33 Elf Facts That Will Make Your Christmas More Joyful

'Elf' is a movie that got released in the year 2003 revolving around the life of an elf.

Elves are basically supernatural human beings we get to see during Christmas. Elves are mostly seen during Christmas or in a Christmas story accompanying Santa.

Before we talk about the movie, we must know about the elves. Elves can be considered a form of fairies that are known for playing pranks and doing mischiefs.

They are also known to have the ability to change shapes and become anyone they like.

These magical powers and their characteristics came out to the people through various stories and novels. For example, William Shakespeare mentioning elves in his famous novel 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' drew a lot of attention, After him, an elf was seen to be mentioned by writers while portraying a Christmas story.

A very common idea about the elves revolves around them working for Santa during Christmas at the North Pole.

They are usually portrayed to have long noses and sharp voices. Based on these characteristics they glorify doing little mischievous pranks and activities, be it in an animated film or in a Christmas movie.

Similarly, all these characteristics were being brought out successfully by the creators of the movie 'Elf'.

In this movie, the life of an elf was shown who worked for Santa portraying the classic North Pole scenes. As the movie continues he discovers himself to be a normal human being who comes to New York in order to look for his family.

Cast Of Elf

Elves are a significant part of Christmas. A similar significance was shown in the movie 'Elf'.

So, when we talk about a movie, the casting has to be very important in order to put up a relevant experience for the audience, especially the little kids. The film had one of the biggest casts with almost 65 cast members having individual dialogues.

As we talk about the cast of the Elf, there were around 65 members as the cast. Out of these 65 members, most of them were male actors whereas only 11-12 actors were female.

Apart from the live actors on the screen, there were around five credited voice-over artists who gave their voices to the several characters involved in the movie. The artists were Leon Redbone, Ray Harryhausen, Jon Favreau, Maurice LaMarche, and Dallas McKennon.

Will Ferrel played the role of Buddy elf. He was basically a normal human who was brought by Santa Claus and the other levels. He then grew and came to New York to search for his family. This role was first offered to Jim Carrey.

Even after the immense success of the movie, Will Ferrel refused to the sequel of the movie and hence the movie never had a sequel being made.

Bob Newhart was played the role of the adopted father of Buddy. He was also the narrator in the movie. Whereas James Caan became Buddy's biological father, Walter Hobbs was a publisher of a newspaper in New york.

For female roles, Zooey Deschanel played Jovie, who was Buddy's love interest. On the other hand, Mary Steenburgen played Emily Hobbs, the wife of Walter Hobbs. she was a biological mother to Michael and a stepmother to a Buddy.

Edward Asner played the role of the real Santa Claus who found the Buddy elf and gave him to Papa elf. There was also a fake Santa Claus that was played by Artie Lange. The latter was basically a mall Santa in the mall and got noticed by Buddy elf.

Jon Favreau who is also the director of the movie played the role of the Walter family's pediatrician. Matt Walsh played a short role of an eyewitness in one of the scenes.

Walter's office had a lot of characters. Amy Sedaris played Walter's secretary. Whereas actors like Andy Richter and Kyle Gass played the roles of co-workers to Walter.

Peter Dinklage was seen playing the best-selling author in the movie whereas, on the other hand, Faizon Love played the role of a manager to Gimbels and Jovie's boss.

Screenwriter David Berenbaum first offered the role of Buddy to Jim Carrey in 1993. Since the filming started much later, by then Jim Carrey had his own projects like 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas' and the animated 'A Christmas Carol'. So the role went to Will Ferrel.

Filming Of Elf

There are various stories revolving around the filming of the movie. Due to the budget and the convenience of the actors, the movie was hot in Canada as well as in New York.

As we know, the film covered a Christmas scenario, so there was not one snowball scene but multiple. But most of these scenes were not shot with snow and later the effects were added to the scenes and cotton balls were added to make them look realistic.

The filming of the movie was not restricted to one place. Multiple scenes were shot in Canada and New York. A lot of the scenes were shot on a sound stage in Vancouver.

In the case of New York, the scenes were shot in places like Rockefeller Center, Central Park, and Central Park West. These scenes mostly covered the interaction between Buddy and his biological father.

