All language subtitles for Episode 08 Elf

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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:11,635 --> 00:00:12,715 Buffer! 2 00:00:16,807 --> 00:00:19,978 In 2003, a large, relatively unknown man 3 00:00:20,060 --> 00:00:21,861 danced joyously on a table in… 4 00:00:22,521 --> 00:00:24,481 an abandoned mental institution. 5 00:00:24,565 --> 00:00:27,896 It is one of the creepiest places I've ever been in my life. 6 00:00:27,986 --> 00:00:29,146 Certifiably insane. 7 00:00:30,446 --> 00:00:32,317 Well, crazy or not… Insane! 8 00:00:32,406 --> 00:00:34,027 …for nearly 20 years, 9 00:00:34,116 --> 00:00:36,237 this timeless, beloved movie 10 00:00:36,326 --> 00:00:38,326 has filled the world with Christmas cheer by… 11 00:00:38,412 --> 00:00:39,872 Singing loud for all to hear. 12 00:00:39,956 --> 00:00:42,165 …with a cast and crew of… Complete nobodies. 13 00:00:42,250 --> 00:00:43,460 And some somebodies. 14 00:00:43,542 --> 00:00:44,883 Jimmy the Dream. 15 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:47,299 He was dreamy to me, yeah. 16 00:00:47,380 --> 00:00:51,340 But this inspiring Christmas romp didn't just emerge out of nowhere. 17 00:00:51,426 --> 00:00:54,545 "I wanna do stop-motion animation." It had its own inspiration. 18 00:00:54,637 --> 00:00:56,137 Exactly like Rankin/Bass. 19 00:00:56,222 --> 00:00:57,392 Ready, Santa? 20 00:00:57,473 --> 00:01:00,103 Followed quickly by its own legal troubles. 21 00:01:00,185 --> 00:01:01,094 What? What? 22 00:01:01,185 --> 00:01:03,856 Is it Movies That Made Us or Movies That Made Us Get Sued? 23 00:01:04,438 --> 00:01:06,358 This unquestionably, hilarious… 24 00:01:06,441 --> 00:01:07,941 You stink. 25 00:01:08,025 --> 00:01:10,566 …Christmas comedy… The studio didn't like it. 26 00:01:10,653 --> 00:01:12,162 …was constantly questioned. 27 00:01:12,237 --> 00:01:14,617 "You are completely insane 28 00:01:14,698 --> 00:01:18,039 to think that Will Ferrell should be the lead… 29 00:01:18,118 --> 00:01:19,039 No! 30 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:20,579 …of anything." 31 00:01:20,996 --> 00:01:23,117 And like Buddy himself… 32 00:01:23,207 --> 00:01:24,998 …the making of this Christmas classic 33 00:01:25,085 --> 00:01:27,954 is a tale of humble, innocent beginnings… 34 00:01:28,045 --> 00:01:29,256 Okay. Now what do I do? 35 00:01:29,338 --> 00:01:31,009 …that, through perseverance, 36 00:01:31,091 --> 00:01:32,430 grew up… 37 00:01:32,509 --> 00:01:36,299 …into one of the most surprising Christmas classics of all time. 38 00:01:39,432 --> 00:01:41,891 Stick around. He's gonna take his pants down. 39 00:01:41,975 --> 00:01:43,596 Why would it be any other way? 40 00:02:07,043 --> 00:02:10,962 These are The Holiday Movies That Made Us. 41 00:02:12,173 --> 00:02:15,763 Time to start preparations for next Christmas. 42 00:02:15,843 --> 00:02:17,853 Elf, the larger-than-life story 43 00:02:17,929 --> 00:02:21,558 about a tall, awkward man who thinks he's an elf. 44 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:23,771 That's ridiculous! Quite ridiculous. 45 00:02:23,852 --> 00:02:25,312 He's on a journey to find his… 46 00:02:25,395 --> 00:02:26,805 Dad! Who has anger issues. 47 00:02:26,896 --> 00:02:29,066 You want money? He pushes everyone's buttons… 48 00:02:29,149 --> 00:02:30,438 Hey! Get out! 49 00:02:30,525 --> 00:02:31,935 Call me "elf" one more time! 50 00:02:32,026 --> 00:02:33,735 …and pulls one person's beard. 