[retro music playing]
[man] Buffer!
[rhythmic stomping and clapping]
[narrator] In 2003, a large, relatively unknown man
danced joyously on a table in…
an abandoned mental institution.
It is one of the creepiest places I've ever been in my life.
Certifiably insane.
-[gasps] -[screaming]
-Well, crazy or not… -Insane!
…for nearly 20 years,
this timeless, beloved movie
has filled the world with Christmas cheer by…
Singing loud for all to hear.
-…with a cast and crew of… -Complete nobodies.
And some somebodies.
[Kristin] Jimmy the Dream.
[grunts]
He was dreamy to me, yeah.
[narrator] But this inspiring Christmas romp didn't just emerge out of nowhere.
-"I wanna do stop-motion animation." -It had its own inspiration.
Exactly like Rankin/Bass.
Ready, Santa?
Followed quickly by its own legal troubles.
-What? -What?
Is it Movies That Made Us or Movies That Made Us Get Sued?
This unquestionably, hilarious…
-You stink. -[laughing]
-…Christmas comedy… -The studio didn't like it.
…was constantly questioned.
"You are completely insane
to think that Will Ferrell should be the lead…
No!
…of anything."
-[narrator] And like Buddy himself… -Ah!
…the making of this Christmas classic
is a tale of humble, innocent beginnings…
Okay. Now what do I do?
…that, through perseverance,
-grew up… -[groans]
…into one of the most surprising Christmas classics of all time.
[hisses]
[music climaxes]
Stick around. He's gonna take his pants down.
Why would it be any other way?
[laughing]
[lively opening music playing]
[narrator] These are The Holiday Movies That Made Us.
Time to start preparations for next Christmas.
[narrator] Elf, the larger-than-life story
about a tall, awkward man who thinks he's an elf.
-That's ridiculous! -Quite ridiculous.
He's on a journey to find his…
-Dad! -Who has anger issues.
-You want money? -He pushes everyone's buttons…
-Hey! -Get out!
Call me "elf" one more time!
…and pulls one person's beard.
-[gasps] -[screaming]
-[singing] -All whilst falling in love…
I'm in love, and I don't care who knows!
…and warming the cockles of his father's angry, cold heart.
And, in the end, saves Christmas.
But as for the start of this story, well…
it begins a long way from the North Pole.
In fact, it begins here in 1970s Philadelphia,
specifically, with a young Jewish kid
who had a somewhat unorthodox view of Christmas.
Hanukkah was fantastic,
but there's something
special about Christmas.
There's plenty special about Christmas.
You're running downstairs. Presents are there.
-Don't forget that it's… -[David] Cold outside. It's warm inside.
But what David loved more than anything…
I really,
really, really love Christmas movies.
David watched Christmas movies…
Around the clock.
Until the clock struck 1993, when he left Philadelphia and traveled…
Past the sea of swirly-twirly gumdrops.
…on his way to Hollywood
in pursuit of a Christmas-movie scriptwriting career.
-But instead he worked at a… -A lingerie factory. Yeah.
It's a wonderful life indeed.
If you want to know about spaghetti straps, I'm your guy.
But living the ultimate life of a young man wasn't enough for David.
LA threw me for a loop.
During Christmastime, it was just hot and weird,
so to make myself feel more like I was at home,
I would rent all these Christmas movies.
But when he reconnected with one particular favorite from his childhood,
an idea sparked for David,
like a light bulb.
[Donner] We'll call him…
Rudolph.
-[narrator] Who, just like David in LA… -Rudolph is a misfit.
He doesn't fit in.
He goes out to find out where he belongs.
Ready, Santa.
[narrator] By relating to the plight of this poor, deformed reindeer,
-David Berenbaum had an idea… -I got an idea.
…that would change Christmas forever.
I'd simply turn Rudolph into a giant elf.
And that idea was called…
Elf.
[narrator] Oh, uh, right.
So, with a heart bursting with the Christmassy innocence
of Rankin and Bass,
David began hammering out a Christmas story
about an elf named Buddy in New York City.
I don't belong anywhere.
Elf is funny.
-That's a good start. -[David] It was silly, absurd.
But then again…
One of the hallmarks of a Christmas movie is that it has to have a big, big heart.
-[narrator] So, for Elf… -The emotional journey of Elf
was always a father-and-son story…
[narrator] Which, to David, was, well, very close to heart.
My father passed away when I was younger,
so the emotional drive of the film is searching for the father.
And I knew telling the story…
Dad, I love you.
[David] …that I could connect to it on that level.
And I knew that's the journey that I wanted Buddy to go on.
Well, now with a fully formed script,
it was time to go Christmas shopping.
I showed the script to my agent. She said it was great.
And next thing he knew, he had a studio.
MPCA optioned it for a year.
[narrator] And just like that,
Elf had… legs.
So, they got straight down to the business of casting,
and no surprise, they obviously wanted to go
with a powerhouse Saturday Night Live comic legend,
but not the one you're thinking.
They wanted to make this a Chris Farley movie.
Hey, look at me, I'm covered in elf dust!
-Which would have been a different movie. -A movie that David…
-Very different movie. -…didn't wanna make.
