Will Ferrell admits that he thought 'Elf' could have been the end of his career

Oh, how wrong he was

Thankfully, Buddy the Elf is here to stay as the movie will forever be one of our favourite festive binges.

It turns out that Will Ferrell wasn't all that confident about 'Elf' when he was running around New York City dressed head to toe in his festive costume.

The 2003 hit (which is *GASP* 19 years old this year) earned praise following its release in cinemas but it also gained incredible traction in the years that followed. Featuring a long list of memorable phrases ("I know him!"), both young and old have been known to sit down and re-watch the movie about the "Elf" who is on a hilarious solo journey to find his long-lost father in one of the most manic cities in the world.

Appearing on BBC's 'The One Show' yesterday alongside Octavia Spencer, who he co-stars with on his latest Christmas feature film 'Spirited' for Apple TV+, the topic of 'Elf' naturally came up and Will Ferrell admitted that he thought his career would be over while running around NYC in his cute little costume.

He told hosts Jermaine Jenas and Lauren Laverne: "As I was running around New York City in my yellow tights I was thinking 'This could be my last movie'. But little did we know that we were making a movie that would stand the test of time."

'Elf' may be nearly two decades old, and Will Ferrell might not have imploded his career, but it's still a firm favourite to watch each year. As soon as November 1 rolled around this year, and so did the endless stream of Christmas adverts, UK retailer Asda released its own creation which superimposed Buddy the Elf into various scenarios while he's supposed to be working in the store.

Ferrell and Spencer star with Ryan Reynolds in 'Spirited', which will be a new musical take on the classic Charles Dickens story, 'A Christmas Carol'. Talking about a scene from the upcoming family film, Spencer told a story about the time she nearly tried to use cash with Ryan Reynolds' face on it at the grocery store.

'Spirited' hits select cinemas and is available to stream on Apple TV+ from this Friday, November 18.