Will Ferrell Reveals The Classic Christmas Character He Played Before 'Elf' Fame

Will Ferrell isn’t holding back on the time he acted as another famous Christmas character years before he starred in the iconic holiday movie “Elf .”

Ferrell, who starred as Buddy the Elf in the 2003 Christmas film, spoke with Jimmy Kimmel  on Wednesday about whether he’d play Santa Claus in an upcoming movie and described his hesitation about the potential role before he revealed his past ties to Kris Kringle.

He told the late night host that he was a mall Santa alongside an elf, former “Saturday Night Live ” co-star Chris Kattan , in Old Town Pasadena during his “struggling days as an actor.”

Ferrell said the duo walked around an open-air mall for four straight weekends and joked that they were “mobile Santa and his elf” as they never had a chair or sleigh setup.

“We’d be like, ‘Hello, J. Crew, ho ho ho,’ ‘Merry Christmas, Sephora, how is everyone doing,’ and they got so sick of us, by the fourth weekend they’d be like, ‘Hi, Santa,’” Ferrell joked.

Ferrell added that he and his “SNL co-star were once chatting with two of Kevin Costner ’s kids and he remarked about the kids playing on a canine-shaped scultpure.

“As Santa, I was like, ‘Oh, you children sure love that little coyote,’ and Kattan couldn’t help himself. He was like, ‘It looks like they’re dancing. In fact, it looks like they’re dancing with wolves ,’” said Ferrell, who added that Costner ushered his kids away from them.

You can watch more from Ferrell’s interview with Fallon below.