Yee-hoo!
And so, because he cared
so much about his script,
David decided to run the clock out on the one-year option…
[clock ticking]
…so he could opt out of the contract
and meet someone at…
this cafe. Someone who truly understood him.
Someone like producer Jon Berg.
First thing as I sit down with a writer I've never met after reading a script.
He is a complete nobody…
I was a total nobody.
…who has no track record, but he's talented.
That's one word.
And he wants a manager, and I say to him, "I'll be your manager."
Ah! Just what he needed, someone with a track record.
I'm a complete nobody who has pretty much no track record.
Oh, but he did have a partner, Todd Komarnicki.
When Jon and David met for coffee…
-We could only afford a coffee. -…Jon gave something to chew on.
I can't pay for this guy's, you know, lunch.
[narrator] Then what on earth could Jon bring to the table?
Will Ferrell as Buddy.
-Sorry I'm late, gang… -[cheering]
Jon and I knew that this script was custom made for him.
What's your favorite planet?
[Todd] There was something Will nailed on Saturday Night Live.
-What? -A perpetual innocence.
Role up a fatty full of fellowship and funk.
[Todd] Something bright shone out of that person.
So check me out!
[narrator] The way Jon and Todd saw it…
-That's central to Buddy the Elf. -I like to smile. My favorite.
-[Todd] That's why Will felt perfect. -This is gonna be cool.
[laughing]
[narrator] But given David's high standards,
would they be able to convince him--
Great! Fantastic! Let's go for it.
Despite your effort, you answered correctly.
[narrator] So, the question was,
can Jon Berg deliver Will Ferrell?
Of course I can.
[laughing]
[narrator] As nervous laughter emanated from this rookie producer…
Funny enough, sometimes being a good producer
is playing basketball on Saturday morning at an agent's house on his tennis court.
Jon laced up his shoes and got ready to shoot hoops.
Or jump through them.
[Berg] I played with Jason Heyman, represented Will Ferrell.
Pitch him the movie. He reads it, likes it.
He sends it on to Julie Darmody, Will's junior manager at the time.
She likes it. She kicks it up the ladder
to the big kahuna in Will's life, Jimmy Miller.
He reads the script, likes it, and sends it to Will.
And Will finally read it, and his people said,"He's attached",
and that begins the journey.
[narrator] So, our three nobodies…
-[all] Yeah. - …had this somebody say…
Yeah.
Now, their biggest challenge would be getting a studio to say…
-Yes. -[Berg] I'm calling people at the studios.
I had a good elevator pitch.
I tell them I have this amazing script…
-Yes? -…and Will Ferrell's attached.
Yes!
-I'm trying to get them gassed up. -Yes!
[chuckling]
-[narrator] However… -Everyone passed. Everyone passed.
I can't do anything right.
One of the easiest things to do in Hollywood, for anybody, is to say…
-No. -Mostly, what you hear is…
-No. -No?
-No. -Oh!
But there was something else they heard that was truly shocking.
[Berg] They said, "You are completely insane
to think that Will Ferrell should be the lead…
No!
…of anything."
-[narrator] Well, he wasn't quite… -A complete nobody.
-It was true Will had… -Pretty much no track record.
-…when it came to movies. -That's right.
Shut up.
[Todd] Difficult to think,
"Oh, there was a moment before Will Ferrell was a huge star."
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!
At the time, Will really only had, in the marketplace,
A Night at the Roxbury.
[narrator] Which wasn't exactly a box office… smash.
[Todd] That had not performed up to expectations.
No one had built a movie around Will. We wanted to do that.
However, turns out they weren't alone.
So I get a call out of nowhere from a guy named Cale Boyter.
He's a bear of a man.
Okay. All right. Bye.
Like meeting a thunderstorm.
-[thunder crashes] -[laughing]
Ha!
Who are you?
That's a great question.
Cale Boyter was a junior executive, emphasis on junior,
at New Line Cinema.
[Todd] Which, at that time, was primarily known for…
[movie trailer voice] Nightmare on Elm Street.
And other very edgy horror or edgy comedy movies,
[spraying]
and not done a family film.
Isn't that weird?
[narrator] Or in Cale's case, any film at all.
I had never put a movie together. I didn't know what the hell was going on.
But driven by a simple desire…
Frickin' love Will Ferrell. I wish I could see more Will Ferrell.
…the junior executive…
Went and grabbed the script, read it, and said, "This is…
frickin' unbelievable."
"This is perfect for him."
And they called me and they said, "We wanna option the thing."
It's nice to meet another human who shares my affinity for elf culture.
Here we are, back to Producing 101. Finally, you got the actor.
-Yes! -You've got a studio interested.
Yes.
-But it's not a green-lit movie. -No!
Now, you're just one of a million scripts that people are sending to directors.
While their script was one in a million,
chances of getting the directors they went to…
-[Berg] Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg. - …were one in a million.
You're not getting the A-list guys.
And as for the B-list guys…
We had meetings with people that wanted to turn Jovie into a streetwalker.
I'm just trying to get through the holidays.
They were pushing against the heart that was inherent in the script.
