Character played by Will Ferrell in a 2003 Christmas film (3)
I believe the answer is:
elf
'a 2003 christmas film' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'character played by will ferrell' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'character' could be 'l' and 'l' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ef' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for elf that I've seen before include "1 ac fairy" , "Robin Goodfellow?" , "'Pixie, imp (3)'" , "One of the little folk" , "Fairy-like creature" .)