December 23, 2024 • 42 mins
Before we learn how all about the history and legacy of a modern Christmas classic, let's recite the "Code of the Elves," shall we? Number one; "Treat every day like Christmas." Number two; "There's room for everyone on the nice list." Number three; "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear."
Just for those listeners on Santa's nice list, the enduring appeal of Elf lies in its ability to resonate with audiences of all ages, and the importance of believing in the magic of Christmas, just like Buddy the Elf.
Heavily inspired by the Rankin Bass animated Christmas specials of the 1960s, Jon Favreau's vision for Elf included using practical effects to evoke nostalgia, as well as keep it timeless. And casting Will Ferrell's as Buddy was a masterstroke; his improvisation ended up making the character even more innocent and funny.
It didn't mean the movie was without issues though. The film's production faced legal scrutiny over its inspiration from those Rankin Bass holiday specials, but ultimately it was cleared of any infringement. The stop-motion, by the Chiodo Brothers, is a small but mighty part of how the movie feels as fresh as it did in 2003.
Elf's heart-warming message of kindness, believing in magic, and family togetherness cements it as the modern Christmas classic. There are a lot of strange links to Lord of the Rings, though, and all of them are intentional.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to you all!
I would love to hear your thoughts on Elf !
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Santa.
It'S me, buddy.
It's me.
Hey, buddy.
How you doing?
It's me.
Who the heck are you?
What are you talking about?
I'm Santa Claus.
No, you're not.
(00:23):
Oh, why, of course I am.
You're Santa.
What song did I sing for youon your birthday this year?
Happy birthday.
Of course.
So how old are you, son?
You're a big boy.
What's your name?
And what can I get you for Christmas?
(00:44):
Don't tell him what you want.
He's a liar.
Let the kid talk.
You disgust me.
How can you live with yourself?
Just cool it, Zippy.
You sit on a throne of lies.
Look, I'm not kidding.
You're a fake.
I'm a fake?
Yes.
How'd you like to be dead, huh?
No, he's kidding.
You stink.
I think you're going to have agood Christmas.
(01:06):
All right.
Smell like beef and cheese.
You don't smell like Santa, okay?
He's an apostle.
He's a fake.
He's a fake.
He's a fake.
(01:47):
She.
In a world overflowing withmovies, we need a hero.
Someone to separate the badfrom the good.
(02:15):
Movie.
She does prequel, sequels,remakes, and trivia.
And after movies, you know,movies, you know, interesting stories,
all the categories.
Hi, everyone.
I'm Em.
Welcome to verbal diorama,episode 281, elf.
(02:39):
This is the podcast that's allabout the history and legacy of movies
you know, and movies you don't.
That definitely does not siton a throne of lies.
As always, a huge hi andwelcome to Velvet Diorama.
Whether you're a brand newlistener to this podcast, whether
you're coming back as aregular returning listener or an
irregular returning listener,thank you for being here.
(02:59):
Thank you for choosing tolisten to this podcast.
As always, I'm so happy tohave you here just generally, but
also for the history andlegacy of Elf.
And to everyone who doeslisten to this podcast and has continued
to listen to and support thispodcast over the last almost six
years now, it's been anincredible ride.
(03:20):
Just like Santa's sleighacross New York.
This podcast really relies ongeneral spirit.
Not just Christmas spirit, butgeneral spirit.
And it genuinely means so muchto me to get that general sense of
spirit from everyone who doeslisten to this podcast.
This is the last episode of2024, and so, of course, I have to
(03:41):
go out with a bang and givesomething to all of the listeners
who are on Santa's nice list,because this is the episode that
only goes out to people whoare on Santa's nice list.
The last episode was on howthe Grinch Stole Christmas.
And you only got that one ifyou're on Santa's naughty list.
Just like Walter Hobbs.
(04:03):
But I know the vast majorityof listeners of this podcast are
on his nice list.
And Elf is one of those moviesthat, despite coming out 21 years
ago, feels fresh and it feelslike an instant Christmas classic.
I know a lot of people who arebig fans of this movie, and it's
about time it came to verbaldiorama like Buddy.
(04:25):
I love Christmas.
Maybe not quite as much asBuddy does.
I also love smiling.
It's my favorite.
But really, the best way tospread Christmas cheer is singing
loud for all to hear andmaking a podcast about it.
So here's the trailer for Elf.
No human being has ever setfoot in Santa's workshop.
(04:48):
That is, until Buddy, I hearyou're going on a journey to the
big city.
Can't wait to see my dad.
This might be the opportunityto find.
Out who you really are.
Bye, Buddy.
Hope you find your dad.
Thanks, Mr.
Narwhal.
Papa says New York is pretty different.
(05:11):
Sorry.
Looks like a Christmas tree.
Sorry I can't ride with youthe rest of the way up.
Well, have a good time.
Oh, I forgot to give you a hug.
Dad.
You look like you came fromthe North Pole.
That's exactly where I came from.
You have another son?
You like sugar, huh?
Is there sugar in syrup?
Yes.
(05:32):
Then yes.
We can't leave him alone here.
He's gonna destroy the place.
Son of a nutcracker.
These guys are bad news.
Snowball.
Where did you say you were from?
(05:53):
Fruit Spray.
W.
Tomorrow morning, 10am Santa'scoming to town.
Santa.
Oh my God.
Santa here?
I know him.
I know him.
(06:21):
One Christmas Eve, a long timeago, a baby crawled into Santa's
bag of toys.
Raised as an elf, Buddy growsinto an adult three times larger
than the biggest elf andrealizes that he will never truly
fit in at the North Pole.
Buddy goes looking for histrue place in the world in New York
City.
And he finds his workaholicfather who's on Santa's naughty list.
(06:45):
He also finds a caringstepmother and a 10 year old brother
who doesn't believe in SantaClaus or elves.
Buddy has to discover hisdestiny to save Christmas for New
York and the entire world byspreading Christmas cheer and singing
loud for all to hear.
Let's run through the cast.
We have Will Ferrell as BuddyHobbs, James Caan as Walter Hobbs,
(07:10):
Zooey Deschanel as Jovi, MarySteenbergen as Emily Hobbs, Daniel
Tay as Michael Hobbs, Ed Asneras Santa Claus, Bob Newhart as Papa
Elle and Peter Dinklage asMiles Finch.
Elf was written by DavidBerenbaum and directed by Jon Favreau.
(07:32):
Before we learn all about thehistory and legacy of a modern Christmas
classic, let's recite the Codeof the Elves, shall we?
Number one, Treat every daylike Christmas.
Number two, there's room foreveryone on the nice list.
Number three, the best way tospread Christmas cheer is singing
loud for all to hear.
(07:54):
Just like the previous episodeon how the Grinch Stole Christmas,
the roots of Elf lie within abeloved 60s American animated classic.
And like the 1966 animated howthe Grinch Stole Christmas, it still
airs several times during theholiday season.
But unlike the Dr.
Seuss classic, this is less ofan adaptation, more of an inspiration.
(08:16):
An inspiration that could haveleft the movie in a little bit of
legal hot water, but I willcome back to that.
But the story of Elf starts,as most stories do, with loss.
Writer David Berenbaum losthis father when he was young, and
most of us are fortunate tonot lose a parent at a young age.
But what you must go throughwhen that does happen, it's understandable
(08:38):
that you might grow up towrite a heartwarming story about
a young man's quest to findhis father.
Birramban grew up watching theRankin Bass animated entertainment
holiday specials, whichfeatured Christmas favourites like
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and
Frosty the Snowman.
Although Birranbaum's Elfscript was clearly influenced by
(09:00):
these films, he actuallyenvisaged Buddy's tale to center
on the reunion with his fatherand bonding, and a story about Buddy
finding his family as well asappreciating the family he had at
the North Pole.
Berenbell originally wrote hisscript in the mid-90s after he'd
moved to Los Angeles from theeast coast, with inspiration coming
(09:20):
from the Tom Hanks movie Bigas to a childlike human.
But he kept coming back to abanking Bass's Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer and how funny itwould be to have a human in that
world.
He wrote the script on specand sent it out for studio interest,
which was when the MotionPicture Corporation of America optioned
it with Chris Farley in mindto play Buddy.
(09:43):
Berenbaum let the optionexpire after not being completely
happy with the direction thatthe Motion Picture Corporation of
America wanted to take themovie in and thinking that it would
be a totally different MovieAfter Chris Farley's death in 1997
the script landed in the lapof New Line Cinema, who were at that
point predominantly known asthe House that Freddie Built.
(10:05):
Birenbaum's manager thoughtWill Ferrell would be ideal for the
lead role at that point, andafter he committed, things started
to pick up speed.
But Ferrell wasn't the bigstar that he is today.
He was fresh off SaturdayNight Live and had only had supporting
roles in movies like AustinPowers and Zoolander.
It was only after Jim Carrey,coincidentally from how the Grinch
(10:28):
Doll Christmas, turned downthe role of Buddy, and after the
success of Old School, theproducers felt justified in giving
Ferrell the chance.
