![]() ![]() He fronted Made with friend Vince Vaughn, and later found a sweet supporting role for himself in Iron Man. Jon Favreau played multiple parts in Elf.Īs a writer/director/actor, Favreau has often appeared in his own films. Billingsley has been a producer on several of Favreau's film and television projects. This marks just one of many Billingsley and Favreau's collaborations. It's an uncredited role, but between the glasses and those bright baby blue eyes, Billingsley stands out as an A Christmas Story Easter egg. Peter Billingsley, who memorably played the Red Ryder-wanting Ralphie in the 1983 holiday classic, popped in to play Ming the elf. The production did secure permission for these allusions, and was even granted the privilege of using the company's signature snowman. And Elf's workshops were modeled after the Rankin/Bass designs, as were the stop-motion animals of the area. The elves' costumes in Elf were inspired by those worn by Hermey and his peers in the animated film. The classic stop-motion Christmas special from 1964 gave a memorable presentation of Santa's winter wonderland to which Favreau wanted to pay tribute. Elf's production design was heavily influenced by Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. But to further underscore the drama that is a snowball fight in frosty New York, Favreau asked composer John Debney to give this section a Western vibe that would recall The Magnificent Seven. ![]() It's probably not much of a shocker that much of these were added in post, considering Buddy's perfect aim. These included the snowflakes that drift over the opening credits, and many of the snowballs in Buddy's pivotal fight scene. Much of the snow you see in Elf was often computer-generated. These elements where then carefully overlaid in camera, using lighting to blend the seams. For North Pole scenes, two sets were built-one larger scale for the actors playing elves, the other smaller to make Buddy and Santa look big. This included stop-motion animation, and using forced perspective to make Buddy look like a giant among his elf peers. ![]() Inspired by the Christmas specials he grew up with, Favreau explained in the film's commentary track that he employed “old techniques” instead of CGI whenever possible. Director Jon Favreau favored practical effects on the set of elf. So by the second weekend, Kattan had dropped the whole affectation he was doing and was like (Ferrell makes a face of bitter boredom), 'Santa's over there, kid.'" 3. It was hilarious because little kids could care less about the elf. Ferrell recollected to Spliced Wire, "I have some experience playing Santa Claus … Chris Kattan was my elf at this outdoor mall in Pasadena for five weeks, passing out candy canes. This was back when the pair were pre- Saturday Night Live, and part of The Groundlings comedy troupe. After searching for multiple directors, Jon Favreau eventually decided to direct it himself.And his A Night at the Roxbury co-star Chris Kattan was his elf. Terry Zwigoff was approached to direct the film, but declined due to a prior commitment to another Christmas comedy, Bad Santa. Will Ferrell took a huge risk and played Buddy in what he described as a role that could either make or break his future career. So instead of declining the opportunity, Favreau rewrote the script and turned Buddy’s world into an homage to the Rankin Bass Christmas specials.Ĭhanging the movie from a raunchy dark comedy to a genuine Christmas movie allowed them to rate it as PG instead of the PG-13 rating the original script would have had. The script at this stage was very dark, and Jon Favreau initially didn’t have much interest in it, despite wanting to be apart of Ferrell’s first post Saturday Night Live film project. The screenplay went through years of rewrites and edits with his later writing team consisting of Adam McKay and (second gasp) Will Ferrell. Screenwriter David Berenbaum had initially wrote the script for Elf in 1993 with Jim Carrey in mind to star as Buddy. But did you know that Elf as we know it could have been a completely different movie? Will Ferrell wasn’t even the original choice to play Buddy! Gasp! In fact, it was recognized as such by Fandango users in 2017. We’re not exaggerating when we say that Elf is the best Christmas movie of the 21st century. History of Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day ![]()
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