51 00:02:35,737 --> 00:02:38,067 All whilst falling in love… 52 00:02:38,158 --> 00:02:40,948 I'm in love, and I don't care who knows! 53 00:02:41,034 --> 00:02:44,615 …and warming the cockles of his father's angry, cold heart. 54 00:02:44,706 --> 00:02:46,615 And, in the end, saves Christmas. 55 00:02:46,707 --> 00:02:49,707 But as for the start of this story, well… 56 00:02:50,752 --> 00:02:52,923 it begins a long way from the North Pole. 57 00:02:53,006 --> 00:02:57,385 In fact, it begins here in 1970s Philadelphia, 58 00:02:57,468 --> 00:02:59,348 specifically, with a young Jewish kid 59 00:02:59,429 --> 00:03:02,139 who had a somewhat unorthodox view of Christmas. 60 00:03:02,223 --> 00:03:03,393 Hanukkah was fantastic, 61 00:03:03,473 --> 00:03:05,604 but there's something 62 00:03:05,685 --> 00:03:07,514 special about Christmas. 63 00:03:07,604 --> 00:03:09,653 There's plenty special about Christmas. 64 00:03:09,730 --> 00:03:11,860 You're running downstairs. Presents are there. 65 00:03:11,941 --> 00:03:15,401 Don't forget that it's… Cold outside. It's warm inside. 66 00:03:15,485 --> 00:03:17,526 But what David loved more than anything… 67 00:03:17,614 --> 00:03:18,824 I really, 68 00:03:18,907 --> 00:03:21,697 really, really love Christmas movies. 69 00:03:21,783 --> 00:03:23,493 David watched Christmas movies… 70 00:03:23,578 --> 00:03:24,578 Around the clock. 71 00:03:24,621 --> 00:03:29,290 Until the clock struck 1993, when he left Philadelphia and traveled… 72 00:03:29,375 --> 00:03:32,835 Past the sea of swirly-twirly gumdrops. 73 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:34,881 …on his way to Hollywood 74 00:03:34,963 --> 00:03:37,634 in pursuit of a Christmas-movie scriptwriting career. 75 00:03:37,716 --> 00:03:41,597 But instead he worked at a… A lingerie factory. Yeah. 76 00:03:41,679 --> 00:03:43,468 It's a wonderful life indeed. 77 00:03:43,555 --> 00:03:46,475 If you want to know about spaghetti straps, I'm your guy. 78 00:03:46,558 --> 00:03:50,399 But living the ultimate life of a young man wasn't enough for David. 79 00:03:50,479 --> 00:03:51,860 LA threw me for a loop. 80 00:03:51,939 --> 00:03:55,069 During Christmastime, it was just hot and weird, 81 00:03:55,151 --> 00:03:57,700 so to make myself feel more like I was at home, 82 00:03:57,778 --> 00:04:00,068 I would rent all these Christmas movies. 83 00:04:00,156 --> 00:04:04,786 But when he reconnected with one particular favorite from his childhood, 84 00:04:04,868 --> 00:04:06,579 an idea sparked for David, 85 00:04:06,663 --> 00:04:08,252 like a light bulb. 86 00:04:08,330 --> 00:04:09,961 We'll call him… 87 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:10,961 Rudolph. 88 00:04:11,042 --> 00:04:14,551 Who, just like David in LA… Rudolph is a misfit. 89 00:04:14,628 --> 00:04:16,129 He doesn't fit in. 90 00:04:16,213 --> 00:04:18,684 He goes out to find out where he belongs. 91 00:04:18,757 --> 00:04:19,588 Ready, Santa. 92 00:04:19,675 --> 00:04:22,925 By relating to the plight of this poor, deformed reindeer, 93 00:04:23,012 --> 00:04:25,771 David Berenbaum had an idea… I got an idea. 94 00:04:25,848 --> 00:04:28,228 …that would change Christmas forever. 