David Krumholtz is still reeling from showing up to work stoned and angering Hilary Duff.
While Krumholtz only recently joined X, the platform previously known as Twitter, the former child star has been making up for lost time by sharing tall and embarrassing career tales with his followers. His latest story naturally involves Vicodin, an earnest apology and elves.
Krumholtz noted Monday that he was 24 when he filmed Disney’s “The Santa Clause 2” and the company invited him and two guests to a free three-day trip to Disney World — provided he participate in the 2002 Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade to promote the film.
“I bring my buddy Mike and my weed dealer ... We get a guide,” he wrote on X. “Front of every line ... the ‘treatment.’ I am grateful! … I’m popping Vics with my weed dealer and one of my best buddies and it is AWESOME. I’m a Disney nerd. This could not be more ideal.”
Krumholtz even spotted a “Santa Clause 2” display that featured his character, Bernard the Elf, the night before the parade. He took the opportunity to “grab a deep red sweater with Pluto in a Christmas hat sewn on the front” to wear in the parade the next day. He described his state of mind at the time: “I’m high as hell, and I’m ready for anything.”
As it turned out, Disney’s plans did not include a Pluto sweater. Reporting for the parade in the morning, Krumholtz wrote, “I’m greeted and told that my makeup artists are inside. Hey. Hold up. Hee Haw. Whoa. Makeup artistS?? PLURAL? ... My elf ears are there. They tell me they have my costume, but not the wig or the shoes... Time the fuck out. I can’t adjust to this news.”
Upon learning that he was expected to be “in full costume” on a parade float, “elf dancing” with Duff as she performed the song she recorded for the film’s soundtrack, Krumholtz called his publicist, who purportedly denied knowing about the costume requirement.
“Here’s where my inflated ego comes in,” Krumholtz wrote on X. “I can’t do this. My IMAGE under threat! ... I tell them I won’t do it. They are openly pissed off. I feel awful, I got the ‘treatment’ but I was never told about this! I refuse. I pitch myself riding solo on a horse drawn carriage in front of Hillary Duff’s float. As me. Myself. David fucking Krumholtz. In a Pluto sweater.”
Krumholtz wrote that he took his place after the producers begrudgingly agreed to his idea ― only to turn around to see Duff standing “alone on the Santa Clause 2 float.” He tried to ingratiate himself to Duff with “a friendly wave hello.” It didn’t work.
“I’ve never met her before,” Krumholtz wrote. “She responds with a pissed off ‘what the fuck?’ shrug. I turn back around. ‘Ok, don’t look at Hillary Duff again.’ I’m high. I’m fine with myself. This is gonna be great! Regis Philbin hosting!”
It was not great. The casually dressed Krumholtz, who had not been introduced to the crowd as a “Santa Clause” actor, was faced with confused parade-goers shouting, “Who ARE you?”
He added that a Disney staffer dressed as the titular character from “Bear and the Big Blue House” took pity on him toward the end, when someone else admonished Krumholtz for putting the parade’s producers “in a bind.”
Krumholtz wrote that he “didn’t work for Disney again for 20 years” ― although he’s forged a career outside of the Mouse House, with roles in film, television and theater. Recently, he starred in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” But after all this time, he still feels bad about leaving Duff out in the cold.
“I’ve yet to reunite with Hillary Duff, I owe her an amends,” he wrote on X. “Maybe she’ll read this.”
Representatives for Duff did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.