Ever since the debut of Will Ferrell’s holiday classic “Elf” back in 2003, an amazing connection to another beloved Christmas movie has been hiding in plain sight.
Peter Billingsley, who famously portrayed Ralphie in “A Christmas Story”, also has a small role as one of Santa’s elves in the “Elf” scene in which Buddy realizes he’s human.
When a Twitter user with the handle Pepperjack made that discovery, he decided to share it on social media, admitting his “life changed forever” when he realized the red-capped elf in “Elf” was the grown-up version of the kid whose obsession with getting a Red Ryder bb gun for Christmas leads multiple people to warn him that “you’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”
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As the Twitterverse let that sink in, another Twitter user pointed out that Billingsley also had a role in Reese Witherspoon’s “Four Christmases”.
As IndieWire reports, Billingsley is close friends with “Elf” director Jon Favreau, and served as producer of such Favreau-directed films as “Zathura” and “Iron Man” (in which he had a small role). Billingsley is also a director, helming the comedy “Couples Retreat” (in which Favreau appeared) and the 2016 action film “Term Life”, starring Vince Vaughn and Hailee Steinfeld.
Meanwhile, here’s a sampling of how Twitter users have been reacting to the revelation:
