Celebrate the 21st annivesary of Elf by unwrapping these syrupy sweet treats like the fact that Jim Carrey almost played Buddy and Will Ferrell turned down a massive pay day for a potential sequel.
The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by spilling secrets about Elf for all to hear.
In 2003, Will Ferrell stole our hearts and reinvigorated our love for maple syrup and smiling (which is our favorite), when Elf debuted in theaters. Made for just $33 million, the Jon Favreau-directed feel-good comedy went on to gross over $220 million and, more importantly, has endured as a must-watch holiday classic for all these years.
Ferrell’s turn as Buddy the Elf was his first film after leaving Saturday Night Live in 2022 and found the actor interacting with animated narwhals and snowmen in the North Pole then hopping around New York City in yellow tights. And yet, somehow, it all worked.
Which is good, because there were points during filming when Ferrell truly felt like a cotton-headed ninny-muggins.
“I’m sitting in my tights in my dressing room,” he recounted in a September interview with E! News staring at myself in the mirror going, ‘What did I do? This better work or I’m done.'”
As we know now though, he did it! He made one of the world’s best Christmas movies. Great job, everybody!
But were you aware that Ferrell’s role almost went to another actor? Or that one of his co-stars was concerned that his performance was too over-the-top?
“In between setups, he’d be like, ‘I don’t get you. You’re not funny,'” the Anchorman actor revealed on a July episode of Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler‘s MeSsy podcast. “And I’m like, ‘I know. I’m not Robin Williams.'”
Fortunately there’s room for everyone on the nice list.
And to celebrate the Christmas classic’s Nov. 7 anniversary, we took a journey through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, through the sea of swirly-twirly gum drops and then through the Lincoln Tunnel to uncover these syrupy sweet behind-the-scenes secrets about Elf.
New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock1. 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.
2. Elf was also initially intended to be a bit more sinister, with director Jon Favreau revealing to Rolling Stone, “He was a darker character.”
3. Before he was asked to come in to rewrite the script and transform the movie into a PG friendly-family affair, Favreau initially turned down the job.
“I took a look at the script, and I wasn’t particularly interested,” he told Rolling Stone. “It was a much darker version of the film. I liked the notion of being involved with Will in his first solo movie after SNL, but it wasn’t quite there.”
Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock4. Buddy’s iconic costume was modeled off of the elves from the 1964 Rankin/Bass film Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
“The costume was important,” Favreau told ABC News. “It looks almost like he’s a puppet and the tights and the boots and the hat and he was extremely brave wearing that costume.”
5. Costume designer Laura Jean Shannon, tasked with finding the perfect look, revealed it wasn’t accommodating Ferrell’s 6-foot-3 frame that was the hardest part of her job.
“It was less a challenge dressing Will due to his size and more a challenge to make sure nothing seemed off-putting or in bad taste.” she explained to Feel Christmassy. “After all, I had to dress a grown man in tights and a cutaway coat. Needless to say, we did have a fair amount of fittings to be sure we struck the right balance between absurd and adorable.”
Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock6. Ferrell’s Buddy costume was so captivating that the actor actually caused a few traffic incidents while filming in New York City.
“When we had Will in the Lincoln Tunnel, the tunnel was open. Same thing with the 59th Street Bridge,” Favreau told Rolling Stone. “Whenever he was out there in his suit, we’d hear screeches and fender-benders and lights smashing. People would be looking at him walking on the side and that would cause a few minor traffic accidents.”
7. Buddy’s infamous 12-second long burp wasn’t actually performed by Ferrell. Voice actor Maurice LaMarche, best known for giving life to The Brain on Pinky and the Brain, provided the dinner table belch. And, yes, we heard that.
Michael Ginsberg/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock8. The cotton balls Buddy can’t stop eating in the doctor’s office were actually pieces of cotton candy that had yet to be dyed.
9. Buddy’s all-sugar diet also became Ferrell’s daily food intake while filming as he actually scarfed down all of that maple syrup-coated spaghetti and candy during scenes.
“I ingested a lot of sugar in this movie and I didn’t get a lot of sleep,” Ferrell told The Sun. “I constantly stayed up. But anything for the movie, I’m there. If it takes eating a lot of maple syrup, then I will, if that’s what the job calls for.”
10. The late James Caan didn’t have to act all that hard to nail his role as Buddy’s reluctant father Walter.
“I literally drove him crazy in that movie,” Ferrell explained to Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler during a July 2024 appearance on their MeSsy podcast. “In between setups, he’d be like, ‘I don’t get you. You’re not funny.’ And I’m like, ‘I know. I’m not Robin Williams.'”
But the dynamic worked, acknowledged Ferrell. “I love that the whole time, he’s not acting,” he continued. “He’s truly annoyed with me. He’s like, ‘Can this guy shut the f–k up?'”
Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock11. Determined to maintain the old school aesthetic, Favreau told Rolling Stone he didn’t want to make the film “a big CGI extravaganza,” only using the technology to add some snow.
“I like motion-control, models, matte paintings,” he explained. “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.”
12. While Ferrell does have several inches on 5-foot-8 Bob Newhart (a.k.a. Papa Elf), Favreau revealed they used “forced perspective” to make it appear as if the SNL alum was towering over everyone else at the North Pole.
Building two sets, one larger than the other, meant “if you look closely, you can see the two sets meet because we didn’t use CG to paint over that or blur it,” Favreau explained. “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.”
Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock13. They came this close to filming the Santa scene at Macy’s. However, one of the stipulations was removing the scene where Buddy called out the department store Santa, played by comedian Artie Lange, as fake “because their Santa has to be real,” Favreau explained to Rolling Stone. “We had to think long and hard about it.”
Eventually they ended up filming in the cafeteria of a Vancouver mental hospital. They named their store Gimbels as a nod to 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street.
14. When Zooey Deschanel was cast as Buddy’s love interest Jovie, the film’s producers decided to inject a shot of warmth with her peformance of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
“I remember Jon Favreau telling me that they were catering it to whoever played the part,” Deschanel told Entertainment Weekly in 2020. “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.”
Michael Ginsberg/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock15. Some of Buddy’s most iconic lines—”You smell like beef and cheese!” and “You sit on a throne of lies!”—were improvised by Ferrell in the moment.
16. The big fight scene between Ferrell and Lange was filmed in one take because it took the art department weeks to decorate Gimbels.
“We had one take to destroy it,” Lange told ABC News, “So Favreau said, ‘Just go nuts!'”
17. While most people know Favreau had a small role as the pediatrician who examines Buddy and confirms he’s Walter’s son, the director also had another part: He voiced the Narwhal who infamously said, “Bye Buddy, hope you find your dad!”
Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock18. Ferrell turned down a reported $29 million paycheck to reprise the role of Buddy for a sequel, telling The Guardian in 2006 that it “wasn’t difficult at all” to pass on the opportunity.”I remember asking myself: could I withstand the criticism when it’s bad and they say, ‘He did the sequel for the money?'” he explained. “I decided I wouldn’t be able to. I didn’t want to wander into an area that could erase all the good work I’ve done—but you watch, I’ll do some sequel in the future that’s crap.”
19. But Caan alleged it was tension between Ferrell and Favreau that possibly squashed any plans for a follow-up.
“We were gonna do it, 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,'” he said on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland. “The director and Will didn’t get along very well. Will wanted to do it, and he didn’t want the director. He had it in his contract. It was one of those things.”
20. While a sequel won’t be found in anyone’s stockings, fans were gifted with a Broadway musical inspired by the film in 2010. The show ran through 2013 and traveled overseas to the West End in 2015.