Ferrell and his writingpartner Adam McKay would also undertake
uncredited rewrites of thescript alongside Scott Armstrong
and Chris Henchy.
All in all, the script andproduction would take a seven year
(10:49):
journey from the North Pole toNew York and everywhere in between.
Terry Zwigoff was offered todirect the movie, but he declined
in favor of Bad Santa, whichwas actually going to be the naughtiest
episode instead of how theGrinch Stole Christmas.
But Bad Santa wasn't onstreaming anymore and how the Grinch
Stole Christmas was, and thatis how last episode you got how the
(11:12):
Grinch Stole Christmas.
But Jon Favreau had directed,made and written and starred in Swingers
and was interested in workingwith Will Ferrell.
But after receiving the Elfscript, wasn't too keen on it.
He was asked to take anotherlook with an idea to rewrite and
direct.
And just like Baron Baum, hehad this idea of ranking Bass and
(11:33):
making the character of Buddyeven more innocent.
Favreau, who like most of usis a huge fan of Christmas, joined
as a director and worked withBerenbaum on a few rewrites, including
one that added the well knownChristmas cheer scene at the end.
In a 2020 interview withRolling Stone, Favreau himself claimed
that he wasn't interestedinitially in the script, describing
(11:55):
it as much darker, but becameinterested in making it more family
friendly and innocent PGinstead of PG13.
Favreau knew what he wantedfor the look, going back to the Ranking
Bass specials and payinghomage to their cartoonish look.
If Will Ferrell was going tobe the star, he wanted actors who
(12:15):
could play straight oppositehim as well as keep it light hearted
and more grounded than WillFerrell's Buddy.
This was how the directorchose to cast a lot of Elf's supporting
characters.
He believed that havingestablished actors like James Caan
in the movie improvedFerrell's comedic and acting performances.
Caan himself wasn't originallytoo taken with the role of Buddy's
(12:38):
father Walter, and wanted toplay it more like comedian George
Burns than his famous role ofSonny Corleone in the Godfather.
But Khan ended up relishingthe role of Walter Hobbs, often cracking
up on camera at Ferrell's antics.
And when he had to shout atBuddy, Favreau had to remind him
that he played Sonny f ingCorleone, although he didn't say
(13:01):
effing.
He also took inspiration fromhis then one year old son Max, remembering
how his son would react tothings to make Buddy even more childlike
and innocent.
But a lot of Buddy's innocenceactually came from Ferrell improvising
on set.
Zooey Deschanel wasn't thefirst choice for Jovi at the time.
(13:22):
She was probably most wellknown for playing the older sister
in Cameron Crowe semiautobiographical Almost famous in
2000.
Favreau initially wantedsomeone else for the role, and when
they dropped out at the lastminute, Favreau came back to Deschanel
and they reworked the role ofJovi to be more than just your average
cliched love interest and forthem to understand how someone like
(13:44):
Jovi could be attracted tosomeone like Buddy, despite their
initial meeting being a bitweird and shall we say, a little
bit of a red flag under normal circumstances.
In Barenbaum's original 1993draft of ELF, the character of Jovi
is introduced in thedepartment store as being an out
of work cabaret singer.
(14:04):
However, the film went throughmany rewrites before Favreau as well
as Ferrell and Adam McKay came aboard.
Also, in that original draft,Jovi never really sings, but Favreau
realised that Zooey Deschanelcould hold a tune and decided to
use it to the movie'sadvantage to make their shower scene
more of a meet cute than acreep cute.
(14:25):
Also dropping out at the lastminute was Wanda Sykes, due to play
the manager of Gimbels andFaison Love also stepped in at the
last minute, so last minutethat the manager's name tag had already
been made, and that's why themanager is named Wanda in the original
draft of Elf.
The film doesn't end with thecitizens of New York coming together
(14:45):
to help Santa by singing or otherwise.
There's still an elaborateclimax in Central park, although
it's a little less amusingthan the fictional Central park rangers
chasing Santa on horseback.
Instead, that script has NYPDcruisers, complete with guns, trying
to take down Santa's sleighand its reindeer with a dozen cop
(15:07):
cars surrounding Central Park.
The cops were supposed to bechasing Buddy down Fifth Avenue,
shooting at him as he shotback at them.
Buddy also jumps off theEmpire State Building and onto a
helicopter.
All in all sounding a littlebit more like a Die Hard sequel than
the movie Elf that we know and love.
In this script, all of Buddy'snew family and friends, including
(15:30):
his father Walter, his halfbrother Michael and Jovi all end
up on Santa's sleigh.
Obviously the movie that weget only has Buddy in Santa's sleigh
and Jovi gets up in front of acrowd on Central park and starts
singing Santa Claus is comingto town.
And eventually others join in.
And the power of thesestrangers singing gives enough Christmas
(15:51):
spirit to make Santa's sleigh fly.
Even Walter joins in.
According to Jon Favreau,these were all the bits that he requested
to be added to the script.
After Zooey Deschanel cameaboard, the Central Park Rangers
replaced the NYPD officers andthe Simon and Garfunkel concert really
was a thing.
Except it happened in 1981 andnot in 1985 and the real life incident
(16:16):
was that a man ran on stageand was escorted off stage by park
security.
The park rangers did alsoissue multiple summonses for minor
drug offenses, illegal salesof buttons and other concert memorabilia
that day, and maybe thatbehavior then led to Santa putting
them all on the naughty listbecause illegal sale of buttons.
(16:39):
Just let the button sales commence.
It is Christmas.
Who cares about illegal salesat Buttons Park Rangers?
Let's be honest, and theCentral Park Rangers looking like
the ring wraiths from Lord ofthe Rings was totally intentional.
Jon Favreau has admitted asmuch in the commentary on the dvd.
The costumes were designed toreference Lord of the Rings and the
(17:01):
rangers were always shot insilhouette to hide their real appearance.
And the Rankin Bassassociation would lead to Elf becoming
something wholly different toother 2000s Christmas films.
Whereas many other big budgetfestive movies of the 2000s embraced
the then cutting edge computergenerated effect, Elf relied heavily
(17:23):
on stop motion created by theToyota brothers to make the movie
look as timeless today as itdid in 2003.
The production design of theNorth Pole by Rusty Smith was heavily
influenced by the look ofRudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, as
was the costuming by Lara JeanShannon and the collar panets as
well.
(17:43):
So much so that Elf veryalmost ran into legal trouble due
to the similarities with NewLine Cinema's legal team visiting
the set to check for infringements.
And because everyone knew theinspiration was clearly Rankin Bass,
no one denied it and it wasleft to the legal department to see
what they could do about it,even leading to potentially making
(18:04):
Buddy's suit blue instead of green.
Unfortunately, they'd alreadyshot the movie at this point, so
if they had had to make thesuit blue, they would have had to
do it in post production.
But luckily that didn't haveto happen and the production was
cleared of any sort of legal infringement.
Making the 6 foot 3 buddyappear noticeably bigger than the
(18:24):
elves in Santa's workshop wasanother visual effects challenge.
Because in order to makeactors like Bob Newhart and the other
actors playing the elvesappear Elf like without the use of
cgi, director Jon Favreauinsisted on producing an optical
illusion by using forcedperspective, giving the impression
that Ferrell was much tallerthan the other people in the room
(18:46):
and that everyone else wasmuch smaller.
To create the illusion thathis character was half as large as
Buddy's, Bob Newhart had tofilm every scene while standing a
few feet behind Will Ferrell.
For Buddy to sit on Papa Elf's legs.
He was actually sitting on thelegs of a small child, which was
supported so that he wasn'tsquishing a small child's legs.
(19:07):
With Bob Newhart actuallysitting far, far behind.
The tree on Fire in the earlymoments of the movie is also done
with forced perspective.
The top half of the tree is aminiature in the foreground.
The bottom half is roughly40ft away from the camera.
The edges were then blended tomake it appear as if it's all one
tree.
Jon Favreau felt it importantto use the old techniques rather
(19:30):
than cgi because he felt thatthese techniques gave the film a
feeling of nostalgia, like theold Christmas TV specials, like the
ranking bath specials that hegrew up on.
One of the films he comparesthe technique to is, unsurprisingly,
the Lord of the Rings, which,just like Elf, are new line cinema
films.
(19:50):
The Lord of the Rings alsoused force perspective to make Gandalf
appear really tall and to makethe hobbits appear really small.
Many of the sets at Elf werebuilt twice.
Once much larger for theactors playing the elves and again
slightly smaller for theactors playing normal sized actors.
In the scene where Ed Asner asSanta addresses his elves, he's standing
(20:13):
on a platform.
On a smaller version of theset, the elves were standing on another
platform far behind him andlighting is used to blend the two
images together.
The stop motion characterswere done using two frame stop motion.
Every time the puppet would bemoved, the character would be shot
twice to give it a choppymovement and the feeling of how they
(20:34):
looked in the Ranking Mass specials.