95 00:04:28,309 --> 00:04:31,809 I'd simply turn Rudolph into a giant elf. 96 00:04:31,896 --> 00:04:33,185 And that idea was called… 97 00:04:33,773 --> 00:04:34,653 Elf. 98 00:04:34,731 --> 00:04:36,192 Right. 99 00:04:36,276 --> 00:04:39,526 So, with a heart bursting with the Christmassy innocence 100 00:04:39,612 --> 00:04:41,112 of Rankin and Bass, 101 00:04:41,197 --> 00:04:43,737 David began hammering out a Christmas story 102 00:04:43,824 --> 00:04:46,365 about an elf named Buddy in New York City. 103 00:04:46,451 --> 00:04:48,292 I don't belong anywhere. 104 00:04:48,370 --> 00:04:49,290 Elf is funny. 105 00:04:49,372 --> 00:04:52,172 That's a good start. It was silly, absurd. 106 00:04:52,250 --> 00:04:53,670 But then again… 107 00:04:53,750 --> 00:04:58,800 One of the hallmarks of a Christmas movie is that it has to have a big, big heart. 108 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,630 So, for Elf… The emotional journey of Elf 109 00:05:01,718 --> 00:05:04,677 was always a father-and-son story… 110 00:05:04,762 --> 00:05:08,562 Which, to David, was, well, very close to heart. 111 00:05:08,641 --> 00:05:11,271 My father passed away when I was younger, 112 00:05:11,351 --> 00:05:16,072 so the emotional drive of the film is searching for the father. 113 00:05:16,149 --> 00:05:17,939 And I knew telling the story… 114 00:05:18,026 --> 00:05:20,146 Dad, I love you. 115 00:05:20,235 --> 00:05:23,065 …that I could connect to it on that level. 116 00:05:23,156 --> 00:05:26,735 And I knew that's the journey that I wanted Buddy to go on. 117 00:05:26,826 --> 00:05:28,696 Well, now with a fully formed script, 118 00:05:28,786 --> 00:05:30,956 it was time to go Christmas shopping. 119 00:05:31,038 --> 00:05:33,749 I showed the script to my agent. She said it was great. 120 00:05:33,832 --> 00:05:36,002 And next thing he knew, he had a studio. 121 00:05:36,084 --> 00:05:37,995 MPCA optioned it for a year. 122 00:05:38,086 --> 00:05:39,667 And just like that, 123 00:05:39,755 --> 00:05:41,415 Elf had… legs. 124 00:05:41,507 --> 00:05:44,216 So, they got straight down to the business of casting, 125 00:05:44,302 --> 00:05:46,971 and no surprise, they obviously wanted to go 126 00:05:47,055 --> 00:05:49,555 with a powerhouse Saturday Night Live comic legend, 127 00:05:49,639 --> 00:05:51,560 but not the one you're thinking. 128 00:05:51,641 --> 00:05:54,312 They wanted to make this a Chris Farley movie. 129 00:05:54,394 --> 00:05:58,185 Hey, look at me, I'm covered in elf dust! 130 00:05:58,274 --> 00:06:01,494 Which would have been a different movie. A movie that David… 131 00:06:01,569 --> 00:06:03,778 Very different movie. …didn't wanna make. 132 00:06:03,862 --> 00:06:04,702 Yee-hoo! 133 00:06:04,781 --> 00:06:06,120 And so, because he cared 134 00:06:06,199 --> 00:06:07,778 so much about his script, 135 00:06:07,867 --> 00:06:11,367 David decided to run the clock out on the one-year option… 136 00:06:13,163 --> 00:06:15,004 …so he could opt out of the contract 137 00:06:15,083 --> 00:06:16,213 and meet someone at… 138 00:06:16,292 --> 00:06:19,711 this cafe. Someone who truly understood him. 139 00:06:19,795 --> 00:06:22,255 Someone like producer Jon Berg. 140 00:06:22,339 --> 00:06:25,889 First thing as I sit down with a writer I've never met after reading a script. 141 00:06:25,968 --> 00:06:27,848 He is a complete nobody… 142 00:06:27,928 --> 00:06:29,309 I was a total nobody. 