[narrator] But to seduce the right director,
they went seriously old-school.
We were taking meetings down wherever they were shooting Old School.
No, seriously, Old School.
Ow!
That movie starring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson, and Vince Vaughn.
It's the best day ever.
Vince was hanging out with us as we were talking about directors,
and he pitched the idea of Favreau.
[narrator] What? As in Jon Favreau the actor?
[Cale] He'd been an actor in things.
You're Jon Favreau. Rocky Marciano, Deep Impact, Swingers.
No one really knew what he was capable of as a director at that point.
Vince Vaughn knew very well.
You are so money. You don't even know it.
[Berg] Favreau had made one movie.
He, at that point, had made Made.
[bell dings]
And his one movie starred Vince Vaughn,
but he wasn't a heavyweight director.
They brought him in for a meeting nonetheless.
[Berg] We are in a tiny conference room.
This better be good.
He comes in, and he really keys on three things.
Number one…
The first is that he puts down on the table,
a book about…
-A peach that lives on a farm. -Nope. It was a book about…
Rankin/Bass.
Wait a minute!
-[narrator] As in the… -Rankin/Bass.
-The production company that made… -Rudolph.
David's favorite Christmas movie.
-Loved it. -Well, that's a good start.
[David] And he really said, "This should inform the aesthetic of the costuming."
I think he even referenced Hermey the Elf.
[Head Elf] Hermey!
Aren't you finished painting that yet?
[narrator] Favreau not only saw the clear inspiration in David's script,
but he even said…
"I wanna do stop-motion animation."
"This is how I envision the North Pole. Exactly like Rankin/Bass."
And we went, "That sounds pretty damn cool."
[narrator] It also sounds serendipitous, but his other thing, even more so.
[Berg] The second thing was that Christmas, for him,
was an incredibly special time.
His mom had passed when he was young and passed around Christmas.
Him and his dad would watch Christmas movies and heal together.
So, it certainly wasn't lost on Jon…
It hit me on the way, like a ton of bricks.
…himself a recent father, that…
-It's a father-and-son movie. -It's a boy.
He's like, "I wanna make something I can share with my kids."
Despite his directing inexperience…
As soon as I heard that, I thought, "This is the guy.
This is the-- this is the guy."
Wait. We haven't heard his third.
Okay.
The third thing he said, which I thought was really ambitious, was…
[narrator] You know what?
We'll tell you about the third thing closer to Christmas.
But for now, all you need to know is…
It was exactly what we wanted to hear.
Great! So, with that, Jon Favreau was hired…
That made me excited.
…which, in turn, made head of New Line Cinema,. Bob Shaye say…
How much that's gonna cost?
I don't know that Elf was his cup of tea.
Even so, New Line priced it out.
And once everyone's feeling groovy about the creative…
Yes…?
You know?
Yay?
We have a green light, and we're gonna make the movie.
-Yay! -Yeah.
Against all odds,
-these nobodies… -Yeah.
…were given about $30 million by New Line.
They left us alone to make this movie.
[narrator] A movie about the love of a father.
A movie about the magic of Christmas.
-A movie… -Directed by a guy that had made one film,
produced by a couple of people who had made nothing.
And I don't know anything.
Well, they'd just have to learn on the job.
As first-time producer, I didn't know rhythms and process.
We didn't understand all the different maneuvers.
I knew we should hire smart people who knew what they were doing.
[laughing]
So that's exactly what they did.
You know, funny. Jon called me. I was in this very room.
I guess you're home.
He started downloading some of his ideas.
-I thought, "This is great." -Great!
[Quinones] I get this call
about a Christmas movie in New York.
He asked me if I had stop-motion experience,
-which I did. -Wow!
I was a huge fan of Will Ferrell.
And when it came to the production designer…
I thought he was brilliant.
We should just hang out.
I met with him, and he wanted this film to feel like Rankin/Bass…
[narrator] But not rip off Rankin/Bass, right?
We never thought it was derivative. We thought it was inspired.
[narrator] Very obviously inspired.
-What? -What?
So, they got to work, working that out.
I was pretty confident they'd be able to make a deal with Rankin and Bass.
Are you sure?
It wasn't like it was Lucasfilm. It wasn't Star Wars. I mean…
[narrator] Exactly. Shouldn't be a problem.
Anyway, speaking of stars, the last thing they needed were some.
[Berg] One of the first big decisions was,
who plays Walter?
Welcome Garry Shandling!
[Berg] Garry Shandling is a comedy genius.
This isn't easy for me, but…
He passed.
But fortunately that led us to the next choice on the list,
which was James Caan.
Jimmy Caan was a dramatic actor.
Dramatic's one word for it.
-I'm very, very… -Dramatic.
[grunting]
He's been in all these incredible movies.
He's a tough guy. He's one of the guy's guys.
He's Sonny Corleone!
You blow their brains all over your Ivy League suit.
[narrator] If anyone could bring gravitas and strength to the role, it would be…
James…
-[nose beeps] -…Caan.
Eager and excited, they reached out.
Hello?
[narrator] James Caan read the script and luckily said…
Why not?
