Zooey Deschanel's "Elf" Role Almost Went To Someone Else
Elf celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, and it's totally a Christmas movie worth celebrating! In addition to totally heartwarming moments (like the scene that made Will Ferrell cry in real life), we're thinking about how perfect the cast is. TBH, we couldn't imagine anyone else starring in the movie. But it turns out we almost *did* get some other faces in the film!
Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf meets Zooey Deschanel's Jovie at a department store when he treks to New York City to find his long-lost father. Though she appears jaded at first, she eventually gives in to the holiday spirit, and even helps save Christmas by singing in public to lift Santa’s sleigh.
Deschanel was great in the role, but according to Variety, she wasn’t actually the first choice. “I went in as a backup. The person they cast couldn’t do it,” Zooey explains. “A lot of the parts I got early in my career, I was filling in for someone else who had dropped out last minute.”
This is definitely crazy because Zooey Deschanel *is* Jovie in our eyes and we literally cannot imagine anyone else playing the role.
Prior to Elf, Deschanel appeared in 2000’s Almost Famous and 2003’s All the Real Girls, and she had been auditioning for another movie when she was asked to come in for Jovie. That other movie, in fact, is the reason for her blonde hair. “What is funny is I had dyed my hair for a screen test for a movie that never happened,” she continues. “I had a meeting for Elf while I was blonde, and I asked them if I could dye my hair back brown. They said, ‘No, we want you to look the way you did in your audition.'”
We have to wonder if she would have gotten the role if she had shown up with brown hair, but we’re glad things worked out the way they did!
Can you imagine anyone else in the role of Jovie? Let us know @BritandCo.
Lead image via Warner Bros.