143 00:06:29,389 --> 00:06:31,678 …who has no track record, but he's talented. 144 00:06:31,766 --> 00:06:32,766 That's one word. 145 00:06:32,850 --> 00:06:36,899 And he wants a manager, and I say to him, "I'll be your manager." 146 00:06:36,978 --> 00:06:39,858 Just what he needed, someone with a track record. 147 00:06:39,941 --> 00:06:43,860 I'm a complete nobody who has pretty much no track record. 148 00:06:43,944 --> 00:06:46,735 But he did have a partner, Todd Komarnicki. 149 00:06:46,822 --> 00:06:48,572 When Jon and David met for coffee… 150 00:06:48,658 --> 00:06:52,077 We could only afford a coffee. …Jon gave something to chew on. 151 00:06:52,161 --> 00:06:54,581 I can't pay for this guy's, you know, lunch. 152 00:06:54,663 --> 00:06:57,584 Then what on earth could Jon bring to the table? 153 00:06:57,667 --> 00:06:59,167 Will Ferrell as Buddy. 154 00:06:59,252 --> 00:07:01,052 Sorry I'm late, gang… 155 00:07:01,129 --> 00:07:04,879 Jon and I knew that this script was custom made for him. 156 00:07:04,966 --> 00:07:06,716 What's your favorite planet? 157 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,471 There was something Will nailed on Saturday Night Live. 158 00:07:09,553 --> 00:07:12,934 What? A perpetual innocence. 159 00:07:13,014 --> 00:07:15,634 Role up a fatty full of fellowship and funk. 160 00:07:15,725 --> 00:07:17,975 Something bright shone out of that person. 161 00:07:18,062 --> 00:07:19,062 So check me out! 162 00:07:19,105 --> 00:07:21,064 The way Jon and Todd saw it… 163 00:07:21,149 --> 00:07:24,319 That's central to Buddy the Elf. I like to smile. My favorite. 164 00:07:24,401 --> 00:07:27,362 That's why Will felt perfect. This is gonna be cool. 165 00:07:28,781 --> 00:07:31,370 But given David's high standards, 166 00:07:31,451 --> 00:07:33,161 would they be able to convince him... 167 00:07:33,244 --> 00:07:35,293 Great! Fantastic! Let's go for it. 168 00:07:35,370 --> 00:07:37,500 Despite your effort, you answered correctly. 169 00:07:37,581 --> 00:07:39,211 So, the question was, 170 00:07:39,292 --> 00:07:41,382 can Jon Berg deliver Will Ferrell? 171 00:07:41,461 --> 00:07:42,591 Of course I can. 172 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,430 As nervous laughter emanated from this rookie producer… 173 00:07:47,507 --> 00:07:49,887 Funny enough, sometimes being a good producer 174 00:07:49,968 --> 00:07:54,558 is playing basketball on Saturday morning at an agent's house on his tennis court. 175 00:07:54,639 --> 00:07:57,100 Jon laced up his shoes and got ready to shoot hoops. 176 00:07:57,185 --> 00:07:58,845 Or jump through them. 177 00:07:58,935 --> 00:08:02,016 I played with Jason Heyman, represented Will Ferrell. 178 00:08:02,105 --> 00:08:04,146 Pitch him the movie. He reads it, likes it. 179 00:08:04,233 --> 00:08:08,452 He sends it on to Julie Darmody, Will's junior manager at the time. 180 00:08:08,528 --> 00:08:11,199 She likes it. She kicks it up the ladder 181 00:08:11,281 --> 00:08:14,161 to the big kahuna in Will's life, Jimmy Miller. 182 00:08:14,242 --> 00:08:16,832 He reads the script, likes it, and sends it to Will. 183 00:08:17,413 --> 00:08:21,382 And Will finally read it, and his people said, "He's attached", 184 00:08:21,459 --> 00:08:22,959 and that begins the journey. 