11 Fun Facts AboutElfYou Probably Didn't Know

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: New Line Cinema/Courtesy Everett Collection

Twenty-one years after its release,Elfis still a Christmas hit.

The film, starringWill FerrellandZooey Deschanel, was first released on Nov. 7, 2003, and has becomea holiday classicin the years since.

While the film is well-known for its star-studded cast andiconic quotes, there are a few fun facts aboutElfyou might not know about.

For example: Ferrell actually wasn’t the first choice to play the notable elf! Plus, there are plenty of fun holiday Easter eggs throughout, including some celebrity cameos.

With the holidays in full swing, read ahead for some of the most fascinating facts about the movie.

Jim Carrey was reportedly the first choice to play Buddy

Gilbert Flores/Variety/Penske Media via Getty, Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

Interestingly enough, Carrey did end up playing another iconic Christmas character: the Grinch in 2000’sHow the Grinch Stole Christmas.

“So for a year, I rewrote the script. It turned into more of a PG movie from a PG-13,” he continued. “He was a darker character in the script I had read originally. The character became a bit more innocent, and the world became more of a pastiche of the Rankin/Bass films. The studio [New Line] read it and agreed to make it, and that’s when I was brought on to direct.”

The film’s director makes a cameo in the movie

New Line/courtesy Everett

Not only did Favreau play a big role in the film’s script, but he also made a cameo in the movie! Before playing Happy Hogan in Marvel films such asIron ManandSpider-Man: Homecoming, Favreau had a small role as Buddy’s doctor inElf(pictured right). Additionally, he voices the narwhal who recites the memorable line, “Bye, Buddy. Hope You find your dad!”

There isn’t much CGI in the film

Michael Ginsberg/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

Keeping with the Rankin/Bass aesthetic, Favreau toldRolling Stonehe didn’t want to make the film “a big CGI extravaganza," preferring instead to use practical sets and manual animation. In fact, he said the only CGI in the film is “some snowing.”

“I like motion-control, models, matte paintings,” he told the publication. “It feels timeless. And stop-motion is my favorite. There were a lot of challenges to do that stuff in stop-motion. I had to fight very hard not to do that stuff in CGI.”

To make Buddy appear larger than everyone else, Favreau revealed they used “forced perspective,” where you build two sets, with one smaller than the other.

“We did that for all the shots at the North Pole,” he said. “And if you look closely, you can see the two sets meet because we didn’t use CG to paint over that or blur it. I wanted it to have the same flaws that it would have had [before CGI], to make the movie feel more timeless. It made for great souvenirs. I have a Louisville Slugger that’s four and a half feet long in my office, that the elves were building.”

Many scenes weren’t actually filmed in New York City

New York City is prominently featured throughout the movie, and while the production did film at notable locations throughout the Big Apple, many of the interior shots were actually filmed at a sound stage in Vancouver.

Initially, the department store where Buddy accidentally lands a job was meant to be Macy’s, but they had to pivot due to one key creative difference: “Macy’s was willing to let us shoot there, use their Santaland, even incorporate us into the parade,” Favreau toldRolling Stone. “However, one of the stipulations was, we would have had to remove the Artie Lange scene, where Santa is revealed to be a fake, because their Santa has to be real.”

“We had to think long and hard about it,” he recalled. “We ended up filming it in the cafeteria of a mental hospital in Vancouver instead of Macy’s because we had to build our own version of it, because we were unwilling to change the content.” He added that they ended up naming the store Gimbel’s as a nod toMiracle on 34th Street.

The “throne of lies” scene was shot in one take

Warner Bros. Entertainment/YouTube

Speaking of that Santaland scene, in which Buddy tells Santa (Artie Lange) that he sits on a “throne of lies” after realizing he’s not the real Santa, the fight scene was filmed in one take.

Favreau and Lange told20/20that the actors only had one shot to get the scene right, because it took the movie’s art department over two weeks to create Buddy’s over-the-top LEGO cityscape, Lite Brite displays, and miniature train setup.

“They have to smash the whole [thing] — so we don’t really have a lot of resets,” Favreau said.

“We shot right up until we destroy the place," Lange said. “So we had one take to destroy it. So Favreau says, ‘Just go nuts — but we got one take.’”

In 2020, theNew Girlactress toldEntertainment Weeklythat the shower singing scene was written in after she was cast in the movie.

“I remember [director] Jon Favreau telling me that they were catering it to whoever played the part,” Deschanel told the publication. “One actress they were looking at was good at skateboarding. But I had a cabaret act at the time and I was performing a lot. They knew that I was a singer, so they put that in to be my special thing that he could discover I was good at.”

Speaking with PEOPLE, casting director Susie Farris added that Deschanel’s “innocence and vulnerability” made her perfect for the character. “Obviously, her voice was a tremendous help just in terms of her character,” she added. “I feel like that brought a whole other level, that she’s actually a singer, and just that scene where she’s singing, it was so touching to me.”

Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

DuringtheVultureFestival in 2016, LaMarche revealed the secret behind his belch, noting that it’s actually an effect. “I kind of turn my tongue inside out and then I do like a deep glottal rasp,” he explained before demonstrating it for the audience.

Another famous Christmas movie actor makes a cameo in the movie

Elfdidn’t just draw inspiration from classic holiday films, it also included an actor from one! Peter Billingsley, who famously played Ralphie in 1983’sA Christmas Story, plays Ming Ming, the head elf of Santa’s workshop.

Fun fact:Elfisn’t the only holiday film Billingsley has appeared in. In addition to reprising his role as Ralphie inthe 2022 sequelA Christmas Story Christmas, he also made a cameo in Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon’s filmFour Christmases.

There was almost a sequel

New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

There was almost anotherElf,but it went back on the shelf! In 2021, Ferrell revealed thathe turned down a second filmdue to it having a similar premise as the original movie.

“I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place, which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money,'” Ferrell toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “And I thought, ‘Can I actually say those words? I don’t think I can, so I guess I can’t do the movie.'”

According toTHR, he would have been paid $29 million for taking part in the sequel.

In September 2020, James Caan, who played Buddy’s father, Walter Hobbs, told the radio showThe Fan in Clevelandthat a sequel was never made due toan alleged disagreement between Ferrell and Favreau.

“We were gonna do it,” Caan said of the sequel, “and I thought, ‘Oh my God, I finally have a franchise movie. I can make some money, let my kids do what the hell they want to do.'”

However, “the director and Will didn’t get along very well,” Caan said. “Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director, and [Favreau] had it in his contract. It was one of those things.”

Producers Almost Cut Out a Now Classic Line

Mark Acheson and Will Ferrell in ‘Elf’.New Line Cinema

New Line Cinema

One of Mark Acheson’s iconic lines from the film was almost cut out, but thankfully, Favreau made sure to keep it in.

Whiletalking to PEOPLE, Acheson revealed that he was called in to say one simple line in the mailroom scene he filmed with Will Ferrell. However, once he got to set, Favreau asked him to improvise with Ferrell and at one point Acheson’s character tells Buddy that he’s 26 years old and he’s “got nothing to show for it.”

“You’re young, you’re so young,” Buddy then responds.

And though it’s hard to imagine the movie without the funny scene now, it almost got cut.

“The producers wanted to axe the whole scene because of that. I think, ‘Who is gonna believe this guy is 26?’ I mean, seriously. I believe I was 46 at the time and an older, 46 even at that. Because I never looked young in my life,” Acheson says.

However, “Jon Favreau fought for it. He said that the joke, that’s the funny part, right?” he continues. “He kept me in but they, they didn’t want me but he did and thank God for me because it changed my career quite a bit.”

source: people.com