All of the stop motion wasdone by the Chiodo brothers, three
brothers who still do stopmotion animation.
And all of those characterswould probably have been done with
CGI if this movie was made today.
The Chiodo brothers, Charles,Stephen and Edward Chiodo, have spent
over 30 years working withlive action puppetry, including four
(20:58):
killer clowns from Outer Spaceand Team America World police.
That's episode 158, this podcast.
Jon Favreau selected thembecause they were the last effects
house in LA who stillspecialized in two frame stop motion
animation.
For the Chiodos, the challengeof working on Elf was emulating the
classic kitschy animationstyles of the old Ranking Bass productions
(21:21):
of the 60s and 70s, all thewhile being careful to create new
images but also pay homagewithout compromising the memories
of the source material.
The Chiodos were originallyjust contracted to do Leon the Snowman
and the Arctic Animals portionin the North Pole sequence, which
was meant to be a 10 to 12week process.
Then after the movie had atest screening, it tested so well,
(21:44):
they decided to do an animatedopening, which was an accelerated
schedule that they did inabout eight weeks.
Instead of making the stopmotion look pristine, they emulated
Rankin Bass right down to thefabrication points, using traditional
techniques and embellishing itwith new techniques.
The narwhal coming up out ofthe water was done with salt on glass,
(22:05):
cellophane ripples and real water.
And of course, Mr.
Narwhal was voiced by JonFavreau, as was Baby Walrus and the
Arctic Puffin.
The polar bear cub was voicedby the legendary Ray Harryhausen,
obviously a legend in stop motion.
So it's wonderful that he gota little moment in there.
And Leon the Snowman wasmusician Leon Redbone.
(22:26):
Favreau had to fight thestudio to use stop motion because,
as I've mentioned in recentepisodes, Jon Favreau prefers practical
effects.
He did Annoying man too.
Maybe not so much in hisrecent career, but absolutely in
the 2000s, he was a hugeadvocate for practical effects work.
Elf does use cgi, and when itdoes, it was down to rhythm and hues.
(22:49):
They made Santa's sleigh areindeer for when it's flying through
the sky.
They even made the snowballsfor the Central park snowball fight,
which is still reallyimpressive because they genuinely
do look like real snowballs.
Now it's common knowledge thatelves stick to the four main food
groups, candy, candy canes,candy corns and syrup.
And that meant Will Ferrellchowing down on sugar coated pasta
(23:13):
and lots of it.
So much so that Ferrellvomited the first time he ate it.
Principal photography began on9 December 2002 and wrapped on 7
March 2003.
Favreau included a lot of NewYork based locations in the script
like the Empire StateBuilding, but he wasn't sure he'd
be able to film the New Yorkbased locations at the time.
(23:35):
However, his location managerwas able to secure all of the New
York locations he wanted.
All of the exteriors were shotin New York City, which was something
that Jon Favreau took greatpride in.
It is actually forbidden forpedestrians to walk through the Lincoln
Tunnel, so when Will Ferrellactually did it, it caused minor
traffic disruption because hisappearance as a grown man as an elf
(23:59):
distracted drivers enough tocause a few accidents.
The vast majority of filmingin New York was alongside everyday
people, including the man withthe beard in a red tracksuit who
looks suspiciously like Santa Claus.
That is not an actor, that isa genuine human New York resident
slash citizen slash touristwho happened to be there on that
(24:21):
day to shoot the ChristmasTree in the Rockefeller Center.
Production had to wait untilafter midnight and only then got
four hours to get the scenebecause a professional skater was
performing the next day.
And setting the departmentstore with gimbals wasn't as many
suggest because Macy'swouldn't allow it.
It was actually the opposite.
Macy's were more than happy tolet the production shoot in their
(24:44):
store as well as theirSantaland and incorporate the story
into the famous Macy'sChristmas Parade.
However, Macy's objected totheir store Santa being revealed
to be fake because they didn'twant anyone believing their Santa
isn't the genuine article.
This stipulation led to themovie filming in a mental hospital
(25:05):
in Vancouver as well as makingthe department store Gimbals, which
was owned by a third party whowere willing to license it out and
for the production to createtheir own version of Gimbals, which
led to more creative freedomas well as a tie in to the classic
Miracle on 34th Street.
Gimbel's, the actual originaldepartment store was originally located
(25:26):
on Herald Square that closedin 1986.
The exterior of Gimbels in themovie was the textile building on
fifth Avenue in New York whichwas decorated with CGI as well as
Gimbels.
Walter's apartment, the bookpublishers, the mail room and the
jail cell were all builtwithin the same abandoned mental
(25:48):
hospital in Vancouver, whichis also the same hospital where New
Line shot Freddy versus Jasonbecause We have to have some sort
of Freddy Krueger link becauseNew Line, the House that Freddie
Built and the late great JamesCaan really did enjoy his time on
this movie.
He actually did play the pianoin the film's final moments.
(26:10):
He was messing around on thepiano between shots and Jon Favreau
decided to film it and alsodecided to keep it as part of the
final scenes.
And luckily, Auld Lang Syne isa song in the public domain, so for
once on this movie, the NewLine Legal team could rest easy.
And speaking of resting easysegue into the obligatory Keanu reference
(26:32):
for this episode.
Now this is a part of thepodcast where I trining the movie
that I'm featuring with Keanu Reeves.
And you'd be surprised howdifficult it is to link every single
movie that I feature on thispodcast pretty much to Keanu Reeves.
However, I have a genius wayto link Keanu Reeves to the movie
(26:52):
Elf because you've heard ofElf on a Shelf, right?
But have you heard of KeanuReeves On Some Leaves?
There we go.
I'm gonna leave that one with you.
So the score was composed byJohn Debney and the soundtrack includes
Christmas classics like SleighRide by Ella Fitzgerald, Santa Baby
by Eartha Kitty, WinterWonderland by Ray Charles, and Let
(27:16):
It Snow, Let It Snow, Let ItSnow by Lena Horne.
The song Baby, It's ColdOutside by Zooey Deschanel and Leon
Redbone was also released as a single.
But maybe don't listen toomuch to the lyrics of Baby It's Cold
Outside because again, it's abit of a creepy song.
It's not really one of myChristmas favorites, shall we say.
(27:40):
So Elf was released on 7November 2003, the same week as Love,
actually, in the US and a weekafter the Matrix Revolutions.
Now, unsurprisingly, theMatrix Revolutions was number one.
That would have been thebetter obligatory Keanu reference,
would it not?
It's literally just poppedinto my head.
(28:01):
I should have used that, but I didn't.
I went full Keanu Reeves onsome leads.
That's the joy of theobligature Keanu reference, by the
way.
Anyway, Elf had to settle fornumber two at the box office, but
it continued to do well and itstayed in the top 10 for eight weeks.
And the week of Christmas, Elfjumped up 42% week on week.
(28:23):
On its third week of release,the Cat in the Hat, the Dr.
Seuss sibling to the lastepisode's how the Grinch Stole Christmas,
came out and beat Elf tonumber one that week.
Also out that third week wasBad Santa, the episode the how the
Grinch Doll Christmas wasgoing to be.
Honestly, everything is linkedto everything else in Hollywood.
(28:44):
I guarantee there is always alink to something else.
But Bad Santa actually onlymade it to number 10 that week.
Basically what I'm saying ishow the Grinch Doll Christmas was
a better choice than Bad Santa was.
Maybe I'll do Bad Santa atsome point, but just on a bina over
here in the UK, the movie Elfwas completely trounced by Love.
(29:05):
Actually.
Love actually was a huge hithere in the UK in 2003.
Love actually is a movie thatI really do not like.
I think I'd mentioned this before.
I think I mentioned it on theepisode that I did on the holiday
because I love the holiday.
I think the holiday is theperfect Christmas rom com.
I adore it.
I really do not like Love actually.
(29:27):
I realize as a British personyou're supposed to like Love actually,
but I really don't.
I really genuinely don't like it.
But back to Elf because on its$33 million budget, Elf not only
made that back in its firstweek with a little bit more, it also
(29:47):
ended up grossing $173.4million domestically in the US and
$47 million internationally,for a total worldwide gross of $220.4
million.
And the movie has been rereleased several times as well in
2018-2019-2020-2021 and 2023.
(30:09):
It was also on at my localcinema very recently as well.
Elf has become the perennialmodern classic Christmas movie on
Rotten Tomatoes.
It has an 86% rating with theconsensus reading A movie full of
yuletide cheer, Elf is aspirited, good natured family comedy
(30:29):
and it benefits greatly fromWill Ferrell's funny and charming
performance as one of Santa'sbiggest helpers.
The studio, of course, wantedto make a sequel, and Will Ferrell
was offered $29 million tobecome Buddy again.
This was in 2014 that Ferrellturned it down and he claimed that
(30:50):
declining the offer wasn'tdifficult because all he needed to
do was think about thenegative reviews the film would receive.