185 00:08:23,043 --> 00:08:24,754 So, our three nobodies… 186 00:08:24,836 --> 00:08:26,877 Yeah. …had this somebody say… 187 00:08:26,963 --> 00:08:27,803 Yeah. 188 00:08:27,882 --> 00:08:30,971 Now, their biggest challenge would be getting a studio to say… 189 00:08:31,052 --> 00:08:33,642 Yes. I'm calling people at the studios. 190 00:08:33,721 --> 00:08:35,260 I had a good elevator pitch. 191 00:08:35,347 --> 00:08:37,268 I tell them I have this amazing script… 192 00:08:37,350 --> 00:08:39,440 Yes? …and Will Ferrell's attached. 193 00:08:39,519 --> 00:08:40,688 Yes! 194 00:08:40,769 --> 00:08:42,980 I'm trying to get them gassed up. Yes! 195 00:08:44,273 --> 00:08:47,692 However… Everyone passed. Everyone passed. 196 00:08:47,777 --> 00:08:49,777 I can't do anything right. 197 00:08:49,861 --> 00:08:53,451 One of the easiest things to do in Hollywood, for anybody, is to say… 198 00:08:53,533 --> 00:08:55,332 No. Mostly, what you hear is… 199 00:08:55,408 --> 00:08:56,788 No. No? 200 00:08:56,869 --> 00:08:57,788 No. 201 00:08:57,870 --> 00:09:01,080 But there was something else they heard that was truly shocking. 202 00:09:01,164 --> 00:09:03,664 They said, "You are completely insane 203 00:09:03,750 --> 00:09:06,921 to think that Will Ferrell should be the lead… 204 00:09:07,004 --> 00:09:09,094 No! 205 00:09:09,173 --> 00:09:10,222 …of anything." 206 00:09:10,298 --> 00:09:13,089 Well, he wasn't quite… A complete nobody. 207 00:09:13,177 --> 00:09:15,716 It was true Will had… Pretty much no track record. 208 00:09:15,804 --> 00:09:17,845 …when it came to movies. That's right. 209 00:09:17,932 --> 00:09:19,022 Shut up. 210 00:09:19,100 --> 00:09:20,600 Difficult to think, 211 00:09:20,684 --> 00:09:24,554 "There was a moment before Will Ferrell was a huge star." 212 00:09:24,647 --> 00:09:26,856 I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! 213 00:09:26,941 --> 00:09:29,610 At the time, Will really only had, in the marketplace, 214 00:09:29,693 --> 00:09:31,114 A Night at the Roxbury. 215 00:09:31,195 --> 00:09:34,524 Which wasn't exactly a box office… smash. 216 00:09:34,615 --> 00:09:36,945 That had not performed up to expectations. 217 00:09:37,033 --> 00:09:40,004 No one had built a movie around Will. We wanted to do that. 218 00:09:40,078 --> 00:09:42,209 However, turns out they weren't alone. 219 00:09:42,289 --> 00:09:46,250 So I get a call out of nowhere from a guy named Cale Boyter. 220 00:09:46,335 --> 00:09:47,835 He's a bear of a man. 221 00:09:47,919 --> 00:09:49,210 Okay. All right. Bye. 222 00:09:49,297 --> 00:09:51,167 Like meeting a thunderstorm. 223 00:09:54,467 --> 00:09:55,298 Ha! 224 00:09:55,385 --> 00:09:56,385 Who are you? 225 00:09:56,470 --> 00:09:57,809 That's a great question. 226 00:09:57,888 --> 00:10:00,888 Cale Boyter was a junior executive, emphasis on junior, 227 00:10:00,975 --> 00:10:02,304 at New Line Cinema. 228 00:10:02,393 --> 00:10:05,273 Which, at that time, was primarily known for… 229 00:10:05,354 --> 00:10:07,774 Nightmare on Elm Street. 230 00:10:07,856 --> 00:10:10,687 And other very edgy horror or edgy comedy movies, 231 00:10:12,153 --> 00:10:13,533 and not done a family film. 232 00:10:13,613 --> 00:10:14,863 Isn't that weird? 233 00:10:14,947 --> 00:10:17,576 Or in Cale's case, any film at all. 234 00:10:17,658 --> 00:10:21,408 I had never put a movie together. I didn't know what the hell was going on. 235 00:10:21,495 --> 00:10:23,534 But driven by a simple desire… 236 00:10:23,623 --> 00:10:26,832 Frickin' love Will Ferrell. I wish I could see more Will Ferrell. 