But if James Caan was on board…
All of us were a little scared of James Caan, I think.
[narrator] …that means James Caan would be on set.
Well, to provide some balance, producers began their search
for Buddy the Elf's co-star, Jovie.
The studio was really pushing us to put Katie Holmes as Jovie.
It's your time.
-[Berg] She was a big star. -I am.
We didn't get her. She didn't want to do it.
Long story.
We auditioned a lot of people.
What about me?
[Berg] We auditioned Zooey Deschanel.
Zooey at the time, was a young actress.
You know, I've never had a real job.
She has that sassy kinda edge to her,
but is also just warmhearted.
As an actor, it's easy to sing Zooey's praise.
-But as well… -[Todd] She could sing.
We wanted to do something that could bring it to light.
-[narrator] So they told Zooey… -You'll be cool.
-…and set out to cast her boss. -Six-inch ribbon curls.
[Berg] We really wanted Wanda Sykes.
-What do you want? -She dropped out at the last minute.
[groaning]
And Favreau knew Faizon Love and called him up,
and he came in and did us a solid.
But his name tag says Wanda.
We were so convinced we had her that we did the name tag,
so he wanted to wear the Wanda name tag.
[narrator] Jon Favreau made a few more calls…
-[phone ringing] -…to round out the cast of Elf.
-[Todd] Favreau… -Hello?
…wanted Bob Newhart as Papa Elf.
-And as for… -Santa!
He wanted Ed Asner for Santa.
That's the most disgusting idea I ever heard.
These were genius choices.
And with those choices chosen,
it was off to Manhattan…
…for 13 days, and get as much Christmas in as we possibly could.
[narrator] Well, the 13 days of live-action Christmas filming
began in New York City on the 2nd of December, 2002,
with a limited budget and very limited time.
[Greg] I was figuring out how to shoot these streets.
How do we get the energy of New York City?
How do you not have it come out fake?
And the answer?
The best way not to have it fake is to have it real,
that's why we just put him out there on the streets. [chuckles]
They put together a small crew and prepared to shoot on the fly.
We completely bought into this guerrilla style.
So, the first thing we shot was the Lincoln Tunnel.
[Rusty] I was terrified for Will.
He actually went into the tunnel with the camera guy.
-They're shoved up against the wall. -Crazy.
And that was just the first shot.
That day, we shot stuff like Will playing in the revolving doors.
-Running into traffic. -He finds the gum that day.
We shot on Park Avenue.
That long-lens shot, we called it the Tootsie shot.
-As for the extras? -Those are real people.
Those aren't actors.
-The guy in the red jogging suit… -Santa! Sant--
That guy was just there.
[Kristin] Going up to people and touching them…
Anything could happen. That's what I was most worried about.
The actor that everybody else was worried about…
Sonny Corleone!
[narrator] …was about to clock in.
There were rumors that Caan wasn't so easy to work with.
Son of a…
I think all of us had heard stories about James Caan
being kind of… a wild man.
[narrator] With a reputation to uphold, the "wild man" made an announcement.
-On his first day… -He went up and gave a speech.
[Berg] "My name is James Caan, but what I want you to know me as…
is Jimmy the Dream."
Jimmy the Dream.
[laughing]
[Berg] "When anyone says, 'What was James Caan like to work with?'
I want immediately to come in your head,
'Jimmy the Dream? He was a dream.'"
I like it.
[Berg] To the credit of our production department,
the next day, we came to set,
and they had changed the stitching on his chair,
and it said, "Jimmy the Dream." [laughing]
-And with that… -Good night.
[narrator] …concerns about working with James Caan were put to bed.
-[Greg] Well… -Or were they?
[chuckling] Um…
Tell what he thought of your fancy ring light.
"You're not gonna have that ******* thing on this camera, are you?"
[laughing]
That was weird.
That was my introduction to James.
Just as Greg and James were getting to know each other,
it was nearly time to say goodbye to New York.
Bye, guys.
But not before they shot that heartwarming ending.
The sleigh runs on Christmas spirit.
Yep, that one. And they found a place…
[Rusty] At the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Central Park South
was about the only place that we could make it happen.
♪ So be good for goodness sake ♪
Everybody's singing and Christmas spirit is building in the world.
Christmas spirit that gets the sleigh to go,
and Walter singing in the end.
[Kristin] The singing really got me.
A feel-good moment, as they say.
[narrator] With that, the New York filming was completed.
But as junior executive Cale Boyter brought the dailies back to New Line,
the feel-good feelings turned into hesitation.
I do remember Bob calling me down into his office
and hitting play.
It was Will. Dad walks by, and he sees him.
"Dad! Dad!"
And basically saying, "You think that's funny?"
It was clear what Bob thought.
[Cale] And Bob wasn't having it.
You stink!
[narrator] Bravely looking into his boss' eyes,
the junior executive said…
"I do. I think it's really funny."
You sit on a throne of lies.
[Cale] You're taking everything so seriously.
When you're watching those dailies out of context,
you're not reaching for laughs.
So, instead of putting Elf on the shelf
and firing his junior executive…
Maybe, he kind of quietly respected the fact that I wasn't gonna cower,
'cause it was ******* funny.
