People are shocked to realise Ralphie from A Christmas Story is in Elf

Virgin Radio

23 Dec 2022, 15:05

Think you know all the festive films inside out? Think again. Fans are doing double takes after realising Ralphie from 1983's classic A Christmas Story is also in 2003's Elf.

Viewers are only just clocking that actor Peter Billingsley is in both Christmas films and in A Christmas Story plays the bullied Ralphie Parker, while he stars as head elf Ming Ming in Will Ferrell's Elf.

Surprised fans wrote on Twitter: "I was today-years-old when I realised that Peter Billingsley (a.k.a. Ralphie from A Christmas Story) was in Elf!"

"Ralphie (A Christmas Story) is in Four Christmases and Elf so now I have to see how many Christmas movies he's snuck his way in to," wrote a Twitter user.

"Did you know Ralphie from a Christmas story is in Elf?" asked one user.

"Ralphie from A Christmas Story was also in Elf!" shared another.

On playing Ralphie again in HBO Max's A Christmas Story Christmas, Billingsley said of the sequel to the original: “As an actor, being older was great. The idea (is) that Ralphie has grown up, has his own family and isn't obsessed with a gift now. He’s really obsessed with trying to give his own kids a great Christmas. All those pieces together felt like, ‘Okay, now feels like the right time.’

"I don't know how it ranks, but I don't know many children that became (actors as) adults. Sometimes maybe those qualities didn't translate. What I liked is that he is still a dreamer, and that's a fun thing to play. They're grown-up fantasies, but also, he's a hard guy to deter when he's after something. In the original, he was pretty relentless in his pursuit of the gun. Here, he's unstoppable even when things aren't going well for him.

“Those are qualities that, as an adult actor, you can gravitate towards and find your way in,” he said. “It was (also) fun thinking, ‘What kind of dad would he be? How much would he be like his old man, from the original? How much do you draw from that? How much do you separate a little bit from it?’”