237 00:10:26,917 --> 00:10:28,037 …the junior executive… 238 00:10:28,126 --> 00:10:31,126 Went and grabbed the script, read it, and said, "This is… 239 00:10:31,212 --> 00:10:32,673 frickin' unbelievable." 240 00:10:32,756 --> 00:10:34,427 "This is perfect for him." 241 00:10:34,508 --> 00:10:37,847 And they called me and they said, "We wanna option the thing." 242 00:10:37,927 --> 00:10:41,427 It's nice to meet another human who shares my affinity for elf culture. 243 00:10:41,514 --> 00:10:45,934 Here we are, back to Producing 101. Finally, you got the actor. 244 00:10:46,019 --> 00:10:47,980 Yes! You've got a studio interested. 245 00:10:48,063 --> 00:10:48,984 Yes. 246 00:10:49,065 --> 00:10:51,225 But it's not a green-lit movie. No! 247 00:10:52,150 --> 00:10:57,030 Now, you're just one of a million scripts that people are sending to directors. 248 00:10:57,114 --> 00:10:59,374 While their script was one in a million, 249 00:10:59,450 --> 00:11:01,789 chances of getting the directors they went to… 250 00:11:01,869 --> 00:11:04,999 Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg. …were one in a million. 251 00:11:05,081 --> 00:11:07,541 You're not getting the A-list guys. 252 00:11:07,625 --> 00:11:08,995 And as for the B-list guys… 253 00:11:09,085 --> 00:11:13,625 We had meetings with people that wanted to turn Jovie into a streetwalker. 254 00:11:13,714 --> 00:11:15,884 I'm just trying to get through the holidays. 255 00:11:15,966 --> 00:11:19,385 They were pushing against the heart that was inherent in the script. 256 00:11:19,470 --> 00:11:21,889 But to seduce the right director, 257 00:11:21,971 --> 00:11:23,642 they went seriously old-school. 258 00:11:23,724 --> 00:11:27,403 We were taking meetings down wherever they were shooting Old School. 259 00:11:27,477 --> 00:11:28,937 No, seriously, Old School. 260 00:11:31,356 --> 00:11:34,937 That movie starring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson, and Vince Vaughn. 261 00:11:35,027 --> 00:11:36,397 It's the best day ever. 262 00:11:36,486 --> 00:11:40,277 Vince was hanging out with us as we were talking about directors, 263 00:11:40,365 --> 00:11:42,536 and he pitched the idea of Favreau. 264 00:11:42,618 --> 00:11:45,077 What? As in Jon Favreau the actor? 265 00:11:45,162 --> 00:11:47,331 He'd been an actor in things. 266 00:11:47,414 --> 00:11:50,414 You're Jon Favreau. Rocky Marciano, Deep Impact, Swingers. 267 00:11:50,500 --> 00:11:54,461 No one really knew what he was capable of as a director at that point. 268 00:11:54,547 --> 00:11:55,917 Vince Vaughn knew very well. 269 00:11:56,005 --> 00:11:58,176 You are so money. You don't even know it. 270 00:11:58,259 --> 00:11:59,639 Favreau had made one movie. 271 00:11:59,719 --> 00:12:02,719 He, at that point, had made Made. 272 00:12:03,764 --> 00:12:06,104 And his one movie starred Vince Vaughn, 273 00:12:06,182 --> 00:12:08,232 but he wasn't a heavyweight director. 274 00:12:08,811 --> 00:12:10,860 They brought him in for a meeting nonetheless. 275 00:12:10,937 --> 00:12:12,937 We are in a tiny conference room. 276 00:12:13,023 --> 00:12:14,023 This better be good. 277 00:12:14,107 --> 00:12:17,648 He comes in, and he really keys on three things. 