Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Ferrell CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 chatting with a maid at the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago, where he stayed while doing publicity for “Elf.’’ “Sorry,” he says when he returns. “Just a little maid-service ac tion happening there.” Ferrell says he has not always been good at reading scripts (that would explain “A Night at the Roxbury”), relying too much on gut instincts. “Old School,” for instance, a raucous comedy that is proba bly on every video shelf of every frat house in America, did not appeal to him right off the bat. “That was a big lesson for me, actual ly,” he says. “At first, I wasn’t taken by the whole idea. But, luckily, after sitting down with (director) Todd Phillips and the smart people who represent me, who said, 'This has the potential to be a landmark come dy,’ I changed my mind. That opened my eyes to not be so quick to judge a comedy right out of the gate, to not say 'No’ too auicklv.” Same thing happened with “Elf,” in which he plays Buddy, a human who, hav ing been mistaken for an elf as a baby, is raised in the North Pole and never notices that his shoe size is eight times the North Pole average. When Buddy is finally told he’s a human, he heads to New York to give the city that never sleeps a dose of Christmas cheer. “The script was brought to my atten tion by my manager four or five years ago,” Ferrell says. “Right away, the con cept of the poster, with me in an elf suit, seemed to be something that could work on a lot of levels, but it took a long time to get the idea in order.” The concept sounds like shtick, but the surprise of “Elf ’ is that Ferrell gives a gen uine performance that is sweet, sincere and utterly without guile. “That was kind of the issue that we had to get right,” Ferrell says. “Although it was obviously a comedic performance, I knew I had to play it straight in terms of his thought process. Buddy is like a child in that he has no filters in place, so when he sees a piece of gum on the ground, he thinks, 'Cool. Free candy,’ whereas I would say, 'Oh, it’s dirty. Yuk.’ “ “Yuk” is the reaction some might have to wearing revealing tights for an entire film, as Ferrell does in “Elf’ (although the outfit is demure in comparison to what he wore for half of “Old School,” which was nothing). Ferrell says steps were taken to make sure he didn’t reveal too much of a Christmas package. “Yeah, it wasn’t my favorite costume,” acknowledges Ferrell. “Let’s put it this way: A real effort was put into giving Buddy an androgynous, asexual look. So there were a couple of pairs of special, di aper-y underwear worn at all times.” The idea was to make sure that “Elf’ never ventured into the crass, exactly-the opposite-of-Christmas-spirit territory that, for instance, the movie version of “The Grinch” stepped into. “That’s (director) Jon Favreau,” Ferrell says. “He wanted to make sure the movie was kind of heart felt and sweet, whereas I was especially concerned about the comedic side of things.” r erreii says ne learned pretty quickly to trust Favreau’s instincts, and he’s pleased that he did. Which is another les son he has learned from all those movies: Relax. “You know, there’s stuff I have control of. I show up on time. I’m prepared. I call people on time, as you said —10 o’clock, right on the money,” Ferrell says. “But I’m not too much of a worrier, in general, about other things.'Even right now, it all feels so unreal that I get to do this great job. So the main thing is to try not to take it too seriously.” -- Shopping CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 Exiting Revente due to lack of funds and interest, Tucker dashed into Creative Kids Toy Shop. Large plush animals, Hello Kitty items, toy planes, musical instruments, baking ware — the selection is too large to fully list. Tucker spent most of her time playing with a toy car and track. There were no words to explain her delight, except for “I want one!” Catalog 2 G s was Tucker s next shop ping destination. Catalog 2 G’s sells women's clothing and jewelry from mail order catalogs. “We take what is left over from old cat alogs and sell for them at least half— usu ally more than that — of the original price,” explained Janet Murphy, a store clerk. “We have a lot of stuff for women more middle-aged, but also more things — sweaters, bags — that have universal ap-' peal.” Tucker noticed beautiful, tasseled pa per lanterns in the window of Montage, a gifts store, and went inside to inquire about them. The exquisite lamp along with its corresponding light cord, cost only $35. The store’s earthy, bohemian merchan dise kept Tucker’s attention — she browsed through the furniture, necklaces, vases, lamps and other items. Tucker only glanced inside Lima, a de signer clothing store. “Everything in there is ridiculously ex pensive,” Tucker said. “Last time I went in there, the shirt I looked at was $65. ” Loose Lucy’s was the last store on Saluda Street. Tucker entered the hippie haven, which was dimly lit and smelled sweetlv of incense. “Wow! If you’re frozen in the sixties, you can get everything you need here,” Tucker said. Loose Lucy’s offers comfortable-look ing linen clothes from $10 to $20 — plus jewelry, incense and other goods. While Tucker did not buy any gifts, she still found many holiday shopping options. Whether you’re searching for something for a music-lover, a clothing-phile, a child at-heart, a grandmother or a hippie, Five Points offers a wide array of gift-giving possibilities at equally diverse prices. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecockudesk@hotmail. com I Apply Now. The Gamecock is looking for writers, copy editors and designers for Spring 2004. kGame Apply in Room 333 of the Russell House. Ml