[narrator] Blissfully unaware of New Line's concern,
the crew left New York in a cloud of Christmas spirit.
We'd have shot it all in New York if we could afford to, but that was it.
[narrator] So, like many movies, they ended up in Vancouver, Canada.
It's much cheaper to shoot on stages in Canada.
But the stages in Vancouver, none of them were wide enough.
In order to create the North Pole, we needed a certain amount of distance,
with nothing in the way.
[narrator] So, their plans to shoot were put on ice…
Canada style.
We set up in a public-use hockey rink called the PNE.
[narrator] Giving them plenty of space.
It had enough depth that we could sculpt the environment
and put a backdrop we could light.
And it was here that they constructed Santa's Village.
We were looking at Rankin/Bass for reference.
-Who wasn't? -All the sets were white.
[Rusty] It allowed all of the colorful characters to pop out,
and we decided that was the language for our set.
[narrator] But it was a language written in 1964,
and Elf was being made in the digitally enhanced world of 2003.
Technology was racing at the time.
-[narrator] You bet it was. -No!
-Even with this new wave of… -Extreme graphic chipset processors.
-Jon Favreau… -You comin'?
-Where? -…wasn't on board.
I would think about climbing on board.
Jon really wanted to stay away from digital effects.
I think the concern was he didn't want it to feel dated.
[narrator] So, when shooting a full-sized Buddy in an elf-sized world…
We used forced perspective as much as possible.
Moving to the forced-perspective shot on the big set.
Forced perspective is a simple cinematic trick, in theory.
It's done by compression. They're supposed to be next to each other,
but the actors are literally ten feet away.
No one's where they seem.
And none of this has been done for 50 or 60 years.
It was reinventing the wheel.
A misshapen, wobbly wheel that was slow to get rolling.
Here we go. Let's try a rehearsal. Ready.
[Joe] First day of trying,
production lost a whole day setting up one shot and never captured it.
While Greg was full of confidence…
I knew what I was doing.
…others weren't so sure.
There was concern on the part of New Line. "Is this gonna work?"
[Greg] By the time we shot the first morning,
the producers were nervous
they rushed the dailies straight to the lab and processed them,
and we watched them at lunch the first day.
[students] There's room for everyone on the Nice List.
[Greg] And everybody's like, "It works!" [chuckling]
And it was like, "Yeah, it works. I'd be fired if it didn't work."
[narrator] A good perspective indeed.
But even with Greg keeping a close eye on things,
-they were working to a crushing schedule. -The clock was ticking.
Jon was gonna have to forget about forced perspective.
We were drifting behind.
I'm going to be a little bit short on today's quota.
[narrator] But that didn't sit well with Joe Bauer, who said…
[Joe] Let me figure this out.
I hate to do this to you. Can you help me pick up the slack?
So, we set up a second unit, and we would come in every night…
Lazy bum.
[Rusty] …and set up shots.
[Joe] I didn't have a minute off for months, but truth is, it was so fun,
there's nowhere else I rather would have been.
[narrator] Um, here with us, maybe?
[Joe] Okay.
[narrator] So, as Joe took his seat,
so did Buddy, on Papa Elf's tiny legs.
How do we get Will sitting on Bob Newhart's lap?
The legs that pop up were a kid.
We came up with this rig. He's lying on a diving board.
Bob Newhart is in another chair ten feet back. [chuckles]
Now it seemed there were no limits to their forced-perspective trickery.
-Not too fast, Buddy. -We had a real-size kid in the foreground.
[Greg] Behind them is a little seat for a four-year-old boy,
who's putting his hands over his shoulders,
and Bob Newhart has to lean out and go, "Whoa! Be careful!"
It's all for that one shot.
[narrator] And one shot at a time, they captured all of Santa's Village.
[Joe] I think we ended up with 47 forced-perspective setups,
-which is a tremendous amount. -Maybe a little too tremendous.
[Joe] And all of those didn't make it into the show.
But given the film's blatant inspiration…
Rudolph.
There was one element that just had to be included.
Jon knew he wanted to do stop-motion.
Saving the day again, Joe Bauer knew--
-[Joe] I knew exactly who to call. -All right, get on with it.
I'm Charlie Chiodo, and I have a brother, Stephen.
Hi, my name is Stephen Chiodo, and I have a younger brother, Edward.
The Chiodo Brothers is a family business. Three brothers.
It's a group of siblings that create stop-motion effects in Los Angeles.
We like to think that the Chiodo Brothers bring something special.
[screaming]
Holy--
[nose beeping]
[narrator] With a relatively un-Christmassy résumé…
-A pipe bomb, Jobriath. -…this was the chance of a lifetime.
We've made movies since we were kids, and the Rankin/Bass special inspired us.
[gun fires]
[screaming]
Yeah, makes sense.
And appropriately, their first shot involved
the long, dangerous tusk of Mr. Narwhal.
The way Jon had described the scene where the Narwhal appears,
he wanted the tusk to come up and rise out of the water
like the Chrysler Building.
And guess who did the voice for Mr. Narwhal.
Bye, Buddy.
"Hope you find your dad."