Jon Favreau has always showninterest in making a sequel, but
the chances of making thatsequel without Will Ferrell are pretty
slim.
What we have had Instead wehad Elf the Musical, which debuted
(31:11):
on Broadway in November 2010.
Directed by Casey Nicolaw,with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics
by Chad Bugulin, and a book byBob Martin and Thomas Meehan, it
ran until 2 January 2011 We'vealso had Elf Buddy's musical Christmas,
which is an hour long stopmotion animated musical television
(31:33):
special based on the film andthe musical of the same name, which
first aired on 16 December 2014.
Ed Asner was the only castmember from the film to reprise his
role, and the rest of the castincluded Jim Parsons as Buddy, Mark
Hamill as Walter Hobbs, KateMicucci as Jovi, Rachel McFarlane
(31:53):
as Emily Hobbs, Max Charles asMichael Hobbs, and Gilbert Gottfried
as Mr.
Greenaway.
And it also features songsfrom the musical when you think of
classic Christmas familymovies, there are a handful of regulars.
Oh, or at least for me anyway,the Muppet Christmas Carol, Home
Alone, It's a Wonderful Life,Die Hard.
(32:14):
They all tend to be at the topof most people's Christmas movie
watching list, and none ofthem came out after the year 2000.
It's generally harder formodern movies to become classics,
to replace the classics thathold that esteemed place of Christmas
Day watching or Christmas Eve watching.
Although I argue that Klaus isgetting there, for me, that movie
(32:38):
is a delight.
It is so special.
Please watch it.
It's on Netflix.
It's genuinely I feel likeKlaus is getting there to becoming
one of those Christmasclassics, or at least in my mind,
because I think it's wonderful.
But the fact that Elle, whichis a zany comedy on a sugar high,
has become this modernChristmas classic that rivals Home
(32:59):
Alone is remarkable enough.
Elf achieves this feat ofbeing genuinely heartwarming and
also hilarious.
And the fact it appeals toaudiences of all ages.
You can watch it with anyone.
Its heart is definitely in theright place and it delivers the right
message.
That post 9 11America needed amessage of togetherness and family
(33:21):
that all Christmas moviesultimately come down to, but also
promoting kindness, valuingothers, and that it's never too late
to come off the naughty listto change your ideals and be a better
person.
And honestly, I think todaythere are many people in this world
who could benefit with that message.
There are a lot of people inthis world that need to come off
(33:42):
the naughty list.
What I love about this moviemore than anything I think, is sometimes
people just don't fit in.
Sometimes they don't adhere tosocietal norms.
Sometimes doing somethingdifferently is okay.
Buddy may make mistakes, butthey're coming from an honest, genuine
place.
(34:02):
No, it's not okay to call alittle person an elf, and no, it's
not okay to continue to repeat that.
But there's a huge differencebetween intentionally causing offence
and what Buddy does to Buddy.
Every small person is an elfbecause that's what he grew up with.
To him, calling an elf an elfis normal, and Buddy's naturally
(34:23):
optimistic and sunny behaviouris not the norm.
But that doesn't mean weshould go out of our way to stifle
that positivity.
Smiling is his favourite.
He does things he loves to do.
He compliments everyone freelyand genuinely.
And most importantly, hebelieves he believes in Santa.
Why wouldn't he?
(34:43):
He knows him.
He believes in finding hisfamily so much he leaves the North
Pole for the first time ever.
He believes in Jovi's singingand encourages her to sing in front
of others, even though hismethod of finding out her singing
is a little weird and creepy.
But again, not creepy to Buddy.
He also believes in thegoodness of his absent father, so
much so that when his dadshouts and belittles him, Buddy still
(35:07):
ultimately believes Buddy iswho we should all strive to be.
And that's why this movieendures, because we see so much goodness
and kindness in Buddy and WillFerrell's totally heartfelt and genuine
performance.
Sometimes it's really easy tobe an adult in the sense that it's
easy to be pessimistic andit's easy to not believe in the goodness
(35:29):
and kindness of others.
But if we look at it from theperspective of how a child might
view the world, a child viewsthe world like Buddy views the world.
A child views the world withjoy and love and belief and happiness.
And really at Christmas time,that is how we should all view the
world.
(35:49):
Through the eyes of a child,through the eyes of Buddy the Elf.
That's certainly how I like toview the world at Christmas.
I don't want to view the worldlike Walter Hobbs views the world.
Elf came out of nowhere toearn a place among the Christmas
movie greats, but it alsohighlights just how difficult any
attempt to repeat the successof Elf would be.
(36:10):
Christmas sequels never tendto emulate the original equality,
and for that reason alone, Iam so glad that Will Ferrell has
never wanted to do a sequel,because I don't think a sequel to
Elf would ever work.
So don't be a cotton headedmini muggings.
Be more like Buddy.
Find joy in everything.
(36:31):
Not just at Christmas, butevery day.
Sing loud for all to hear andultimately just believe.
Thank you for listening.
As always, I would love tohear your thoughts on Elf.
Thank you for your continuedsupport of this podcast.
Merry Christmas and happyholidays to you all.
(36:51):
If you've enjoyed thispodcast, you want to help it grow,
you can.
You can get Involved, youcould leave a rating or review.
Wherever you found thispodcast, you can find me on social
media, I am @VerbalDiorama onTwitter, Facebook, Instagram, threads,
Blue sky and Letterboxd.
You can share posts, you canlike posts, you can follow me.
(37:13):
It all helps to try andimprove the scope of this podcast.
You can also tell your friendsand family who love the movie Elf
to listen to this podcastepisode too.
So as I mentioned, this is thelast episode of 2024.
It's been an incredible yearfor this podcast.
I can tell you.
2025 is going to be evenbigger for Verbal Diorama.
(37:34):
I will announce why and how indue course.
But let me tell you, I havesome big plans for this podcast in
2025.
Shoot for the stars and likeBuddha the Elf, believe.
Believe in the magic, believein your own abilities, I guess.
And 2025 is hopefully going tobe the year that Thermal Diorama,
(37:57):
maybe it becomes a little bit bigger.
Fingers crossed, I hope.
I've got a lot of big plansfor the podcast.
A lot of other people havealso got big plans for the podcast
as well and hopefully I canreveal all very soon.
But I am going to reveal thatthe first episode of 2025 and also
the first episode of Animationseason, which is returning for its
(38:21):
fifth year.
Now the first episode will beTurning Red.
And it wasn't a particularlydifficult choice for me to choose
Turning red for the firstepisode of the podcast because it
speaks to 13 year old me.
I was a very, very awkwardteenage girl.
I was very nerdy, very intoboy bands and very, very much like
(38:44):
Meilin Lee, except, well forthe huge red panda that she turns
into.
But it is a movie that Icompletely adore.
I fell in love with it thefirst time I saw it.
So I am going to start 2025 bygoing into the history and legacy
of Turning Red.
Please join me for that.
(39:05):
I look forward to what 2025 isgoing to bring and I look forward
to having you on the journey too.
Now this podcast is free.
It always has been free.
It always will be free.
However, it is not free tomake a podcast.
I am incredibly fortunate thatI have some wonderful people who
support this podcastfinancially and you are under an
(39:27):
obligation to do the same.
But if you enjoy this podcast,if you get value out of this podcast,
and if you do want thispodcast to continue to be the podcast
that it is and continue tothrive, and if you have the means
to do so, you can choose tosupport this podcast financially
in one of two ways.
You could go to verbaldiorama.com tips and give a one off
(39:50):
tip.
Or you can go toverbaldiorama.com patreon and you
can become an ongoing patron subscriber.
And as always, thank you tothe amazing patrons of Verbal Diorama.
To Sade, Claudia, Simon,Laurel, Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke,
Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa,Sam, Jack, Dave, Stewart, Nicholas
(40:13):
so, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny,Ali, Stu, Brett, Philip M.
Michelle, Zenos, Sean, Rhino,Philip K, Adam, Elaine, and Kyle.
Thank you hugely to all ofthose incredible people for their
support over the last few years.
Honestly, it is indescribablesometimes how incredible it is that
(40:36):
people not only listen to whatI do, but also want to support what
I do.
Huge thanks to them.
They help keep this podcastrunning, they help pay for subscriptions
and equipment and bills, andyou name it, they help pay for it.
So I am beyond grateful tothem for their support.
If you just want to get intouch with me and say hi or give
(40:59):
me some feedback, you canemail me verbal diorama@gmail.com.
or you could go toverbaldiorama.com and fill out the
little contact form.
You can also find bits that Ido@filmstories.co.uk and finally.
Wow.
What's this?
(41:19):
This is the North Pole.
No, it's not.
Yes, it is.
No, it's not.
Yes, it is.
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is.
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is.
No, it's not.
Where's the snow?
Why are you smiling like that?
I just like to smile.
Smiling's my favorite.
Make work your favorite.
That's your favorite.
