10 Fun Facts About Elf You Probably Didn't Know

Twenty-one years after its publication, Dwarf it’s still a Christmas hit.

The film, starring Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel, was first released on November 7, 2003 and has become a holiday classic in the years since.

The film revolves around the hilarious antics of Ferrell’s character Buddy, a man raised by Santa’s elves who sets out to find his biological father in the real world.

Although the film is well known for its stellar cast and iconic quotes, there are a few fun facts about the Dwarf you may not know about.

For example: Ferrell wasn’t actually the first choice to play the famous elf! Plus, there are lots of fun holiday Easter eggs throughout, including some star-studded ones.

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

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Jim Carrey was reportedly the first choice for the role of Buddy

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While it’s hard to imagine anyone else playing Buddy, Ferrell wasn’t the first choice for the title character. When the script for the film first surfaced in 1993, Jim Carrey was attached to star, according to Sup. However, by the time the film went into production, Carrey had dropped out of the role.

Interestingly, Carrey ended up playing another iconic Christmas character: the 2000s Grinch How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Dwarf he was very inspired Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

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Many aspects of the film, such as Buddy’s outfit, were inspired by other classic holiday films. Talking to Rolling Stone In 2020, director Jon Favreau explained that when he first got the script, “it was a much darker version of the movie”.

He decided to rework the script to make it sweeter, inspired by holiday movies from his childhood. “If I had created the world from which he was born, it was as if he had grown up as an elf Rudolph the red-nosed reindeerone of those Rankin/Bass Christmas specials that I grew up with, then everything fell into place tonally,” he told the publication.

“So, I spent a year rewriting 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 originally read. The character became a little more innocent and the world became more like a pastiche of the Rankin/Bass films. Studio [New Line] read it and agreed to make it, and then they brought me in to direct.”

The director of the film plays a cameo role in the film

New Line/courtesy Everett

Not only did Favreau play a major role in the film’s script, but he also made a cameo in the film! Before playing Happy Hogan in Marvel movies such as Iron Man and Spider-Man: HomecomingFavreau had a small role as Buddy’s doctor Dwarf (pictured right). Additionally, he voices a narwhal who recites the memorable line, “Bye, Buddy. I hope you find your dad!”

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There is not much CGI in the film

Michael Ginsberg/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

Sticking with the Rankin/Bass aesthetic, Favreau said Rolling Stone he didn’t want to make the film a “big CGI extravaganza”, preferring instead to use practical scenes and hand animation. In fact, he said the only CGI in the film is “a little bit of snow.”

“I love the motion control, the models, the matte paintings,” he told the publication. “The feeling is timeless. And stop-motion is my favorite. It was a lot of challenges to do those things in stop-motion. I had to fight really hard not to do those things in CGI.”

To make Buddy look bigger than everyone else, Favreau revealed that 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 that the two sets meet because we didn’t use CG to color it or blur it. I wanted him to have the same flaws he would have [before CGI]to make the film look timeless. He created excellent souvenirs. I have a four-and-a-half-foot long Louisville Slugger in my office, built by elves.”

Many of the scenes were not actually shot in New York

New Line/courtesy Everett

New York City features prominently throughout the film, and while the production shot in famous locations across the Big Apple, many of the interiors were actually shot on a sound stage in Vancouver.

Initially, the department store where Buddy accidentally gets a job was supposed to be Macy’s, but they had to change because of one key creative difference: “Macy’s was willing to let us film there, use their Santaland, even include us in the parade,” he said. is Favreau Rolling Stone. “However, one of the conditions was that we had to remove Artie Lange’s scene, where it is revealed that Santa is fake, because their Santa has to be real.”

“We had to think about it for a long time,” he recalled. “We ended up shooting it in the cafeteria of a mental hospital in Vancouver instead of Macy’s because we had to do our own version because we didn’t want to change the content.” He added that they ended up calling the store Gimbel’s as a nod Miracle on 34th Street.