Nope, it wasn't him.
Jon Favreau did the voice of the Narwhal.
-Hope you find your dad. -Thanks, Mr. Narwhal.
With the Chiodo Brothers hard at work,
Jon Favreau's Rankin/Bass homage
was really starting to get its…
-legs potentially crushed. -Sorry!
Something abominable was about to happen.
[monstrous growling]
There was some piece of bad news.
Uh… we got in trouble with clearance.
The legal department at New Line started to get worried.
They got nervous we had stolen too much
from Rankin/Bass.
-What? -What?
There was a question about if they had the rights to duplicate the costumes.
This must have been cleared by now. Who's producing this thing?
Legally, we thought we had made a deal and everything was cool,
so we went off and made the movie.
But the legal department at New Line, well, they had other ideas.
And all of a sudden, we had lawyers in our midst.
[growling]
Lawyers with you on the set.
Lawyers with you in the art department saying, "Where's your reference?"
"Where did you get this idea from?"
We're trapped!
They were like, "How influenced are you?"
[gasps]
And we said to them,
"Really influenced."
There was no hiding the movie's Rankin/Bass connection.
-True. -Favreau came in
and threw the book on the frigging table in his first meeting.
[narrator] But this time, the book was being thrown at them.
The producer came to me and said that the film might not be releasable.
[Joe] And I remember Jon sitting on top of Elf's miniature sofa
with his head in his hands like this.
[narrator] Well, in order to weather this legal storm,
-production leaped into action. -What do we do?
[Joe] Suddenly, the blue Buddy outfit shows up.
We tried this for one whole day.
We shot with the original costume,
then Will would go change,
and shoot the same thing again with the other costume.
But there was a big problem with this.
We were downfield on the thing.
If they couldn't clear the green costume,
they'd have to reshoot everything!
Oh, my gosh!
No one wanted that.
Do you mind telling me what you do wanna do?
One of the outs was, "Oh, let's just…"
Digitally alter the coats or… I don't know.
[laughing]
[screaming]
[narrator] However, in the end, threats to upend production
were a little bit… toothless.
Basically, some fast legal work had to be done.
Ultimately, we proved ourselves to be free and clear.
Thankfully, some smart people figured it out.
[narrator] Well, with that monster tackled,
it was time to shoot the New York interiors,
which they shot in… well…
It wasn't a Kmart, but it looked like a Kmart.
It was a closed-down mental institution.
That's it! A mental institution.
-[thunder crashing] -[evil laughter]
I was like, "This is perfect for New Line."
It was production designer Rusty Smith's job
to make it perfect for Elf.
[Rusty] We had to repurpose this draconian mental institution.
It was great for the police station,
but it is one of the creepiest places I've ever been in my life.
Why would it be any other way?
[laughing]
[narrator] But when the storm clouds cleared,
they actually found this building to be quite versatile.
It was here that they shot…
The orphanage. We shot Greenway Press.
Francisco, that's fun to say.
The Hobbs apartment.
-What shall we put on first? -Lights.
I love when he's decorating the tree…
-How do we get the star on? -[Rusty] …to put the star on.
I got it.
It's what's called a "Texas switch."
You see your principal actor, Will Ferrell.
He goes back to take a look at it,
and then the stuntman takes a running jump off the sofa,
and it falls over.
All done in one take.
You know that that's not really me, right?
While Will brought funny to the funny farm…
[Cale laughing]
…Zooey Deschanel brought the heart.
She's pissed to be stuck at Gimbels, working in this ridiculous outfit.
Enjoying the view?
But in that ever-shining light of Buddy the Elf…
Someone needs to sing a Christmas carol.
-Go away. -…she gets melted.
But let's be honest.
We all melt just a little bit when we hear her sing.
We knew she could sing, and Favreau wanted that duet
between Jovie and Buddy.
♪ So really I'd better scurry ♪
When someone opens their mouth and they can sing,
there's always that delight
and surprise.
Get out! Don't look at me!
And the surprises didn't end here…
-It tickles! -…as Will harnessed his SNL improv skills.
Again, Will. See if we get a tighter seal.
Shoot it the way it's written once and shoot it again with alternatives.
We're tight.
-Don't know if I'd say "tight." -[Favreau] Make it more Buddy.
Will's antics were cracking the crew up.
[director] Cut!
But had a different effect on his co-star.
Dad?
What?
Despite his best efforts to be…
-"Jimmy the Dream." -…Will had other ideas.
Will is constantly doing things that deliberately aggravate James Caan.
[narrator] And James Caan wasn't tickled.
When we shot the tickle-fight scene…
-Tickle fight. -[Berg] Jimmy Caan getting manhandled.
After take two, I think he was like, "We got this?"
Dad?
-What? -James tries to end it, but Will wouldn't.
-Dad… -[Greg] He wouldn't.
-I love you. -Go to sleep now.
Do you love me?
Will's relentless performance…
-Dad! -…had its advantages.
It worked so damn good, just in terms of the tension between him and his son.
-He's my dad. -But if he wasn't careful…
-He bailed me out. -…this dream might become a nightmare.