Okay.
Okay.
Work is your new favorite.
Fine.
(41:40):
It's time for the announcement.
Okay.
Okay, people, tomorrowmorning, 10:00am Santa's coming to
town.
Santa.
Oh, my God.
Santa here.
I know him.
I know him.
He'll be here to take pictureswith all the children.
Just keep your receipts.
10:00am tomorrow.
(42:01):
10:00Am tomorrow.
Santa's coming to town.
Yes.
Sign this morning.
Oh, hi.
Santa's coming.
Bye.
Merry Christmas.
Happy holidays.
See you all in 2025.
Santa.
It'S me, buddy.
It's me.
Hey, buddy.
How you doing?
It's me.
Who the heck are you?
What are you talking about?
I'm Santa Claus.
No, you're not.
(00:23):
Oh, why, of course I am.
You're Santa.
What song did I sing for youon your birthday this year?
Happy birthday.
Of course.
So how old are you, son?
You're a big boy.
What's your name?
And what can I get you for Christmas?
(00:44):
Don't tell him what you want.
He's a liar.
Let the kid talk.
You disgust me.
How can you live with yourself?
Just cool it, Zippy.
You sit on a throne of lies.
Look, I'm not kidding.
You're a fake.
I'm a fake?
Yes.
How'd you like to be dead, huh?
No, he's kidding.
You stink.
I think you're going to have agood Christmas.
(01:06):
All right.
Smell like beef and cheese.
You don't smell like Santa, okay?
He's an apostle.
He's a fake.
He's a fake.
He's a fake.
(01:47):
She.
In a world overflowing withmovies, we need a hero.
Someone to separate the badfrom the good.
(02:15):
Movie.
She does prequel, sequels,remakes, and trivia.
And after movies, you know,movies, you know, interesting stories,
all the categories.
Hi, everyone.
I'm Em.
Welcome to verbal diorama,episode 281, elf.
(02:39):
This is the podcast that's allabout the history and legacy of movies
you know, and movies you don't.
That definitely does not siton a throne of lies.
As always, a huge hi andwelcome to Velvet Diorama.
Whether you're a brand newlistener to this podcast, whether
you're coming back as aregular returning listener or an
irregular returning listener,thank you for being here.
(02:59):
Thank you for choosing tolisten to this podcast.
As always, I'm so happy tohave you here just generally, but
also for the history andlegacy of Elf.
And to everyone who doeslisten to this podcast and has continued
to listen to and support thispodcast over the last almost six
years now, it's been anincredible ride.
(03:20):
Just like Santa's sleighacross New York.
This podcast really relies ongeneral spirit.
Not just Christmas spirit, butgeneral spirit.
And it genuinely means so muchto me to get that general sense of
spirit from everyone who doeslisten to this podcast.
This is the last episode of2024, and so, of course, I have to
(03:41):
go out with a bang and givesomething to all of the listeners
who are on Santa's nice list,because this is the episode that
only goes out to people whoare on Santa's nice list.
The last episode was on howthe Grinch Stole Christmas.
And you only got that one ifyou're on Santa's naughty list.
Just like Walter Hobbs.
(04:03):
But I know the vast majorityof listeners of this podcast are
on his nice list.
And Elf is one of those moviesthat, despite coming out 21 years
ago, feels fresh and it feelslike an instant Christmas classic.
I know a lot of people who arebig fans of this movie, and it's
about time it came to verbaldiorama like Buddy.
(04:25):
I love Christmas.
Maybe not quite as much asBuddy does.
I also love smiling.
It's my favorite.
But really, the best way tospread Christmas cheer is singing
loud for all to hear andmaking a podcast about it.
So here's the trailer for Elf.
No human being has ever setfoot in Santa's workshop.
(04:48):
That is, until Buddy, I hearyou're going on a journey to the
big city.
Can't wait to see my dad.
This might be the opportunityto find.
Out who you really are.
Bye, Buddy.
Hope you find your dad.
Thanks, Mr.
Narwhal.
Papa says New York is pretty different.
(05:11):
Sorry.
Looks like a Christmas tree.
Sorry I can't ride with youthe rest of the way up.
Well, have a good time.
Oh, I forgot to give you a hug.
Dad.
You look like you came fromthe North Pole.
That's exactly where I came from.
You have another son?
You like sugar, huh?
Is there sugar in syrup?
Yes.
(05:32):
Then yes.
We can't leave him alone here.
He's gonna destroy the place.
Son of a nutcracker.
These guys are bad news.
Snowball.
Where did you say you were from?
(05:53):
Fruit Spray.
W.
Tomorrow morning, 10am Santa'scoming to town.
Santa.
Oh my God.
Santa here?
I know him.
I know him.
(06:21):
One Christmas Eve, a long timeago, a baby crawled into Santa's
bag of toys.
Raised as an elf, Buddy growsinto an adult three times larger
than the biggest elf andrealizes that he will never truly
fit in at the North Pole.
Buddy goes looking for histrue place in the world in New York
City.
And he finds his workaholicfather who's on Santa's naughty list.
(06:45):
He also finds a caringstepmother and a 10 year old brother
who doesn't believe in SantaClaus or elves.
Buddy has to discover hisdestiny to save Christmas for New
York and the entire world byspreading Christmas cheer and singing
loud for all to hear.
Let's run through the cast.
We have Will Ferrell as BuddyHobbs, James Caan as Walter Hobbs,
(07:10):
Zooey Deschanel as Jovi, MarySteenbergen as Emily Hobbs, Daniel
Tay as Michael Hobbs, Ed Asneras Santa Claus, Bob Newhart as Papa
Elle and Peter Dinklage asMiles Finch.
Elf was written by DavidBerenbaum and directed by Jon Favreau.
(07:32):
Before we learn all about thehistory and legacy of a modern Christmas
classic, let's recite the Codeof the Elves, shall we?
Number one, Treat every daylike Christmas.
Number two, there's room foreveryone on the nice list.
Number three, the best way tospread Christmas cheer is singing
loud for all to hear.
(07:54):
Just like the previous episodeon how the Grinch Stole Christmas,
the roots of Elf lie within abeloved 60s American animated classic.
And like the 1966 animated howthe Grinch Stole Christmas, it still
airs several times during theholiday season.
But unlike the Dr.
Seuss classic, this is less ofan adaptation, more of an inspiration.
(08:16):
An inspiration that could haveleft the movie in a little bit of
legal hot water, but I willcome back to that.
But the story of Elf starts,as most stories do, with loss.
Writer David Berenbaum losthis father when he was young, and
most of us are fortunate tonot lose a parent at a young age.
But what you must go throughwhen that does happen, it's understandable
(08:38):
that you might grow up towrite a heartwarming story about
a young man's quest to findhis father.
Birramban grew up watching theRankin Bass animated entertainment
holiday specials, whichfeatured Christmas favourites like
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and
Frosty the Snowman.
Although Birranbaum's Elfscript was clearly influenced by
(09:00):
these films, he actuallyenvisaged Buddy's tale to center
on the reunion with his fatherand bonding, and a story about Buddy
finding his family as well asappreciating the family he had at
the North Pole.
Berenbell originally wrote hisscript in the mid-90s after he'd
moved to Los Angeles from theeast coast, with inspiration coming
(09:20):
from the Tom Hanks movie Bigas to a childlike human.
But he kept coming back to abanking Bass's Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer and how funny itwould be to have a human in that
world.
He wrote the script on specand sent it out for studio interest,
which was when the MotionPicture Corporation of America optioned
it with Chris Farley in mindto play Buddy.
(09:43):
Berenbaum let the optionexpire after not being completely
happy with the direction thatthe Motion Picture Corporation of
America wanted to take themovie in and thinking that it would
be a totally different MovieAfter Chris Farley's death in 1997
the script landed in the lapof New Line Cinema, who were at that
point predominantly known asthe House that Freddie Built.
(10:05):
Birenbaum's manager thoughtWill Ferrell would be ideal for the
lead role at that point, andafter he committed, things started
to pick up speed.
But Ferrell wasn't the bigstar that he is today.
He was fresh off SaturdayNight Live and had only had supporting
roles in movies like AustinPowers and Zoolander.
It was only after Jim Carrey,coincidentally from how the Grinch
(10:28):
Doll Christmas, turned downthe role of Buddy, and after the
success of Old School, theproducers felt justified in giving
Ferrell the chance.
Ferrell and his writingpartner Adam McKay would also undertake
uncredited rewrites of thescript alongside Scott Armstrong
and Chris Henchy.
All in all, the script andproduction would take a seven year
(10:49):
journey from the North Pole toNew York and everywhere in between.
Terry Zwigoff was offered todirect the movie, but he declined
in favor of Bad Santa, whichwas actually going to be the naughtiest
episode instead of how theGrinch Stole Christmas.
But Bad Santa wasn't onstreaming anymore and how the Grinch
Stole Christmas was, and thatis how last episode you got how the
(11:12):
Grinch Stole Christmas.
