Buddy the elf visits Charlotte, and photos go viral
Aspiring actor AJ Schiavone and photographer Mike Moore teamed up to bring Buddy from the movie “Elf” to Charlotte for a day, and their photos of the adventure have gone viral on Buzzfeed and social media sites the past few days.
Schiavone is a former Charlotte resident who lives in Los Angeles and is pursuing a career in acting. Moore lives in Charleston and is a professional photographer. Together they filmed a spoof on the movie “Elf” last Christmas.
They didn’t get the film edited and the album put together in time for the holidays last year, so they saved it as a gift for all of us this Christmas. So far the Buddy photo album has more than 24,000 views on Buzzfeed, and both men say the response has been overwhelming.
“I wasn’t expecting the reaction,” Schiavone said. “So many people wanted to get their picture taken with Buddy.”
The only disappointment was the Santa at SouthPark Mall wouldn’t take a photo with Buddy, preventing a remake of the famous scene from the movie where Buddy encounters a mall Santa.
“AJ’s got a big personality and a lot of charisma,” Moore said. “Because of his height and build, he looks a lot like Will Ferrell in that costume. We thought it would be hilarious if he was just walking about the city and being Buddy for a day. That’s when we came up with going to the YMCA and other things.”
Buddy happened to be in Charlotte on a Panthers game day, so he mingled with tailgating fans, bought tons of syrup at Harris Teeter for his beloved pancakes, went shopping at Northlake Mall and made friends all over the city.
“We planned out some of it, but as we walked around, we just came up with more things,” Schiavone said. “Most of all, we just wanted to make people happy during Christmas.”
This wasn’t the duo’s first time taking a character into the real world. Schiavone dressed as Wolverine once, and Moore took photos of him at a fountain in Charleston. The photos were used in a series of photoshopped art. Moore said his artistic inspiration for that shoot was the movie “300.”
The elf photo album has been their most popular by far.
“I love trying to be funny, and so does AJ, so we’re always willing to go the extra mile for a good laugh,” Moore said. “He’s totally an actor, and I’m more of a producer, which leads to great chemistry. He’s up for just about anything and gets into character. I mean he was Buddy the elf that day. He actually thought like an idiot who loved Christmas.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2014 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Buddy the elf visits Charlotte, and photos go viral."