Will Ferrell is the ultimate Christmas movie star these days, but long before he made his name as Buddy the Elf or started singing in Christmas musicals with Ryan Reynolds, Ferrell was actually a mall Santa. The experience threw up one particularly awkward encounter with Kevin Costner, who was not impressed.
In the Christmas movie Elf, Ferrell is full of energy, charm, and festive cheer. Similarly, in his new movie Spirited, Ferrell appreciates the magic of Christmas and likes to make sure everyone is nice to one another. By the sounds of it, he brought all that enthusiasm to the role of Santa back in the day.
During an appearance on Hot Ones, Ferrell explained how he and his co-star from the comedy series Saturday Night Live, Chris Kattan, were a Santa and elf double act. Unfortunately, when they ran into Costner, they couldn’t help making a joke that the Yellowstone star did not find amusing.
“The worst and best moment was we encountered these two kids [who] came up to say ‘Hi’ and it was right outside of the cosmetic store Origins. They had this little sculpture of like a coyote in front of the store. We’re saying hello to these kids and we look up and there’s a parent with them. It’s Kevin Costner with the hat, he’s being very incognito,” Ferrell recalled.
“Kevin Costner is just kind of looking at us and the kids are crawling on this coyote. And I’m like, ‘Oh do you like crawling on that little coyote sculpture?’ And then Chris can’t help himself and goes, ‘It looks like you’re dancing. In fact, it looks like you’re dancing with wolves.’ And Kevin Costner goes, ‘Let’s go. Let’s go.’ Like, don’t blow my cover,” he added.
The reference to the classic western movie clearly didn’t go down well with Costner, who just wanted a peaceful shopping trip it seems. We can’t blame Kattan, though – when you get an opportunity to make a joke like that, you have to take it.
If you like Kevin Costner, you can explore our vast catalogue of Yellowstone content, like our guide to the Yellowstone cast and the Yellowstone timeline, or all you need to know about the Yellowstone 6666 release date and the 1883 season 2 release date.