But Jon Favreau had directed,made and written and starred in Swingers
and was interested in workingwith Will Ferrell.
But after receiving the Elfscript, wasn't too keen on it.
He was asked to take anotherlook with an idea to rewrite and
direct.
And just like Baron Baum, hehad this idea of ranking Bass and
(11:33):
making the character of Buddyeven more innocent.
Favreau, who like most of usis a huge fan of Christmas, joined
as a director and worked withBerenbaum on a few rewrites, including
one that added the well knownChristmas cheer scene at the end.
In a 2020 interview withRolling Stone, Favreau himself claimed
that he wasn't interestedinitially in the script, describing
(11:55):
it as much darker, but becameinterested in making it more family
friendly and innocent PGinstead of PG13.
Favreau knew what he wantedfor the look, going back to the Ranking
Bass specials and payinghomage to their cartoonish look.
If Will Ferrell was going tobe the star, he wanted actors who
(12:15):
could play straight oppositehim as well as keep it light hearted
and more grounded than WillFerrell's Buddy.
This was how the directorchose to cast a lot of Elf's supporting
characters.
He believed that havingestablished actors like James Caan
in the movie improvedFerrell's comedic and acting performances.
Caan himself wasn't originallytoo taken with the role of Buddy's
(12:38):
father Walter, and wanted toplay it more like comedian George
Burns than his famous role ofSonny Corleone in the Godfather.
But Khan ended up relishingthe role of Walter Hobbs, often cracking
up on camera at Ferrell's antics.
And when he had to shout atBuddy, Favreau had to remind him
that he played Sonny f ingCorleone, although he didn't say
(13:01):
effing.
He also took inspiration fromhis then one year old son Max, remembering
how his son would react tothings to make Buddy even more childlike
and innocent.
But a lot of Buddy's innocenceactually came from Ferrell improvising
on set.
Zooey Deschanel wasn't thefirst choice for Jovi at the time.
(13:22):
She was probably most wellknown for playing the older sister
in Cameron Crowe semiautobiographical Almost famous in
2000.
Favreau initially wantedsomeone else for the role, and when
they dropped out at the lastminute, Favreau came back to Deschanel
and they reworked the role ofJovi to be more than just your average
cliched love interest and forthem to understand how someone like
(13:44):
Jovi could be attracted tosomeone like Buddy, despite their
initial meeting being a bitweird and shall we say, a little
bit of a red flag under normal circumstances.
In Barenbaum's original 1993draft of ELF, the character of Jovi
is introduced in thedepartment store as being an out
of work cabaret singer.
(14:04):
However, the film went throughmany rewrites before Favreau as well
as Ferrell and Adam McKay came aboard.
Also, in that original draft,Jovi never really sings, but Favreau
realised that Zooey Deschanelcould hold a tune and decided to
use it to the movie'sadvantage to make their shower scene
more of a meet cute than acreep cute.
(14:25):
Also dropping out at the lastminute was Wanda Sykes, due to play
the manager of Gimbels andFaison Love also stepped in at the
last minute, so last minutethat the manager's name tag had already
been made, and that's why themanager is named Wanda in the original
draft of Elf.
The film doesn't end with thecitizens of New York coming together
(14:45):
to help Santa by singing or otherwise.
There's still an elaborateclimax in Central park, although
it's a little less amusingthan the fictional Central park rangers
chasing Santa on horseback.
Instead, that script has NYPDcruisers, complete with guns, trying
to take down Santa's sleighand its reindeer with a dozen cop
(15:07):
cars surrounding Central Park.
The cops were supposed to bechasing Buddy down Fifth Avenue,
shooting at him as he shotback at them.
Buddy also jumps off theEmpire State Building and onto a
helicopter.
All in all sounding a littlebit more like a Die Hard sequel than
the movie Elf that we know and love.
In this script, all of Buddy'snew family and friends, including
(15:30):
his father Walter, his halfbrother Michael and Jovi all end
up on Santa's sleigh.
Obviously the movie that weget only has Buddy in Santa's sleigh
and Jovi gets up in front of acrowd on Central park and starts
singing Santa Claus is comingto town.
And eventually others join in.
And the power of thesestrangers singing gives enough Christmas
(15:51):
spirit to make Santa's sleigh fly.
Even Walter joins in.
According to Jon Favreau,these were all the bits that he requested
to be added to the script.
After Zooey Deschanel cameaboard, the Central Park Rangers
replaced the NYPD officers andthe Simon and Garfunkel concert really
was a thing.
Except it happened in 1981 andnot in 1985 and the real life incident
(16:16):
was that a man ran on stageand was escorted off stage by park
security.
The park rangers did alsoissue multiple summonses for minor
drug offenses, illegal salesof buttons and other concert memorabilia
that day, and maybe thatbehavior then led to Santa putting
them all on the naughty listbecause illegal sale of buttons.
(16:39):
Just let the button sales commence.
It is Christmas.
Who cares about illegal salesat Buttons Park Rangers?
Let's be honest, and theCentral Park Rangers looking like
the ring wraiths from Lord ofthe Rings was totally intentional.
Jon Favreau has admitted asmuch in the commentary on the dvd.
The costumes were designed toreference Lord of the Rings and the
(17:01):
rangers were always shot insilhouette to hide their real appearance.
And the Rankin Bassassociation would lead to Elf becoming
something wholly different toother 2000s Christmas films.
Whereas many other big budgetfestive movies of the 2000s embraced
the then cutting edge computergenerated effect, Elf relied heavily
(17:23):
on stop motion created by theToyota brothers to make the movie
look as timeless today as itdid in 2003.
The production design of theNorth Pole by Rusty Smith was heavily
influenced by the look ofRudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, as
was the costuming by Lara JeanShannon and the collar panets as
well.
(17:43):
So much so that Elf veryalmost ran into legal trouble due
to the similarities with NewLine Cinema's legal team visiting
the set to check for infringements.
And because everyone knew theinspiration was clearly Rankin Bass,
no one denied it and it wasleft to the legal department to see
what they could do about it,even leading to potentially making
(18:04):
Buddy's suit blue instead of green.
Unfortunately, they'd alreadyshot the movie at this point, so
if they had had to make thesuit blue, they would have had to
do it in post production.
But luckily that didn't haveto happen and the production was
cleared of any sort of legal infringement.
Making the 6 foot 3 buddyappear noticeably bigger than the
(18:24):
elves in Santa's workshop wasanother visual effects challenge.
Because in order to makeactors like Bob Newhart and the other
actors playing the elvesappear Elf like without the use of
cgi, director Jon Favreauinsisted on producing an optical
illusion by using forcedperspective, giving the impression
that Ferrell was much tallerthan the other people in the room
(18:46):
and that everyone else wasmuch smaller.
To create the illusion thathis character was half as large as
Buddy's, Bob Newhart had tofilm every scene while standing a
few feet behind Will Ferrell.
For Buddy to sit on Papa Elf's legs.
He was actually sitting on thelegs of a small child, which was
supported so that he wasn'tsquishing a small child's legs.
(19:07):
With Bob Newhart actuallysitting far, far behind.
The tree on Fire in the earlymoments of the movie is also done
with forced perspective.
The top half of the tree is aminiature in the foreground.
The bottom half is roughly40ft away from the camera.
The edges were then blended tomake it appear as if it's all one
tree.
Jon Favreau felt it importantto use the old techniques rather
(19:30):
than cgi because he felt thatthese techniques gave the film a
feeling of nostalgia, like theold Christmas TV specials, like the
ranking bath specials that hegrew up on.
One of the films he comparesthe technique to is, unsurprisingly,
the Lord of the Rings, which,just like Elf, are new line cinema
films.
(19:50):
The Lord of the Rings alsoused force perspective to make Gandalf
appear really tall and to makethe hobbits appear really small.
Many of the sets at Elf werebuilt twice.
Once much larger for theactors playing the elves and again
slightly smaller for theactors playing normal sized actors.
In the scene where Ed Asner asSanta addresses his elves, he's standing
(20:13):
on a platform.
On a smaller version of theset, the elves were standing on another
platform far behind him andlighting is used to blend the two
images together.
The stop motion characterswere done using two frame stop motion.
Every time the puppet would bemoved, the character would be shot
twice to give it a choppymovement and the feeling of how they
(20:34):
looked in the Ranking Mass specials.
All of the stop motion wasdone by the Chiodo brothers, three
brothers who still do stopmotion animation.
And all of those characterswould probably have been done with
CGI if this movie was made today.
The Chiodo brothers, Charles,Stephen and Edward Chiodo, have spent
over 30 years working withlive action puppetry, including four
(20:58):
killer clowns from Outer Spaceand Team America World police.
That's episode 158, this podcast.
Jon Favreau selected thembecause they were the last effects
house in LA who stillspecialized in two frame stop motion
animation.
