Trivia for
Elf (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• Director Cameo: [Jon Favreau] the doctor.
  
  
• Director Jon Favreau provided the voice of the narwhal.
  
  
• The "amateur footage" of Buddy walking around Central Park shown on the newscast spoofs the famous Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot film.
  
  
• When this screenplay first emerged in 1993, Jim Carrey was attached to star in the lead.
  
  
• Cameo: [David Berenbaum] an office worker.
  
  
• The outside of Gimbels is a digitally altered view of the 34th St. Macy's, a reference to Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Gimbels was Macy's main competition but it is now closed.
  
  
• The Leon the Snowman character (voiced by Leon Redbone) is apparently modeled after the Sam the Snowman character from Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) (TV).
  
  
• The Elf Costumes were also modeled after the Elves in Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) (TV).
  
  
• Terry Zwigoff was offered a chance to direct the film, but turned it down.
  
  
• One of the skyscrapers built by Buddy in Gimbels is the Liberty One building in Philadelphia. In real life, Gimbels was a Philadelphia-based department store.
  
  
• When she first meets Buddy, Jovie asks, "Did Crumpet put you up to this"? Crumpet is the name David Sedaris called himself while working as an elf, as recounted in his Christmas story anthology "The Santaland Diaries." David Sedaris's sister, Amy Sedaris appears in the film as James Caan's assistant, Deb. The usage of the name Crumpet may refer to Sedaris or may be a coincidence.
  
  
• Near the end, when Santa is showing Michael his nice list, all of the people on Santa's list worked on the movie: Victoria Down (key makeup artist) wants an English riding saddle with leathers and a crop; Drew Davidson (chief lighting technician, as Andrew Davidson) wants Rock-em Sock-em robots; Andreas Nieman (assistant property master, as Andy Nieman) wants a complete set of titanium drivers and a new golf glove; Nathan Tichenor (co-production coordinator) wants an Apple iBook with 1 gig hard drive and a built-in CD burner; Michael Hobbs is a character in the movie; Jimmy Miller (executive producer) wants a Hot Wheels turbo ultra race track with six cars, power launcher and track cleaner and Penny Gibbs (unit production manager) wants an Old MacDonald Farm Kit with Battery Operated Tractor and a Remote Controlled Cow-Tipper.
  
  
• The football jersey frequently worn by Michael in the film is that of fan favorite #80 Wayne Chrebet of the New York Jets.
  
  
• The scene where the fake Santa is chasing Buddy had to be done in one take because it was too hard to rebuild everything.
  
  
• The elf Ming Ming, who appears briefly in the beginning of the film, is played by Peter Billingsley, who starred as Ralphie Parker in the classic holiday film A Christmas Story (1983).
  
  
• Buddy's 12-second belch was supplied by voice actor Maurice LaMarche, best-known for his cartoon character, "The Brain", from "Pinky and the Brain" (1995), and who also did the operatic belching in "Animaniacs" (1993) as "The Great Wakarotti". LaMarche also worked with Will Ferrell on the animated series, "The Oblongs..." (2001).
  
  
• When Buddy goes to Gimbels to ask Jovie out on a date the song we hear playing over the loudspeaker is "Christmas Island" sung by Leon Redbone. Redbone also provided the voice of Leon the snowman at the North Pole.
  
  
• Crumpet was also the name of the mountain in the Grinch over which the title character planned the throw everyone's gifts.
  
  

Related Links