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 Ferrell.
The original script for the movie in the early 1990s had comedian Jim Carrey chosen to star in the role of Buddy the Elf. Turns out, Carrey ended up playing a very different Christmas character in the 2000 film How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Jim Carrey was reportedly the first choice to play Buddy
However, by the time the film went into production, Carrey had moved on from the role. Interestingly enough, Carrey did end up playing another iconic Christmas character: the Grinch in 2000's How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
– 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.
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.
On the film's DVD commentary, director Bob Clark mentions that Jack Nicholson had been considered to play Ralphie's father before McGavin was cast. Nicholson is an acting legend, but McGavin was able to balance the hardheaded yet sympathetic aspects of the character flawlessly.
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!
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 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.
I was only 21 when I made that movie. I remember sitting—I was at my parents' house because I basically just dropped out of college to be an actor—and I remember sitting at my parents' house reading that script and laughing out loud. Since then, I've seen that that's a good sign." Deschanel said.
Gender. Susie Hobbs is the daughter of Buddy and Jovie, the granddaughter of Walter Hobbs and Susan Wells, the adopted granddaughter of Papa Elf, the step granddaughter of Emily Hobbs and the half-niece of Michael Hobbs. She's shown at the end of the movie when Buddy and Jovie are married and visit Santa.
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.
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.
Nonetheless, when the actor that Favreau first wanted for Jovie dropped out at the last minute, he needed a new performer with a new special talent. “I remember Jon Favreau telling me that they were catering it to whoever played the part,” Deschanel told EW about building the Jovie character in 2020.
However, it's worth noting that 2003, when the film was made, there wasn't a coffee shop at 20 East Hastings Street. Instead, the location was home to a long-standing seafood restaurant, The Only Sea Food.
Principal photography began on December 9, 2002, and wrapped on March 7, 2003. Filming took place in New York City, as well as in Vancouver and at Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
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.
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.
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.”
After the Jim Carrey version of Elf failed to get made, it was several years before anyone made a move to get Elf into production. Eventually, the team of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell got hold of the script and decided to take it on as Ferrell's second post-Saturday Night Live film, following Old School.
Did they use a real bar of soap in A Christmas Story?
The soap scene, while believable, was all thanks to Peter Billingsley's sharp acting skills. The iconic red Lifebuoy soap we saw in the movie was actually made of wax. Because of the movie's small budget, real soap was out of the question.
Fortunately, the 14-year-old actor's tongue wasn't really “thtuck,” and no children were harmed filming the scene. The prop people painted the pole to appear old and rusty, and masked a piece of plastic wrapped around it, according to Schwartz.
Fun fact: A Christmas Story was filmed during the winter, but there was not enough snow in Cleveland during production, so a majority of the snow used in the film was trucked in from area ski resorts, or substituted with potato flakes and firefighter's foam.