When he gets upset with Buddy, and he pushes him against the glass…
What do you want? Some money?
…everybody on crew goes, "Whoa!"
There's an electricity here that is dangerous.
[narrator] But there was only one person who could get James Caan fully charged.
-It wasn't Will. -Get the hell outta here.
On one of the final days of shooting, Jon Favreau…
[Todd] …whispered something into Jimmy's ear…
I like to whisper too.
…and he gave the take that's in the movie.
I don't care where you go or that you're an elf!
I don't care that you're nuts! I don't care that you're my son!
Get out of my life, now!
-So, the question was… -[Todd] "What did you whisper in his ear?"
And Fav said, "I reminded him
that he was Sonny ******* Corleone."
Come here. You're taking this very personally.
That's great. Cut.
[narrator] From New York to Vancouver, live action filming
had finally ended.
I'm like "Oh! It ended?"
[cheering]
We'll figure out what happens in the editing.
That's when you decide what the movie will be.
[narrator] So, as Jon Favreau and editor Dan Lebental worked out just that…
We like where he sings all high.
♪ I was adopted ♪
…the Chiodo Brothers had been hard at work.
Or at least, hard-ish.
Some of the stop-motion wasn't quite finished yet.*
Instead, it was somebody walking around in a big foam head.
-By the way, don't eat the yellow snow. -Oh, I know that.
But then we get a call saying there's a preview screening coming up.
They had a screening with New Line.
Jon felt if they didn't have our stop-motion sequence at the screening,
that it might be cut.
[narrator] The stop-motion origin of Elf was in danger of being cast out.
-You'll never fit in! -[narrator] But why?
[Charlie] Jon was concerned that New Line was trying to save money.
They didn't have as much faith in the movie as Jon did.
But looking at the calendar…
We had one day to shoot this to get Jon's deadline.
Oh! Better get to work.
Okay, so Teresa Drilling, an incredible animator,
a real hard worker,
she said, "Guys, just give me some coffee, and I'll shoot it in one day."
She worked basically 27 hours straight.
[Joe] And I think she drank 12 pots of coffee.
-It really must have been… -World's best cup of coffee.
-Because… -We made the deadline.
Got it into the preview.
[narrator] And with that, Jon Favreau's vision was ready to watch.
New Line was just doing a very small, like…
employee-friends-family screening, just to test it out.
And we watch the movie, and it's got temp score in it.
Well, not temp stop-motion though.
And as they all began to watch Elf for the very first time…
It exceeded my expectation of what the movie could be.
My heart just, like, sang.
This is it, a hundred percent.
[narrator] And as they settled back, basking in the warm…
projector glow of comedy glory,
it was time to bring it home with that heartwarming ending.
[Berg] And the engine fires and they fly off…
[distant single cough]
And that's it. That's the movie. Roll credits.
I was literally thinking they skipped a reel.
-And I am shocked to say the least. -[narrator] What was missing?
[Berg] There's no Christmas spirit that gets the sleigh to go,
and Walter and everyone singing,
and cutting to the people that Buddy has met along the way.
-Hey! -All that is gone. It's out of the movie.
[narrator] Without the magical Christmas ending,
Elf was in danger of losing its heart.
-What the **** happened? -[nose beeps]
One thing happened between the time when we shot the movie
and we tested it,
and that was Old School.
Old School? That happened, like, 25 minutes ago.
Old School was shot.
But hadn't come out yet.
Well, when it did come out, just months before Elf…
It rocked the house.
Will Ferrell the star was on full display.
We're going streaking! Yeah!
And Will was awesome in that movie. He kinda just blew up.
But how did that blow up Elf?
Suddenly, we had a movie starring Frank "The Tank"…
[cheering]
[screaming]
I'll ******* kill you!
…wearing yellow tights.
I like to smile. It's my favorite.
-At least he was wearing something. -Hey!
Here we were, this very saccharine, sweet, gentle, kind movie.
I don't think New Line, the boss-bosses, knew exactly what to do.
[Cale] People started to question whether or not
Elf jokes would work for the Old School audience.
[narrator] So, New Line made a switch.
-Hello? -[Rusty] I got a call from Jon.
I wanna talk to you.
He was in the editing process.
We kinda like that ending, so we use that ending now.
[Rusty] He basically delivered his cut,
and he let me know that New Line took the movie away from him.
[narrator] Ripped from the clutches of Jon Favreau,
Elf was in New Line's hands now.
They tried to re-edit it into something else.
Blue, you're my boy!
There was a fight to make it more like a normal comedy.
Which might have happened if it weren't for the crew.
[Rusty] We had been so committed to Jon's vision
and his way of executing that film,
that they couldn't do it.
They couldn't re-edit it and make it into something
that the studio thought was better.
[narrator] Elf was Elf right down to its DNA.
You couldn't abandon the movie's roots. You can never change that.
The reason the movie still works is because it never lost its heart.
Faith, light, love. The things that make the world go.
So, New Line gave Buddy another chance,
and tested Jon's original ending.
[Cale] Filled the house with Old School audience,
and… boom!
[cheering]
At that point, we knew we had something that was special.
And the rest is history.
This is the fun part. Where it all pays off.