Walter's apartment, Gimbels's toy department, and grim prison cell required interior cells which were filmed inside a mental hospital named Riverview Hospital.

The first day of the movie was filmed on December 2, 2002. After almost three months the shooting was wrapped on March 7, 2003.

Before shooting the singing sequels of Zooey Deschanel were not included in the script. While shooting when the director established that the actor could sing in real life, the singing parts were included.

Most of the live scenes were shot in the States, Vancouver, and British Columbia. Whereas the CGI editing of the movie was done by the Rhythm & Hues Studios.

Forced perspective was used while shooting buddy elf with the other elves. This was done in order to make Buddy look bigger than the other elves.

Reviews Of Elf

Reviews are the reaction of the audience after watching a movie. Reactions are objective and tend to vary from one another. The reviews received by the movie were fascinating and overwhelming at the same time.

The audience was known to connect to the movie due to its multiple famous quotes. Quotes like 'cotton-headed ninny muggins' and 'you sit on a throne of lies' stayed with the audience for a long time.

Peter Dinklage, despite being an incredible actor was not much appreciated by the audience. His character was seen to be extremely stereotypical and was someway resented by the viewers.

The movie is considered to be one of the best Christmas movies. The movie included all the charms of Christmas like Santa, the cotton candy canes, Christmas tree, cotton balls on them as snowflakes. The movie stayed with the audience as a special holiday movie.

The ranger storyline used in the movie that was filmed in New York could not connect to a lot of the viewers. According to critics, the placement of the scene was unnecessary and was the weirdest part of the film.

Few background setting of the films was widely appreciated by the audience and critics. For example, the scenes in New York are considered to be created perfectly.

Most of the movies made on Christmas are usually family-oriented. While in this case, apart from the family perspective, the movie also showed a love story. That is what made it different to the viewers from the other Christmas movies.

The character of a buddy was the most loved character in the movie. His innocence and jolly nature carried the movie. The charm of the character brought out the joy of celebrating Christmas.

To a lot of viewers, the movie is considered to be overrated. These people claimed to have enjoyed only certain parts or scenes in the movie and did not quite understand the hype behind the movie.

The movie is considered to be a decent one but due to a few scary scenes, it is advisable for kids over the age of seven years to watch the movie.

Art Direction Of Elf

The art direction was a very crucial part of the project. Since the movie involved imaginary characters mostly and was made into a stop motion animation, a lot of artistic ideas were recorded to make it successful.

The movie had a lot of backdrops while shooting the different scenes. All these scenes were made artistically rich by the art director Emily Swift.

The movie portrayed a presentation of Santa's wonderland. The entire project and the production designs were majorly influenced by Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.

Hermey and his friends influenced the elves' costumes in the movie 'Elf'. Apart from that, the workshops that were created for the movie were influenced by Rankin/Bass designs.

The Gimbels store whose interior was shot in the Riverdale hospitals had few sequences that were changed digitally. An entire block in Manhattan was altered into the shop.

The art director focused on the coloration of the frames. The backgrounds including Santa's home to the elves' homes were made gray in order to make the characters look bright and attractive.

The direction in terms of art was extremely important as every small detail would change the entire frame of the scene. In fact, the snowflakes in the North Pole scenes were carefully generated from the computer to give the scene a real touch.

FAQs

How long did it take to make the movie 'Elf'?

The shooting took three months to be completed. Although the journey from scriptwriting to screening took almost 10 years.

What do elves do?

Apart from their distinctive and unique appearance, they actually play a significant role during the time of Christmas. They are considered to be responsible for arranging the gifts and surprises for the kids, as well as taking proper care of Santa's reindeer for the sleigh.

How old are Santa's elves?

There is no fixed age for the elves. They are known to have an average age that ranges somewhere between 25 - 2025.

What makes a great elf?

Enthusiasm and spirit for Christmas make the best helpers of Santa.

What is the ELF code?

There are three codes of elves. The codes are making gifts for the children, making shoes in absence of the cobblers, and making cookies.

Do elves eat meat?

Most elves are considered to be meat-eaters.