The movie Elf, starring Will Ferrell, is a widely loved Christmas movie, watched by many every year once the holiday season rolls around. It’s undeniably a classic and filled with iconic moments not only within the movie, but in the history of movies. There are countless special aspects of Elf that make it so unique, entertaining, and interesting.

To begin, most of the shots taken outside in New York City, included real civilians wandering the city, often offering real reactions to Buddy the Elf. People saw a seemingly random man walk around the streets in an elf suit, and of course couldn’t help but look and entertain it. Funny enough, a few mini traffic accidents happened because of the special sighting, with a majority happening in the Lincoln Tunnel. 

Another fun fact is, Will Ferrell wasn’t supposed to be the Buddy we all know! The script, written in the 90’s, was intentionally created for Jim Carrey to play the part, though he ended up turning down the role. Another actor, Chris Farley, was considered for the part too, though the writer didn’t believe he’d be the greatest fit. They ended up choosing Will Ferrell, which was the perfect pick, as Elf would be a totally different movie without Ferrell’s charisma. 

To add on to the behind the scenes facts, after Elf’s commercial success, the creators of the film wanted to make a sequel, Elf 2. The film was a work in progress, though this eventually became a scrapped idea. Ferrell believed the second installment wasn’t necessary, and claims that it would be “pathetic” to continue the story of the film. He said,“…it would look slightly pathetic if I tried to squeeze back in the elf tights,” with him aging since the original release.

Although Buddy loved his sugar and sweets, Ferrell’s body of course didn’t. Outside of his character role, he experienced issues with his high intake of sugar, including insomnia, headaches, and sugar highs. He lacked lots of sleep and struggled with the unhealthy, though humorous diet, but said,“If it takes eating a lot of maple syrup, then I will, if that’s what the job calls for.”

Lastly, in the fan-favorite snowball fight scene, the snowballs were actually fake, and computer-generated! Of course, Buddy throwing his snowballs at the speed of light wasn’t real, and for the most part, the snowballs used were not real. Part of the time when Ferrell held the “snowballs,” in reality, he was holding thin air. 

Overall, there are so many interesting and fun facts to pull out of this film, and it’s one of the most successful, and universally enjoyed Christmas films of all time. It’s very intriguing to discover the ways that certain scenes were executed, and the casting production choices from behind the scenes.