“Gimbel’s was a name that was owned by a third party, and we were able to license it and create our own version,” he continued. “Ultimately, it’s better than being Macy’s. It gave us the freedom to do whatever we wanted creatively.”

The “Throne of Lies” scene was filmed in one frame

Warner Bros. Entertainment/YouTube

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

Favreau and Lange told 20/20 that the actors only had one take for the actual scene, as it took the film’s art department over two weeks to create Buddy’s exaggerated LEGO cityscape, Lite Brite screens and miniature train set.

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

“We shot until we destroyed the place,” Lange said. “So we had one attempt to destroy it. So Favreau says, ‘Just go crazy — but we have one shot.'”

The scene “Baby It’s Cold Outside” was written for Zooey Deschanel

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Another sweet moment from the film is Zooey Deschanel and Ferrell’s duet on “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” which Deschanel’s casting (which also almost didn’t happen; in 2018, she revealed to Diversity which she filled in when the original cast had to drop out).

In 2020, New girl said the actress Entertainment Weekly that the scene singing in the shower was written after she was cast in the film.

“I remember [director] Jon Favreau told me they gave it to whoever was playing the part,” Deschanel told the publication. “One actress they were looking at was good at skateboarding. But at that time I had a cabaret and performed a lot. They knew I was a singer, so they put that as my special thing that he could find out I was good at.”

Speaking to PEOPLE, casting director Susie Farris added that Deschanel’s “innocence and vulnerability” make her perfect for the character. “Obviously her voice was a huge help just in terms of her character,” she added. “I feel that it brought a whole other level, that she is actually a singer, and that very scene where she sings, was so moving to me.”

Buddy’s belching was not filmed by Will Ferrell

Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock

In the movie, Buddy burps for a long time after eating a ton of sugary food, but Ferrell didn’t make that outrageous sound himself. It was actually recorded by famous voice actor Maurice LaMarche, who is best known for his roles Brain in Animaniacs as well as its spin-off Pinky and the Brain.

During Sup At the 2016 festival, LaMarche revealed the secret behind his belching, pointing out that it’s actually an effect. “I kind of stick my tongue out and then give it a big hug,” he explained before showing it to the audience.

Another famous Christmas movie actor plays a cameo role in the film

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Dwarf he didn’t just draw inspiration from classic holiday movies, he included an actor from one! Peter Billingsley, who famously played Ralphie in 1983 A Christmas storyhe plays Ming Ming, the main elf of Santa’s workshop.

Fun fact: Dwarf is not the only holiday film in which Billingsley has appeared. Besides reprising his role as Ralphie in the 2022 sequel. Christmas story Christmashe also made a cameo in the Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon film Four Christmases.

A sequel almost followed

New Line/courtesy Everett Collection

There was almost another one Dwarf, but it’s back on the shelf! In 2021, Ferrell revealed that he turned down the second film because it had a similar premise to the original film.

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

According to THRwould be paid $29 million to participate in the sequel.

In September 2020, James Caan, who played Buddy’s father, Walter Hobbs, said on a radio show A fan in Cleveland that the sequel was never made due to an alleged disagreement between Ferrell and Favreau.

“We wanted to 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 whatever the hell they want.’ ”

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

The producers almost cut the now classic line

Mark Acheson and Will Ferrell in the movie ‘Elf’.

New Line Cinema

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

While speaking with PEOPLE, Acheson revealed that he was called upon to say one simple line in a mailroom scene he filmed with Will Ferrell. However, when he arrived on set, Favreau asked him to improvise with Ferrell and at one point Acheson’s character tells Buddy that he is 26 years old and has “nothing to show for it.”

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

And although now it’s hard to imagine a film without a funny scene, it was almost cut.

“The producers wanted to cut the whole scene because of it. I’m like, ‘Who’s going to believe this guy’s 26?’ I mean, seriously, I believe I was 46 at the time, maybe even older, because I’ve never looked younger in my life,” Acheson says.

However, “Jon Favreau fought for it. He said it was a 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.”

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