278 00:12:17,736 --> 00:12:18,736 Number one… 279 00:12:19,697 --> 00:12:22,317 The first is that he puts down on the table, 280 00:12:22,408 --> 00:12:23,778 a book about… 281 00:12:23,868 --> 00:12:26,827 A peach that lives on a farm. Nope. It was a book about… 282 00:12:26,912 --> 00:12:27,751 Rankin/Bass. 283 00:12:27,830 --> 00:12:28,830 Wait a minute! 284 00:12:28,873 --> 00:12:30,623 As in the… Rankin/Bass. 285 00:12:30,707 --> 00:12:32,998 The production company that made… Rudolph. 286 00:12:33,085 --> 00:12:34,875 David's favorite Christmas movie. 287 00:12:34,961 --> 00:12:37,172 Loved it. Well, that's a good start. 288 00:12:37,255 --> 00:12:41,546 And he really said, "This should inform the aesthetic of the costuming." 289 00:12:41,634 --> 00:12:43,794 I think he even referenced Hermey the Elf. 290 00:12:43,888 --> 00:12:45,427 Hermey! 291 00:12:45,514 --> 00:12:47,734 Aren't you finished painting that yet? 292 00:12:47,807 --> 00:12:51,597 Favreau not only saw the clear inspiration in David's script, 293 00:12:51,687 --> 00:12:52,856 but he even said… 294 00:12:52,937 --> 00:12:54,648 "I wanna do stop-motion animation." 295 00:12:54,731 --> 00:12:58,241 "This is how I envision the North Pole. Exactly like Rankin/Bass." 296 00:12:58,318 --> 00:13:01,318 And we went, "That sounds pretty damn cool." 297 00:13:01,404 --> 00:13:06,034 It also sounds serendipitous, but his other thing, even more so. 298 00:13:06,118 --> 00:13:09,118 The second thing was that Christmas, for him, 299 00:13:09,788 --> 00:13:12,708 was an incredibly special time. 300 00:13:12,792 --> 00:13:17,052 His mom had passed when he was young and passed around Christmas. 301 00:13:17,129 --> 00:13:20,969 Him and his dad would watch Christmas movies and heal together. 302 00:13:21,049 --> 00:13:23,009 So, it certainly wasn't lost on Jon… 303 00:13:23,092 --> 00:13:25,222 It hit me on the way, like a ton of bricks. 304 00:13:25,303 --> 00:13:27,354 …himself a recent father, that… 305 00:13:27,431 --> 00:13:30,181 It's a father-and-son movie. It's a boy. 306 00:13:30,267 --> 00:13:33,057 He's like, "I wanna make something I can share with my kids." 307 00:13:33,144 --> 00:13:34,934 Despite his directing inexperience… 308 00:13:35,022 --> 00:13:37,652 As soon as I heard that, I thought, "This is the guy. 309 00:13:37,732 --> 00:13:39,533 This is the... this is the guy." 310 00:13:39,610 --> 00:13:41,399 Wait. We haven't heard his third. 311 00:13:41,486 --> 00:13:42,356 Okay. 312 00:13:42,446 --> 00:13:45,826 The third thing he said, which I thought was really ambitious, was… 313 00:13:45,908 --> 00:13:47,238 You know what? 314 00:13:47,326 --> 00:13:50,155 We'll tell you about the third thing closer to Christmas. 315 00:13:50,245 --> 00:13:52,155 But for now, all you need to know is… 316 00:13:52,248 --> 00:13:54,378 It was exactly what we wanted to hear. 317 00:13:54,457 --> 00:13:57,087 Great! So, with that, Jon Favreau was hired… 318 00:13:57,168 --> 00:13:58,168 That made me excited. 319 00:13:58,211 --> 00:14:01,802 …which, in turn, made head of New Line Cinema. Bob Shaye say… 320 00:14:02,924 --> 00:14:04,294 How much that's gonna cost? 321 00:14:04,384 --> 00:14:06,715 I don't know that Elf was his cup of tea. 322 00:14:06,803 --> 00:14:08,974 Even so, New Line priced it out. 323 00:14:09,056 --> 00:14:11,725 And once everyone's feeling groovy about the creative… 324 00:14:11,808 --> 00:14:12,889 Yes…? 325 00:14:12,976 --> 00:14:13,976 You know? 326 00:14:14,436 --> 00:14:15,436 Yay? 327 00:14:15,479 --> 00:14:18,438 We have a green light, and we're gonna make the movie. 