When the holiday season rolls around, movie fans break out their favorite Christmas-themed flicks to get into the festive spirit. Common picks include Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful Life, Die Hard, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and of course, Jon Favreau’s yuletide masterpiece, Elf.

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It’s one of the most consistently hysterical — not to mention wholesome — Christmas comedies ever made, starring Will Ferrell as a human raised in the North Pole who travels to New York City to meet his biological father. There are a ton of fascinating stories from behind the scenes of the movie that made Ferrell a bankable leading man.

The Script Was Originally Written In 1993 For Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey looking concerned in Ace Ventura

The script for Elf was initially written in 1993 — a full decade before it would eventually make it to the screen — as a starring vehicle for Jim Carrey.

However, when the script was completed, Carrey turned it down and it was left to gather dust until the project was revived with Will Ferrell in the lead role.

Will Ferrell Got A Migraine From Eating The Spaghetti And Candy Combo

Buddy eats spaghetti in Elf

For the scene in which Buddy mixes candy and chocolate syrup into a bowl of spaghetti, Will Ferrell actually had to eat the horrendous-looking dish.

All the sugar from this meal (if it can even be called that) gave Ferrell a migraine. In fact, the scene had to be shot twice, because Ferrell vomited on the first try.

Macy’s Refused To Be The Store In The Movie Because The Santa Is Revealed To Be Fake

Will Ferrell as Buddy in Elf

The filmmakers behind Elf originally wanted the store featured in the movie to be Macy’s. The chain was happy to appear in the movie, but required that the Santa in the store not be revealed to be a fake, because they wanted to maintain the illusion that the actual Santa comes to their store every Christmas.

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Jon Favreau didn’t want to change the script — especially since the fake Santa makes for one of the movie’s best gags — so he instead changed the store to Gimbels.

Terry Zwigoff Turned Down This Movie So He Could Direct Bad Santa

Before Jon Favreau was hired to helm Elf, the project was offered to Terry Zwigoff, but he turned it down.

Instead, Zwigoff signed on to direct a much darker Christmas comedy, Bad Santa, starring Billy Bob Thornton as a petty crook who takes mall Santa gigs to rob the stores after hours.

The Kids In The Background Of Buddy’s Fight With The Fake Santa Were Added Digitally

The scene in which Buddy fights the fake Santa across the floor of Gimbels had to be shot in front of a green screen, with the kids added into the background digitally.

This is because the fight had to be filmed in one take and it would’ve been too dangerous to have grown men throwing each other through Lego sets in the vicinity of children. The use of green screen is obvious in the shot of Buddy framed in front of the kids when he first spots that the Santa is a fake.

Baby Buddy In The Opening Scene Was Actually Played By A Girl

In the opening scene of Elf, viewers see Buddy as a baby as he crawls into Santa’s bag of presents. Originally, twin boys who looked like Will Ferrell had been cast for this scene.

However, the boys wouldn’t stop crying, so at the last minute, they were replaced with brunette triplet girls.

Zooey Deschanel Had Dyed Her Hair Blonde For A Different Project

It’s often believed that Zooey Deschanel’s hair is naturally blonde because she’s blonde in Elf, but she had actually dyed her hair blonde for a different project that didn’t go forward.

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When Elf was going into production, she considered going back to her natural hair color, but the studio had cast her based on a screen test where she was blonde, so she had to keep it that way.

Buddy’s Arrival In New York Was Entirely Improvised, With Will Ferrell Interacting With Real New Yorkers In Character

Buddy arrives in New York in Elf

The scenes of Buddy arriving in New York and interacting with random passers-by were entirely improvised by Will Ferrell on the final day of filming.

Ferrell, director Jon Favreau, and a camera operator went out in the city and asked random New Yorkers if they’d like to be extras for some quick cash and then Ferrell simply played Buddy opposite them.

The Names On Santa’s "Nice" List Were All Members Of The Film’s Crew

Will Ferrell and Ed Asner in Elf

All the names that appear on Santa’s “nice” list when he shows it to Michael are names of crew members who worked on the film.

Victoria Down was the key makeup artist, Drew Davidson was the chief lighting technician, Andreas Nieman was the assistant property master, Nathan Tichenor was the co-production coordinator, Jimmy Miller was the executive producer (and Will Ferrell’s manager), and Penny Gibbs was the unit production manager.

Will Ferrell Turned Down A $29 Million Offer To Do Elf 2 In 2013

Will Ferrell as Buddy sitting in a classroom in Elf

Although he wouldn’t become a full-fledged movie star until the release of Anchorman a year later, Elf was the movie that proved to Hollywood executives that Will Ferrell could carry his own feature.

In 2013, Ferrell was offered $29 million to do a sequel to Elf, but he turned it down and the sequel was ultimately scrapped — because without Ferrell, what would be the point?

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