David Berenbaum, the screenwriter behind the Christmas classic, had just moved to Los Angeles and missed the East Coast. The nostalgia for the city inspired what he calls a “left-of-center” family comedy about a human who was raised by elves in the North Pole.
9 comments:
Elf has always been one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time. I think will ferrel is amazing in this role and I just love the movie! Reading this article, I learned that jim carrey was first offered this role and I wonder how different this movie would have been if he took the job instead of Will. I love that the cast was all in agreeance that Will made the movie. I think that each cast member. I never knew how they filmed the scenes involving the other elfs and I didn’t realize that they just played with perception. It’s a really good trick to use and can save a lot of money and time. Another trick they used was will actually sat on a small child and with editing and filming you cannot tell at all and it really looks like Will is sitting on the elf’s lap. I am so excited for this movie to be on TV.
I seriously cannot believe that Elf is this old. It came out in 2003, I was in elementary school then. I guess once I think about it, it makes sense, but my guess is that Elf came out in 2007. I feel like I remember making more jokes about Elf in middle school than in elementary school. Maybe it just took us that long to absorb and mimic the movie. Looking at the pictures included in this article I love how the filmmakers played around with proportions when Buddy was at the North Pole. Making Buddy feel so big and so out of sorts is very well done through the scenery as well as the staging of the of Will Farrel to make him look so much larger than the other actors. I like how the article touched on the hesitancy from the filmmakers when they were thinking of doing a movie about a grown man playing an elf, and the misconceptions his actions in the film may have.
“Elf” in my family and friend group has been a beloved movie and a tradition every holiday season. The fact that Elf is 15 years old now really struck me because it has never failed to be funny even after countless viewings. This article was really interesting reading about the challenges and risk that the script brought but I have never noticed or thought about while watching it. I do agree that it would be a very different movie if it were not for Will Ferrell, the movie probably would not have remained a tradition for so many people. He is said to have an “innocence” about him that really works perfectly for the character and the rest of the cast naturally appears older and wiser which only helps the illusion that he is an elf. To read an article on a movie that seems so simple but yet complex in the production is really interesting to learn about and I wonder if these choices are obvious the next time I watch the movie.
Everytime I see a Variety article pop up, I’m excited to respond to it because they are all usually filled with interesting topics. This one truly takes the cake for me. As a child, my brothers and I watched Elf all the time during the holiday season. I really do not understand why a lot of people I meet do not like Will Ferrell. If it’s not your humor, I can understand, but he has made me laugh until I cry for years. Especially in Elf, his believable innocence that puts him in painfully awkward situations really show his commitment to comedy and entertainment. With other movies like Anchorman, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights, and Blades of Glory, it shows even if the humor is the same, Ferrell always presents it in a new but still familiar way. Reading about the behind the scenes events during the production stages shows how infectious his abilities are.I can really appreciate actors like this who are committed to just putting a smile on a viewers and coworkers faces for their entire careers
I did not realize that there was so much movie magic in the creation of the movie Elf. Using forced perspective to make Will Ferrell look taller in scenes with other elfve was an amazing way to make the movie feel real. I think the article is right about how Ferrell is the reason this movie has become so beloved. The charming naivety that Buddy has is loveable, hysterical and makes everyone fall in love with the movie each time they watch it. I enjoyed reading about how many happy coincidences occurred for this movie to exist the way it does. I couldn’t imagine the movie with anyone other than Zooey Deschanel. It’s also nice to hear that the process creating this movie was funny. I think it would have been hard to hear that this process was hard and that the cast and crew didn’t have a good time working on it. When I watch Elf this winter I will appreciate it more.
When I saw this come up and that it has been out for 15 years now I was utterly shocked. It is hard to believe how well this story has held up to time and that it is still becoming a Christmas classic film to this day. Often times these movies are short-lived and only ever develop a small cult following that never really gets off the ground, thinking about films such as "Jingle all the way." this film, however, has found a large following and a great balance in its storytelling. It is also nice to hear in the article about the journey the cast and filmmakers went on when making the film originally and how that had such an impact on how the film was made. I think that it was due to these genuine moments that the movie became what it is and why it is becoming such a Christmas staple.
WE NEED MORE ELF!!!!! MORE ELF ARTICLES!!!!! I LOVE WILL FERRELL. Truly a legacy.
I can't believe that Elf is already 15 years old! It's honestly crazy to me that I was only six when this movie came out because I distinctly remember going to see it in theatres with my dad and loving. It's honestly crazy that it still holds up well, as movies from the early 2000s don't always do that. I thought it was really interesting to learn more about this movie which has become a Jones family staple during the Christmas season. I had no idea that Jim Carrey was originally approached for this role, but I'm very happy that Will Ferrell ended up in the part instead. I feel like Jim Carrey may have not been as strong in the heartwarming moments of the movie as Will Ferrell is. The thing that I thought was the most interesting in this article was the way that they filmed the scenes with Buddy and the elves. I always vaguely knew that they were mostly done with camera tricks, but I had never thought about the fact that it meant that most of the actors weren't actually looking at each other during their scenes in Santa's Workshop. Elf is definitely a movie that I'm going to be watching and forcing other people to watch with for me for years to come.
It's interesting how a quirky movie like this has been such a staple of the Christmas season. It somehow got on the level of classics like the Grinch and the Peanuts in that it is played over and over again on every television channel throughout December. There are a lot of aspects of the movie that I just accepted as magical when I was growing up. For example, the fact that Will Ferrell appears larger than everyone else in the North Pole, despite them not necessarily being smaller people. I always just somehow accepted that Will Ferrell was a giant, even though he is not in reality. It's amazing that given the limited film and CGI resources that 2003 provided for the production of Elf, they were able to produce these effects so convincingly, and have them stand the test of time. It's amazing that the actors were all able to work in such an effective way, while standing apart at such great distances to force perspective.
Post a Comment