10+ Secrets Behind The Making Of 'Elf'

If you hadn't already guessed, the song that Buddy sings in the store was all improvised.

With lyrics like "I'm in a store, and I'm singing", we're not surprised it wasn't in the script.

I know it's hard to picture Elf without Will Ferrell, but it was actually Jim Carrey who was initially eyed for the role.

This was because the movie was initially written in the '90s, and after a while, Carrey must have lost interest.

He said in an interview:

"I can't wrap a present. You always know if you're getting, you know which present is from me under the tree because I used like six rolls of tape, and the paper's all bunched,"

So he had lots of practice spreading Christmas cheer before he took on the role of Buddy in the Elf movie.

Funnily enough, his A Night at the Roxbury co-star Chris Kattan was his elf!

Unfortunately, the twin boys lost their jobs as baby buddy because they wouldn't stop crying.

In the end, the baby was actually played by three different triplet girls.

This was totally refreshing, considering Hollywood tends to lean towards CGI effects more often than not these days.

For example, they used forced perspective to make Buddy and Santa look taller than the elves.

He plays Ming Ming, the elf who tells Buddy he has "Special Talents".

I'm assuming he also got as many Red Ryder air rifles as his co-elves could make with their tiny hands.

According to director Jon Favreau:

"I never really asked Will to do anything specifically. He would always come up with a really exciting choice. He has very good instincts, especially with physical comedy,"

Not everything in the movie could be practical, unfortunately.

The snow in the opening credits was CG, and the snow during Buddy's snowball fight was also computer-generated.

Not surprising, considering the Elf's aim.

Yes, really.

It was called Riverview Hospital, and specifically, it was the sets for Walter's Central Park West apartment, Gimbels' Toy Department and of course that prison cell.

Ooh, that's creepy.

We all remember that scene where Buddy was testing the toys, the one ridden with anxiety.

Well, that anxiety was real, as Jon Favreau controlled when the boxes went off, actually scaring Will Ferrell.

Yes, you may have recognized him as the doctor in Elf, but he also played the Narwal in the stop-motion section in the movie.

He was also the rabid raccoon that Buddy encounters!

At least according to Jon Favreau:

"I took a look at the script, and I wasn't particularly interested. It was a much darker version of the film...So for a year, I rewrote the script. It turned into more of a PG movie from a PG-13. He was a darker character in the script I had read originally."

Macy's originally wanted them to use their store, and even the parade.

The problem was that they would have had to cut the scene where the Santa was revealed to be fake... Macy's Santa is supposed to be real.