Rotten Tomatoes about Will Ferrell’s improvisation and how it fit into the film, Favreau would say, “[We had to] string all of the great different performances or improvisations together into a cohesive performance that served the story, while still taking full advantage of all the laughs that he [Ferrell] was able to find.”

Related: Underrated SNL Stars According to Seth Meyers

Ferrell Improvised The “Santa!” Scream

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Now, there are tons of moments in the movie Elf that fans consider iconic, and the way that Buddy jumps for joy at the announcement of Santa coming to Gimbel’s is certainly one of them. Turns out this was yet another moment for Will Ferrell to be his hilarious self for the cameras.

During his interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Will Ferrell would elaborate on this moment, saying, “All of that, ‘Santa, I know him,’ all of that playing around we did, that was all improvised there. That kind of exclamation of ‘Santa!’ and screaming it, that was just my articulation of Buddy literally taking that piece of news [that Santa is coming] at face value and [thinking] what would be his literal reaction.”

Turns out, Jon Favreau absolutely loved this moment in the film.

He would tell Rotten Tomatoes, “I remember the scene in Gimbel’s where Faizon Love makes the announcement that Santa is coming, and he just screams, ‘Santa!’ [Will] just loves to commit. He really knows where the laugh is in the scene. And then the reaction of [Faizon] being the manager, looking, thinking his employee is screaming in his face, is probably one of my favorite moments of the movie.”

Related: The True Origin Of ‘Anchorman’s’ Battle Scene

Elf is a timeless Christmas movie that clearly had a lot more going for it than fans would ever expect.

Next: 5 Overrated Christmas Movies (& 5 Underrated Ones)