Elf not only paid off…
It set the house on fire.
[narrator] …it exceeded everyone's expectations.
Elf was a complete surprise to me, because I expected, frankly, to hate it.
Seeing a movie that you wrote is like a dream.
And maybe it was because of the dream.
James Caan was nothing but a dream.
I like hearing that.
Or the appearance of a ghost from Christmas movies past.
You'll shoot your eye out.
[narrator] Or even this guy, in a "Wanda" name tag.
-Whatever the reason… -Oh, my God, this is really working.
Yeah. Working its way up the box office charts.
In our second week of release,
we were number one at the box office.
Who knew it would just kinda keep making money?
Actually, it's making more than money.
Elf was also the springboard
that launched this group of young, inexperienced filmmakers
into the Hollywood stratosphere.
And Jon Favreau has become one of the top-ten,
top-grossing directors of all time, as well as producing the Iron Man…
-Avengers! -[narrator] …and Avengers franchises.
And even delivering Baby Yoda into the world with The Mandalorian.
-Wait. Is there another Rankin/Bass-- -What?
[narrator] Nah. But as for Elf's star, well,
Will Ferrell has obviously become one of America's most beloved comedy actors.
-And there's no question… -I'm Ron Burgundy.
…about why.
Will's performance is this movie.
I mean, he is literally the engine
and the heart and soul of the movie.
-Without Will, there is no Elf. -I love you.
What Will Ferrell did was so true to what I had envisioned
from that first coffee with David Berenbaum.
[narrator] That first coffee, that they had here…
-[David] Here we are again. -[Berg] Here we are.
…where two regular Joes had some coffee and percolated a plan.
You remember that that's where my office was.
I didn't want to travel far for that first meeting.
I understand. If it doesn't work out, you just hop… "I gotta go."
-"There's a thing…" -Sure. Yeah.
[David] Look at this place.
Wow.
-Look at this. -It has changed.
This has changed. These windows weren't here.
I don't think, right?
Uh, no. I like what they've done to the place.
You and I, again, I think, for two guys who'd done nothing, really, at that time…
Neither of us had made a movie,
and we sat down, 'cause of the script that you wrote,
with a great concept that was hilarious.
It happened to be the right idea, with the right producers,
with the right star, with the right director.
Jonny Favs!
That first creative session, we got it.
We were on the same page.
From that very first meeting, it was clear
-that Jon Favreau was meant to be. -Check the gate on that.
[Favreau] Your job is to make sure that everybody is sharing the same vision.
[narrator] A vision that included three simple things.
Oh, yeah. What was that third thing?
[tape rewinding]
And the third thing he said, which I thought was really ambitious, was…
-Well, go on then. -Um…
[Berg] He said he wanted it to be a timeless Christmas classic.
That was his original pitch, and he accomplished it.
And I'm lucky that he did.
[narrator] So, Jon Favreau's wish to make a timeless Christmas classic…
[Berg] You wrote a heck of a script, we made a great movie.
…of course, came true.
We definitely wanted to make a movie that stuck around for generations.
And speaking of generations,
when these guys set out to make a family Christmas movie,
they really meant it.
This guy here, that's Will Ferrell's little brother.
Go back to Gimbels!
Gardiner's daughter made an appearance.
[screaming]
[narrator] And Buddy's long-lost mom?
-She's somebody. -Somebody?
-The love of my life! -Sorry, Todd. That's your wife.
And even baby Buddy himself is Jon Favreau's son.
Jon said, "I wanna make a movie for my 1-year-old."
[Rusty] How he wanted it to be warm and heartfelt,
[voice cracking] and, you know, and be in every family's home…
[chuckles]
Um, I get choked up about it.
And much like Christmas spirit itself…
It starts, often, with one person.
♪ You better watch out You better not cry ♪
♪ You better not pout I'm telling you why ♪
[Berg] It started with one person, Dave Berenbaum,
sitting down and writing something and believing in it when there was nobody…
There was nobody waving him on.
You know, when I wrote the movie, I wrote it as a…
as a son.
[gentle piano music plays]
And now… now I'm a father, so…
the fact that I can…
show the movie, today, to my kids,
it means everything.
[narrator] When David Berenbaum wrote Elf,
he tapped into something more than a comedy,
more than a heartwarming movie.
I'll always… I'll always be here for you.
[narrator] Maybe even more important than Christmas itself.
[David] My father passed away when I was younger.
This movie's about the search for the father.
That is what, writing the film, I really wanted Buddy to achieve.
Um…
So at the end of the movie,
uh, when… Walter hugs Buddy,
[voice cracking] that's the movie to me.
My son, I love you.
[narrator] And so, Elf's legacy is that a movie about family
has become the ultimate Christmas family movie.
So, we'd better give the Elf family some love too,
because thanks to these guys, this movie isn't just about love,
it really was made with…
-Love. -[David] Love.
-There was lot of love. -And light.
…that has really made a little dent in the darkness of the world.
It's magic. It's really magic.
That's really the true meaning of Christmas.
Merry Christmas!
-I feel like a ******, holding this thing. -[beeps]
[joyous holiday music plays]