Elf fans will be surprised to hear that the smash hit movie could’ve been very different, after Zooey Deschanel reveals another A-list star had been offered her role.
The beloved Christmas film turned into an instant classic the moment it was released back in November 2003, and made a star out of Zooey when she finally landed the part of Jovie.
Zooey, 45, and lead star Will Ferrell starred in the hit film alongside the likes of Peter Dinklage, and Mary Steenburgen.Elf focused on a character named Buddy, a human who was raised at the North Pole by elves before he returned to New York.
As he searched for his biological dad (James Caan), chaos soon ensued for all but he also fell in love with Zooey’s character Jovie.
Now, 22 years on since the film that made her famous was released, Zooey has revealed how she almost didn’t get the life-changing role.
Speaking to Alex Cooper on her Call Me Daddy podcast, she revealed: “When I met with Jon Favreau, the director, I walked in and he was like, ‘Oh, you don’t need to read. We just offered it to Katie Holmes.’
“And I was like, ‘Oh, okay, cool.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, sit down and talk for a minute.’
“And I was like, ‘okay.’”
Adding how this put her at ease, and helped her get the part, she said: “What was great about that was like, I wasn’t nervous.
“When you’re an actor, you’re like first starting and you’re like auditioning.
“And you get nervous and you’re like psyching yourself up for the, you know, I wasn’t nervous at all.
“Cause I was like, well, ‘I’m not getting the part.’ So it was kind of great.”
Revealing why Katie Holmes didn’t go for the part, Zooey said: “She had some scheduling conflict and then they were like, ‘Who should we have?’
“I think the character was kind of meant to be like worked around whoever played her.
“And they knew I sang because I had a cabaret act where I do like the jazz standards and stuff that kind of worked out with the character.”
Meanwhile, lead star Will decided to walk away from the attempted franchise, because he did not feel the story was up to par.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he explained his decision: “I would have had to promote the movie from an honest place, which would’ve been, like, ‘Oh no, it’s not good. I just couldn’t turn down that much money.’
It turns out, the Anchorman star even had doubts of the potential success, just before the original flicks release.
He recalled to the outlet that he stared at the now iconic yellow tights as the thought: “Boy, this could be the end.”
Will recalled the conversations he had with his manager at the time as he admitted: “He was like, ‘Well, the family one went great, but we could really get eviscerated in this next one. I’m looking at a bunch of what look like USC frat boys about to go in’.”
He added: “Then later I hear, no, that group actually liked it, too,” as the film became a massive hit across different generations.
This story originally appeared on The Sun U.S. and is republished here with permission.
