'HUGE FAN'

U2’s The Edge Comes Clean on Writing Iconic Comedy Sequel

The rocker revealed his secret identity as a screenwriter.

The rock star who wrote a secret sequel to the holiday classic Elf—first revealed by Obsessed: The Podcast—has confirmed his plans and said he still wants to see it made.

The Edge, U2’s lead guitarist, was outed as a speculative screenwriter by Obsessed: The Podcast guest Andy Richter, a revelation that raised eyebrows among fans of the 2003 Will Ferrell movie. The guitarist, whose real name is Adam Joseph Copeland, had never been involved in the movie industry or known to be a superfan of the film. On Friday, the rocker broke his silence on the bizarre gambit and said he still hopes it can be made.

The Edge, 65, confirmed he wrote a follow-up screenplay to Elf during an interview with his U2 bandmates on the Alchemy podcast, hosted by CBS News’ Anthony Mason. The Daily Beast’s Obsessed: The Podcast broke the news of the unmade sequel after speaking with Elf cast member Andy Richter, 60, who published a new book, Elf: Unwrapped, about creating the holiday classic.

“This has happened to me about three or four times: I will wake up, and I will have a complete movie outline in my head,” The Edge told host Mason. “This morning, I woke up with this idea for a sequel to Elf.”

“By the way,” he added, “I do love that movie.”

He said he wrote everything down and even spoke to “a friend who’s a film producer.” Richter said Elf producer Shauna Robertson received a message that The Edge from U2 had written a script, but that nothing came to fruition.

“It never happened,” Richter told Obsessed. ”It’s one of those things where she’s like, ‘Alright, sure, I’ll meet him,’ and then it just petered out and never happened.”

The Edge said that he only wrote it “for my own amusement.”

“It’s an outrage that someone would suggest that I would write a script,” he joked. “I wrote a treatment. It’s a different thing.”

The Edge’s bandmate Bono, 66, was also present for the interview, and the Irish rock star was shocked to hear about the screenplay. He asked where Mason heard about The Edge’s sequel, and the Edge replied, “It’s been all over the news.”

“This is very big news,” Bono said, before asking if Ferrell was “finding out about it now.”

“He might be finding out about it right now,” The Edge said, laughing. “I mean, I’m a huge fan. I’m a huge fan. I just shared it with a couple of people. Honestly, I thought it was so far-fetched, so far-fetched that I didn’t take it terribly seriously, but you never know!”

The Edge was surprised that Richter knew about his whole Elf endeavor. He added that he hasn’t received any calls about producing the film since Richter shared the news; “I’ll have to check with my agent,” he quipped.

Though comedian Scot Armstrong, who helped write the original movie, wrote a sequel for Elf as well, no follow-up films have reached production. Richter wasn’t surprised, given that more than 20 years have passed since the first movie, and a sequel would cost much more to make. He also thinks the movie should stand alone for sentimental reasons.

“Now that time has passed, the movie has become so special that I think that people, rightfully so, are loath to mess with it because we all can think of movies that have been tarnished by their sequels,” Richter said. “And this is so special and so perfect and so beloved. Why risk it?”

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Dana Herrnstadt Editorial Intern, Obsessed

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