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Zooey Deschanel has revealed that the role that made her a holiday staple nearly went to someone else — and the original casting choice might surprise Elf fans.
The New Girl actor appeared on Wednesday’s episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, where she spoke about her time on the 2003 holiday movie alongside Will Ferrell.
At the time of her audition, when she was 21 years old, Deschanel said she appeared before director Jon Favreau and was told not to read any lines because the part of Jovie was already given to someone else.
“‘We just offered it to Katie Holmes,’” she recalled Favreau telling her. “And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, cool.”
However, the director still asked her to sit down for a conversation about the movie.
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Deschanel recalled walking into her audition and immediately being told the role was offered to Katie Holmes (Getty Images)
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In the film, Deschanel played Jovie, a holiday department store employee with a hidden singing talent (New Line Productions)
“So what was great about that was like, I wasn’t nervous,” she continued. “It’s like when you’re an actor, you’re like first starting, and you’re auditioning, you get nervous, and you’re like psyching yourself up. I wasn’t nervous at all, because I was like, ‘Well, I’m not getting the part.”
Holmes ultimately couldn’t take on the role of Jovie because of a scheduling conflict, prompting the casting team to circle back to Deschanel.
“I think the character was kind of meant to be like worked around whoever played her,” the actor said. “And they knew I sang because I had a cabaret act where I’d do like jazz standards and stuff. And so that kind of worked out with the character.”
That skillset was added to the film, where Deschanel’s character, Jovie, is singing in the shower. During the scene, Ferrell’s titular character Buddy the Elf walks into the women’s changing room at Jovie’s work and hears her singing Ella Fitzgerald’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” He joins in, performing from the other side of the curtain rail and giving Jovie a fright.
In a 2020 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the (500) Days of Summer actor admitted she was surprised by Ferrell’s singing skills.
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“He said he wasn’t a singer, so I wasn’t expecting much,” she told the publication at the time. “But his dad [Roy Lee Ferrell Jr] is a great musician. I should’ve known he’d be secretly good!”
She added: “It’s funny because obviously everyone knows it’s not appropriate to walk in the girls’ bathroom when someone’s showering, but he’s so believable as this guileless elf.
“It’s weird he’s in there, but you totally buy that his intentions are pure and innocent.”
