6. No Chance of a Sequel
Whenever a movie is as successful as Elf it’s almost a fact that there will be some sort of sequel and Ferrell is not opposed to doing sequels. He reprised his role as Ron Burgundy for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues and Maugatu in Zoolander 2, but not even an offer of $29 million could convince him to be Buddy again. Ferrell told USA Today back in 2013 that he doesn’t ever want to do a sequel to the film because it wouldn’t feel right. “I just think it would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back in the elf tights: Buddy the middle-aged elf,” he joked.
7. Fight Between Buddy and Santa
The scene where Buddy sees the department store Santa and calls him out for being a fraud who “smells like beef and cheese” was almost entirely improvised — especially the fight! It was done over a few takes, but the actual fight had to be shot in one go. In an interview with 20/20, Jon Favreau and Artie Lange said the art department worked incredibly hard to stage that scene including the LEGO city-scape, Lite Brite displays, and miniature train setup. “They have to smash the whole [thing] — so we don’t really have a lot of resets,” said Favreau.
8. The Real Macy’s
The sprawling department store called Gimbels from the film is obviously based on the real Macy’s! In fact, the whole block that Macy’s sits on in New York City was digitally altered in the film, but based on the real deal. In addition to that, Gimbels used to be one of Macy’s biggest rivals. Favreau asked Macy’s if they could use their store for filming, but they declined. “Because we’re using a Santa, of course, everybody thinks Macy’s. But Macy’s didn’t like the idea that there was a fake Santa working there. They felt it would blow the illusion for kids,” he said.
9. Hiring James Caan
Academy Award-nominated actor James Caan was the perfect person to play opposite Will Ferrell. They are so different that they offer such a great balance. While Ferrell is known for being silly, Caan is more of a stern character which is exactly what Favreau wanted. Not surprisingly, Caan took the comedy aspect of Elf extremely seriously because he knew it was crucial for his character to never be amused at Buddy’s antics, but even he couldn’t hold it together at times! When Walter takes Buddy to have a blood test done at the doctor and Buddy screams after being pricked with the needle, Caan can be seen turning away from the camera so he doesn’t ruin the take by laughing.
10. Old School Inspiration
Favreau really wanted to create a Christmas movie that paid tribute to some of the classics from the past and there’s nothing more classic than the stop-motion Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from 1964. He recreated the winter wonderland including all the animals from the area and even got permission to use their signature snowman! Favreau also designed all the elves costumes based on the ones worn by Hermey and his elf peers and did his best to recreate the elf workshops.