For the Chiodos, the challengeof working on Elf was emulating the
classic kitschy animationstyles of the old Ranking Bass productions
(21:21):
of the 60s and 70s, all thewhile being careful to create new
images but also pay homagewithout compromising the memories
of the source material.
The Chiodos were originallyjust contracted to do Leon the Snowman
and the Arctic Animals portionin the North Pole sequence, which
was meant to be a 10 to 12week process.
Then after the movie had atest screening, it tested so well,
(21:44):
they decided to do an animatedopening, which was an accelerated
schedule that they did inabout eight weeks.
Instead of making the stopmotion look pristine, they emulated
Rankin Bass right down to thefabrication points, using traditional
techniques and embellishing itwith new techniques.
The narwhal coming up out ofthe water was done with salt on glass,
(22:05):
cellophane ripples and real water.
And of course, Mr.
Narwhal was voiced by JonFavreau, as was Baby Walrus and the
Arctic Puffin.
The polar bear cub was voicedby the legendary Ray Harryhausen,
obviously a legend in stop motion.
So it's wonderful that he gota little moment in there.
And Leon the Snowman wasmusician Leon Redbone.
(22:26):
Favreau had to fight thestudio to use stop motion because,
as I've mentioned in recentepisodes, Jon Favreau prefers practical
effects.
He did Annoying man too.
Maybe not so much in hisrecent career, but absolutely in
the 2000s, he was a hugeadvocate for practical effects work.
Elf does use cgi, and when itdoes, it was down to rhythm and hues.
(22:49):
They made Santa's sleigh areindeer for when it's flying through
the sky.
They even made the snowballsfor the Central park snowball fight,
which is still reallyimpressive because they genuinely
do look like real snowballs.
Now it's common knowledge thatelves stick to the four main food
groups, candy, candy canes,candy corns and syrup.
And that meant Will Ferrellchowing down on sugar coated pasta
(23:13):
and lots of it.
So much so that Ferrellvomited the first time he ate it.
Principal photography began on9 December 2002 and wrapped on 7
March 2003.
Favreau included a lot of NewYork based locations in the script
like the Empire StateBuilding, but he wasn't sure he'd
be able to film the New Yorkbased locations at the time.
(23:35):
However, his location managerwas able to secure all of the New
York locations he wanted.
All of the exteriors were shotin New York City, which was something
that Jon Favreau took greatpride in.
It is actually forbidden forpedestrians to walk through the Lincoln
Tunnel, so when Will Ferrellactually did it, it caused minor
traffic disruption because hisappearance as a grown man as an elf
(23:59):
distracted drivers enough tocause a few accidents.
The vast majority of filmingin New York was alongside everyday
people, including the man withthe beard in a red tracksuit who
looks suspiciously like Santa Claus.
That is not an actor, that isa genuine human New York resident
slash citizen slash touristwho happened to be there on that
(24:21):
day to shoot the ChristmasTree in the Rockefeller Center.
Production had to wait untilafter midnight and only then got
four hours to get the scenebecause a professional skater was
performing the next day.
And setting the departmentstore with gimbals wasn't as many
suggest because Macy'swouldn't allow it.
It was actually the opposite.
Macy's were more than happy tolet the production shoot in their
(24:44):
store as well as theirSantaland and incorporate the story
into the famous Macy'sChristmas Parade.
However, Macy's objected totheir store Santa being revealed
to be fake because they didn'twant anyone believing their Santa
isn't the genuine article.
This stipulation led to themovie filming in a mental hospital
(25:05):
in Vancouver as well as makingthe department store Gimbals, which
was owned by a third party whowere willing to license it out and
for the production to createtheir own version of Gimbals, which
led to more creative freedomas well as a tie in to the classic
Miracle on 34th Street.
Gimbel's, the actual originaldepartment store was originally located
(25:26):
on Herald Square that closedin 1986.
The exterior of Gimbels in themovie was the textile building on
fifth Avenue in New York whichwas decorated with CGI as well as
Gimbels.
Walter's apartment, the bookpublishers, the mail room and the
jail cell were all builtwithin the same abandoned mental
(25:48):
hospital in Vancouver, whichis also the same hospital where New
Line shot Freddy versus Jasonbecause We have to have some sort
of Freddy Krueger link becauseNew Line, the House that Freddie
Built and the late great JamesCaan really did enjoy his time on
this movie.
He actually did play the pianoin the film's final moments.
(26:10):
He was messing around on thepiano between shots and Jon Favreau
decided to film it and alsodecided to keep it as part of the
final scenes.
And luckily, Auld Lang Syne isa song in the public domain, so for
once on this movie, the NewLine Legal team could rest easy.
And speaking of resting easysegue into the obligatory Keanu reference
(26:32):
for this episode.
Now this is a part of thepodcast where I trining the movie
that I'm featuring with Keanu Reeves.
And you'd be surprised howdifficult it is to link every single
movie that I feature on thispodcast pretty much to Keanu Reeves.
However, I have a genius wayto link Keanu Reeves to the movie
(26:52):
Elf because you've heard ofElf on a Shelf, right?
But have you heard of KeanuReeves On Some Leaves?
There we go.
I'm gonna leave that one with you.
So the score was composed byJohn Debney and the soundtrack includes
Christmas classics like SleighRide by Ella Fitzgerald, Santa Baby
by Eartha Kitty, WinterWonderland by Ray Charles, and Let
(27:16):
It Snow, Let It Snow, Let ItSnow by Lena Horne.
The song Baby, It's ColdOutside by Zooey Deschanel and Leon
Redbone was also released as a single.
But maybe don't listen toomuch to the lyrics of Baby It's Cold
Outside because again, it's abit of a creepy song.
It's not really one of myChristmas favorites, shall we say.
(27:40):
So Elf was released on 7November 2003, the same week as Love,
actually, in the US and a weekafter the Matrix Revolutions.
Now, unsurprisingly, theMatrix Revolutions was number one.
That would have been thebetter obligatory Keanu reference,
would it not?
It's literally just poppedinto my head.
(28:01):
I should have used that, but I didn't.
I went full Keanu Reeves onsome leads.
That's the joy of theobligature Keanu reference, by the
way.
Anyway, Elf had to settle fornumber two at the box office, but
it continued to do well and itstayed in the top 10 for eight weeks.
And the week of Christmas, Elfjumped up 42% week on week.
(28:23):
On its third week of release,the Cat in the Hat, the Dr.
Seuss sibling to the lastepisode's how the Grinch Stole Christmas,
came out and beat Elf tonumber one that week.
Also out that third week wasBad Santa, the episode the how the
Grinch Doll Christmas wasgoing to be.
Honestly, everything is linkedto everything else in Hollywood.
(28:44):
I guarantee there is always alink to something else.
But Bad Santa actually onlymade it to number 10 that week.
Basically what I'm saying ishow the Grinch Doll Christmas was
a better choice than Bad Santa was.
Maybe I'll do Bad Santa atsome point, but just on a bina over
here in the UK, the movie Elfwas completely trounced by Love.
(29:05):
Actually.
Love actually was a huge hithere in the UK in 2003.
Love actually is a movie thatI really do not like.
I think I'd mentioned this before.
I think I mentioned it on theepisode that I did on the holiday
because I love the holiday.
I think the holiday is theperfect Christmas rom com.
I adore it.
I really do not like Love actually.
(29:27):
I realize as a British personyou're supposed to like Love actually,
but I really don't.
I really genuinely don't like it.
But back to Elf because on its$33 million budget, Elf not only
made that back in its firstweek with a little bit more, it also
(29:47):
ended up grossing $173.4million domestically in the US and
$47 million internationally,for a total worldwide gross of $220.4
million.
And the movie has been rereleased several times as well in
2018-2019-2020-2021 and 2023.
(30:09):
It was also on at my localcinema very recently as well.
Elf has become the perennialmodern classic Christmas movie on
Rotten Tomatoes.
It has an 86% rating with theconsensus reading A movie full of
yuletide cheer, Elf is aspirited, good natured family comedy
(30:29):
and it benefits greatly fromWill Ferrell's funny and charming
performance as one of Santa'sbiggest helpers.
The studio, of course, wantedto make a sequel, and Will Ferrell
was offered $29 million tobecome Buddy again.
This was in 2014 that Ferrellturned it down and he claimed that
(30:50):
declining the offer wasn'tdifficult because all he needed to
do was think about thenegative reviews the film would receive.
Jon Favreau has always showninterest in making a sequel, but
the chances of making thatsequel without Will Ferrell are pretty
slim.
What we have had Instead wehad Elf the Musical, which debuted
(31:11):
on Broadway in November 2010.
Directed by Casey Nicolaw,with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics
by Chad Bugulin, and a book byBob Martin and Thomas Meehan, it
ran until 2 January 2011 We'vealso had Elf Buddy's musical Christmas,
which is an hour long stopmotion animated musical television
(31:33):
special based on the film andthe musical of the same name, which
first aired on 16 December 2014.
