The first script for Elf was actually written in 1993, with Jim Carrey in mind to play the titular Santa's helper. Because it took over a decade for the film to finally be made, the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective star never ended up taking on the role, , which proved to be the ultimate Christmas gift for Will Ferrell.
The original script for Elf was written with Jim Carrey in mind for the lead role, but it sat in production limbo for a decade before eventually being picked up by Will Ferrell.
Garry Shandling was offered the role of Walter Hobbs but declined. Wanda Sykes was originally cast as the Gimbels manager Wanda but later dropped out; the manager's name tag in the film still bears the name "Wanda". Terry Zwigoff was offered to direct the film, but he turned it down in favor of Bad Santa (2003).
1. Jim Carrey as Buddy the Elf in Elf. The script for Elf was first written in 1993, and at the time, Carrey was attached to star in it. However, the movie did not immediately go into production, and by the time it did in 2003, Carrey was no longer interested in the role.
Jim Carrey was originally considered for the role of Buddy the Elf, but Will Ferrell ultimately brought the iconic character to life. The original script for Elf was much darker, but director Jon Favreau rewrote it to make it more family-friendly and PG-rated.
James Caan was a true delight. My favorite memory of him was shooting part of a montage for the end of Elf and he started playing piano — he played beautifully — I sang and he played and I was just astonished by his talent!
– Will Ferrell was not the original choice for Buddy the Elf. Back when the script was first being shopped around in the 90s, producers wanted Jim Carrey to play the goofy lead.
Who was supposed to be Elf instead of Will Ferrell?
But had the screenwriter had his choice, Ferrell wouldn't have been the comedian selected for the lead role. Berenbaum finished the first draft of Elf in 1993 with In Living Color alum, Jim Carrey in mind for the lead role, with a much darker undertone of the film — but Carey wasn't meant to be in the role.
“I had to dye my hair blonde for a screen test for a movie that never happened before I did Elf,” Deschanel told Stylecaster in a March 2019 interview. “I went in for the meeting for Elf, and then I asked them, 'Could I dye my hair back to my natural color? ' And they said, 'No.
Interestingly, while the movie is set in New York City and the North Pole, many interior shots were filmed in an abandoned mental hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Riverview Hospital, located in Coquitlam, east of Vancouver, served as the backdrop for these scenes.
As Favreau revealed to ABC News, the Elf team asked Macy's if they could use the store for the movie, but Macy's declined. He told the publication: "Because we're using a Santa, of course, everybody thinks Macy's. "But Macy's didn't like the idea that there was a fake Santa working there.
It was reported that Will was offered a whopping $29million to appear in a sequel but he still refused to budge for the massive pay cheque. Will, who has had previous success with Anchorman 2, Daddy's Home 2 and Zoolander 2, said it would be 'pathetic' to try and remake Elf.
Though it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Buddy, Ferrell wasn't the first choice for the titular character. When the script for the movie first emerged in 1993, Jim Carrey was attached to star, per Vulture. However, by the time the film went into production, Carrey had moved on from the role.
Fun fact: Producers wanted to feature the famous Macy's 34th street location, the largest store in the world, but Macy's refused to have their name used. So they settled on Gimbels, a now defunct NY department store–the exterior was shot at 5th Avenue and E 30th St and decorated with CGI.
The first script for Elf was written way back in 1993 with Jim Carrey in mind to play Buddy. However, as the project took years to get off the ground, The Mask star never ended up taking on the role.
The teams worked with a two-thirds scale that would allow Ferrell to seem bigger than his elven counterparts. Afterward, the crew would adjust the height of the cameras and objects to bring the optical illusion to life.
Elf was Will Ferrell's second box office hit. He reportedly received a whopping salary of $17 million for that film alone, more on par with what his talents would dictate in the mid-2000s. He was allegedly offered $29 million to act in an Elf sequel, but couldn't get his heart into it, so he turned it down.
Celebrity Net Worth noted that court documents showed Caan earning $1 million in royalties in 2015, with $140,000 annually from the Christmas classic “Elf.”
James Caan plays Walter Hobbs, Buddy's biological father. That's quite the get for the film. He wasn't the first choice, though. Garry Shandling, best known for his seminal sitcom “The Larry Sanders Show,” was offered the role but turned it down.
This actually makes Buddy a fair amount younger than Will Ferrell himself, who was 35 years old at the time of Elf's filming, and 36 when the movie was released to theaters.
There's plenty of real New York on display of course, but most of the interiors were filmed in an abandoned mental hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Born December 18th, Buddy was adopted by elves and Santa Claus as a baby, so he never got to discover how exactly to be human. He developed certain skills like quickly decorating a large space, creating toys in short amounts of time and generally being a good person.
