"The more I started thinking about it, the more I was like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of places on campus where I can recreate this.’ "
While many students were stressed out studying during finals week, Mallory Golski was singing Christmas carols in her residence hall bathroom and making paper snowflakes in the library.
Golski, a freshman studying journalism, posted a video on YouTube last week of herself dressed as an elf, recreating several scenes from the movie Elf around Ohio University’s campus and Uptown.
The Post caught up with Golski over the phone to discuss her inspiration for the video and how people reacted watching her sing loudly in the middle of a store on Court Street.
The Post: What gave you the idea to film a recreation of Elf?
Mallory Golski: Honestly, it’s just because I watched it about a month earlier, and I just brainstormed. As I watched it, I was just thinking of all of the ways to recreate it because I was like, ‘Well we have escalators in Baker. We have the revolving door in Alden, like all of these things.’ Honestly, it was because that was the only free time I had and because my two harder exams were on Monday, and I didn’t have any more until Thursday so I had all of that free time. Then as I was making it, I thought, ‘This would definitely be a good distraction for people who are studying for finals.’
P: Did you choose particular scenes because you knew you could do them (on campus)?
M: I mean, yeah as I was watching it. … Gosh, I think the first scene that made me think, ‘Oh my gosh, how funny would it be,’ I think, at first I was like, ‘Oh, I can take a picture of me going up the escalator like that.’ Then the more I started thinking about it, I was like, ‘Wait, there’s the revolving door scene. I could go to Nelson because they always have the syrup and the toppings.’ The more I started thinking about it, the more I was like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of places on campus where I can recreate this.’
P: Was there a scene in the movie you wish you could do, but you didn’t have the resources for it?
M: Oh yeah, I didn’t really plan ahead. I wish I could’ve done the classroom scene where they are saying the four rules for being an elf. … Like, ‘Treat every day like it’s Christmas. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear,’ — that scene. I totally should’ve done that when I was still in actual classes, but by the time I got around to filming it, it was during finals week so I couldn’t get that. … In terms of other scenes, I watched the movie the other day and the scene where he stands on the toilet and looks over the stall and goes, 'These toilets are huge,' I wish I had incorporated that in somehow, but other than that not really.
P: Yeah, you kind of got them all. Who filmed the video and how long did it take you to make?
M: Emily Eschliman filmed it. … Our last final ended at, like, 2 (p.m.), and we probably started filming around 2:45 (p.m.). … I think I was done filming by like 7-ish because I had the whole thing edited by like 8 (p.m.) or 8:30 (p.m.) that night, so it didn’t take that long.
P: What was your favorite part about making the video?
M: I think just the reactions that I got from people. I knew that I’d get some strange looks. It wasn’t embarrassing because I had anticipated doing that, and I think that comes with the territory when you’re going to do something bizarre like this, like, you have to expect that people are going to think that it’s weird. So I think going in there knowing that people were going to stare at me or kind of laugh made it even funnier because I got to relax and kind of watch their reactions.
But in terms of my favorite scene, definitely Brenen’s because I was just screaming in the restaurant — like nobody knew. I told the workers that I was going to do it just so I could get their permission to film it, but the people sitting there eating and studying, they had no idea, and they just laughed.
P: In the video you can see a couple of people's reactions, but what was the look on everyone’s faces in Brenen’s when you did that?
M: A lot of them were studying. … It was finals, and they just kind of popped their headphones out, and they were looking at me like, ‘Are you crazy?’ Then when they realized what was going on, they all started laughing. I think that was one of the moments where I was like really the best way to spread Christmas cheer is by doing crazy things like that so people at least get a little chuckle and smile when they’re studying.
P: There are two scenes — one in the elevator when you click all of the buttons and there’s one where you’re screaming in the store — and there are two different boys that look at you. Did you know them?
M: I did.
P: Because they played their part like they were very surprised.
M: Yeah, I knew both of them. I actually rode up in the elevator. Gosh, it must’ve taken us like five or six minutes just to get that shot just because people kept getting on and off the elevator, and there wasn’t enough room to shoot it when there were more people in there. I just happened to see, his name is Bob Cook, I happened to see him in the library. … I was like, 'Hey can I borrow you for like two seconds?' and he was happy help.
P: Was the Elf-inspired Nelson spaghetti disgusting?
M: I have a really big sweet tooth, so it didn’t taste that bad. Honestly, it was just a really weird texture because the noodles were kind of sticky and slimy. Chocolate was starting to melt, so that was weird. But I definitely spit it out, if you watch the whole clip that I didn’t edit, you’d see me spit it out. I couldn’t do it, and the odor of all that sugar combined, it was just pungent because there were so many sweet smells. Even that was too much. It wasn’t repulsive, but I certainly wouldn’t eat it again.
P: Yeah, what were people’s reactions to the video once you posted it online?
M: I was very surprised. I was kind of joking while we were filming. I was like 'I want to go viral! I want to go viral!' When I posted it, and without me even telling people to, they started sharing it and liking it. Not even just sharing it, but they’d post the link on their own and retweeting it. People are still retweeting (the original tweet) now.
I just expected it to be, like, five retweets, and I would’ve been like, ‘Yep, that was a better tweet for the week’ and moved on. But people kept retweeting it and retweeting it, and I was like ‘Oh my god, I’m actually going viral.’
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