Ed Asner was the only castmember from the film to reprise his
role, and the rest of the castincluded Jim Parsons as Buddy, Mark
Hamill as Walter Hobbs, KateMicucci as Jovi, Rachel McFarlane
(31:53):
as Emily Hobbs, Max Charles asMichael Hobbs, and Gilbert Gottfried
as Mr.
Greenaway.
And it also features songsfrom the musical when you think of
classic Christmas familymovies, there are a handful of regulars.
Oh, or at least for me anyway,the Muppet Christmas Carol, Home
Alone, It's a Wonderful Life,Die Hard.
(32:14):
They all tend to be at the topof most people's Christmas movie
watching list, and none ofthem came out after the year 2000.
It's generally harder formodern movies to become classics,
to replace the classics thathold that esteemed place of Christmas
Day watching or Christmas Eve watching.
Although I argue that Klaus isgetting there, for me, that movie
(32:38):
is a delight.
It is so special.
Please watch it.
It's on Netflix.
It's genuinely I feel likeKlaus is getting there to becoming
one of those Christmasclassics, or at least in my mind,
because I think it's wonderful.
But the fact that Elle, whichis a zany comedy on a sugar high,
has become this modernChristmas classic that rivals Home
(32:59):
Alone is remarkable enough.
Elf achieves this feat ofbeing genuinely heartwarming and
also hilarious.
And the fact it appeals toaudiences of all ages.
You can watch it with anyone.
Its heart is definitely in theright place and it delivers the right
message.
That post 9 11America needed amessage of togetherness and family
(33:21):
that all Christmas moviesultimately come down to, but also
promoting kindness, valuingothers, and that it's never too late
to come off the naughty listto change your ideals and be a better
person.
And honestly, I think todaythere are many people in this world
who could benefit with that message.
There are a lot of people inthis world that need to come off
(33:42):
the naughty list.
What I love about this moviemore than anything I think, is sometimes
people just don't fit in.
Sometimes they don't adhere tosocietal norms.
Sometimes doing somethingdifferently is okay.
Buddy may make mistakes, butthey're coming from an honest, genuine
place.
(34:02):
No, it's not okay to call alittle person an elf, and no, it's
not okay to continue to repeat that.
But there's a huge differencebetween intentionally causing offence
and what Buddy does to Buddy.
Every small person is an elfbecause that's what he grew up with.
To him, calling an elf an elfis normal, and Buddy's naturally
(34:23):
optimistic and sunny behaviouris not the norm.
But that doesn't mean weshould go out of our way to stifle
that positivity.
Smiling is his favourite.
He does things he loves to do.
He compliments everyone freelyand genuinely.
And most importantly, hebelieves he believes in Santa.
Why wouldn't he?
(34:43):
He knows him.
He believes in finding hisfamily so much he leaves the North
Pole for the first time ever.
He believes in Jovi's singingand encourages her to sing in front
of others, even though hismethod of finding out her singing
is a little weird and creepy.
But again, not creepy to Buddy.
He also believes in thegoodness of his absent father, so
much so that when his dadshouts and belittles him, Buddy still
(35:07):
ultimately believes Buddy iswho we should all strive to be.
And that's why this movieendures, because we see so much goodness
and kindness in Buddy and WillFerrell's totally heartfelt and genuine
performance.
Sometimes it's really easy tobe an adult in the sense that it's
easy to be pessimistic andit's easy to not believe in the goodness
(35:29):
and kindness of others.
But if we look at it from theperspective of how a child might
view the world, a child viewsthe world like Buddy views the world.
A child views the world withjoy and love and belief and happiness.
And really at Christmas time,that is how we should all view the
world.
(35:49):
Through the eyes of a child,through the eyes of Buddy the Elf.
That's certainly how I like toview the world at Christmas.
I don't want to view the worldlike Walter Hobbs views the world.
Elf came out of nowhere toearn a place among the Christmas
movie greats, but it alsohighlights just how difficult any
attempt to repeat the successof Elf would be.
(36:10):
Christmas sequels never tendto emulate the original equality,
and for that reason alone, Iam so glad that Will Ferrell has
never wanted to do a sequel,because I don't think a sequel to
Elf would ever work.
So don't be a cotton headedmini muggings.
Be more like Buddy.
Find joy in everything.
(36:31):
Not just at Christmas, butevery day.
Sing loud for all to hear andultimately just believe.
Thank you for listening.
As always, I would love tohear your thoughts on Elf.
Thank you for your continuedsupport of this podcast.
Merry Christmas and happyholidays to you all.
(36:51):
If you've enjoyed thispodcast, you want to help it grow,
you can.
You can get Involved, youcould leave a rating or review.
Wherever you found thispodcast, you can find me on social
media, I am @VerbalDiorama onTwitter, Facebook, Instagram, threads,
Blue sky and Letterboxd.
You can share posts, you canlike posts, you can follow me.
(37:13):
It all helps to try andimprove the scope of this podcast.
You can also tell your friendsand family who love the movie Elf
to listen to this podcastepisode too.
So as I mentioned, this is thelast episode of 2024.
It's been an incredible yearfor this podcast.
I can tell you.
2025 is going to be evenbigger for Verbal Diorama.
(37:34):
I will announce why and how indue course.
But let me tell you, I havesome big plans for this podcast in
2025.
Shoot for the stars and likeBuddha the Elf, believe.
Believe in the magic, believein your own abilities, I guess.
And 2025 is hopefully going tobe the year that Thermal Diorama,
(37:57):
maybe it becomes a little bit bigger.
Fingers crossed, I hope.
I've got a lot of big plansfor the podcast.
A lot of other people havealso got big plans for the podcast
as well and hopefully I canreveal all very soon.
But I am going to reveal thatthe first episode of 2025 and also
the first episode of Animationseason, which is returning for its
(38:21):
fifth year.
Now the first episode will beTurning Red.
And it wasn't a particularlydifficult choice for me to choose
Turning red for the firstepisode of the podcast because it
speaks to 13 year old me.
I was a very, very awkwardteenage girl.
I was very nerdy, very intoboy bands and very, very much like
(38:44):
Meilin Lee, except, well forthe huge red panda that she turns
into.
But it is a movie that Icompletely adore.
I fell in love with it thefirst time I saw it.
So I am going to start 2025 bygoing into the history and legacy
of Turning Red.
Please join me for that.
(39:05):
I look forward to what 2025 isgoing to bring and I look forward
to having you on the journey too.
Now this podcast is free.
It always has been free.
It always will be free.
However, it is not free tomake a podcast.
I am incredibly fortunate thatI have some wonderful people who
support this podcastfinancially and you are under an
(39:27):
obligation to do the same.
But if you enjoy this podcast,if you get value out of this podcast,
and if you do want thispodcast to continue to be the podcast
that it is and continue tothrive, and if you have the means
to do so, you can choose tosupport this podcast financially
in one of two ways.
You could go to verbaldiorama.com tips and give a one off
(39:50):
tip.
Or you can go toverbaldiorama.com patreon and you
can become an ongoing patron subscriber.
And as always, thank you tothe amazing patrons of Verbal Diorama.
To Sade, Claudia, Simon,Laurel, Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke,
Michael, Scott, Brendan, Lisa,Sam, Jack, Dave, Stewart, Nicholas
(40:13):
so, Kev, Pete, Heather, Danny,Ali, Stu, Brett, Philip M.
Michelle, Zenos, Sean, Rhino,Philip K, Adam, Elaine, and Kyle.
Thank you hugely to all ofthose incredible people for their
support over the last few years.
Honestly, it is indescribablesometimes how incredible it is that
(40:36):
people not only listen to whatI do, but also want to support what
I do.
Huge thanks to them.
They help keep this podcastrunning, they help pay for subscriptions
and equipment and bills, andyou name it, they help pay for it.
So I am beyond grateful tothem for their support.
If you just want to get intouch with me and say hi or give
(40:59):
me some feedback, you canemail me verbal diorama@gmail.com.
or you could go toverbaldiorama.com and fill out the
little contact form.
You can also find bits that Ido@filmstories.co.uk and finally.
Wow.
What's this?
(41:19):
This is the North Pole.
No, it's not.
Yes, it is.
No, it's not.
Yes, it is.
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is.
No, it isn't.
Yes, it is.
No, it's not.
Where's the snow?
Why are you smiling like that?
I just like to smile.
Smiling's my favorite.
Make work your favorite.
That's your favorite.
Okay.
Okay.
Work is your new favorite.
Fine.
(41:40):
It's time for the announcement.
Okay.
Okay, people, tomorrowmorning, 10:00am Santa's coming to
town.
Santa.
Oh, my God.
Santa here.
I know him.
I know him.
He'll be here to take pictureswith all the children.
Just keep your receipts.
10:00am tomorrow.
(42:01):
10:00Am tomorrow.
Santa's coming to town.
Yes.
Sign this morning.
Oh, hi.
Santa's coming.
Bye.
Merry Christmas.
Happy holidays.
See you all in 2025.
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