328 00:14:18,524 --> 00:14:19,864 Yay! Yeah. 329 00:14:19,942 --> 00:14:21,282 Against all odds, 330 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:22,490 these nobodies… Yeah. 331 00:14:22,570 --> 00:14:24,700 …were given about $30 million by New Line. 332 00:14:24,779 --> 00:14:26,700 They left us alone to make this movie. 333 00:14:27,448 --> 00:14:29,989 A movie about the love of a father. 334 00:14:30,076 --> 00:14:32,616 A movie about the magic of Christmas. 335 00:14:32,705 --> 00:14:35,284 A movie… Directed by a guy that had made one film, 336 00:14:35,374 --> 00:14:38,004 produced by a couple of people who had made nothing. 337 00:14:38,085 --> 00:14:39,625 And I don't know anything. 338 00:14:39,711 --> 00:14:41,841 Well, they'd just have to learn on the job. 339 00:14:41,922 --> 00:14:44,881 As first-time producer, I didn't know rhythms and process. 340 00:14:44,966 --> 00:14:47,716 We didn't understand all the different maneuvers. 341 00:14:47,802 --> 00:14:51,023 I knew we should hire smart people who knew what they were doing. 342 00:14:52,682 --> 00:14:55,143 So that's exactly what they did. 343 00:14:55,226 --> 00:14:58,397 You know, funny. Jon called me. I was in this very room. 344 00:14:58,480 --> 00:14:59,940 I guess you're home. 345 00:15:00,441 --> 00:15:03,191 He started downloading some of his ideas. 346 00:15:03,277 --> 00:15:05,397 I thought, "This is great." Great! 347 00:15:05,486 --> 00:15:07,236 I get this call 348 00:15:07,322 --> 00:15:09,373 about a Christmas movie in New York. 349 00:15:10,326 --> 00:15:13,035 He asked me if I had stop-motion experience, 350 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:14,580 which I did. Wow! 351 00:15:14,663 --> 00:15:17,332 I was a huge fan of Will Ferrell. 352 00:15:17,416 --> 00:15:19,706 And when it came to the production designer… 353 00:15:19,793 --> 00:15:21,212 I thought he was brilliant. 354 00:15:21,294 --> 00:15:22,955 We should just hang out. 355 00:15:23,047 --> 00:15:26,586 I met with him, and he wanted this film to feel like Rankin/Bass… 356 00:15:27,176 --> 00:15:29,966 But not rip off Rankin/Bass, right? 357 00:15:30,053 --> 00:15:32,933 We never thought it was derivative. We thought it was inspired. 358 00:15:33,014 --> 00:15:34,764 Very obviously inspired. 359 00:15:34,850 --> 00:15:35,679 What? What? 360 00:15:35,768 --> 00:15:38,097 So, they got to work, working that out. 361 00:15:38,187 --> 00:15:41,856 I was pretty confident they'd be able to make a deal with Rankin and Bass. 362 00:15:41,941 --> 00:15:43,571 Are you sure? 363 00:15:43,650 --> 00:15:47,201 It wasn't like it was Lucasfilm. It wasn't Star Wars. I mean… 364 00:15:47,278 --> 00:15:49,869 Exactly. Shouldn't be a problem. 365 00:15:49,948 --> 00:15:54,328 Anyway, speaking of stars, the last thing they needed were some. 366 00:15:54,411 --> 00:15:56,620 One of the first big decisions was, 367 00:15:56,705 --> 00:15:57,865 who plays Walter? 368 00:15:58,374 --> 00:15:59,634 Welcome Garry Shandling! 369 00:15:59,707 --> 00:16:01,837 Garry Shandling is a comedy genius. 370 00:16:02,586 --> 00:16:04,245 This isn't easy for me, but… 371 00:16:04,879 --> 00:16:06,049 He passed. 372 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:11,220 But fortunately that led us to the next choice on the list, 373 00:16:11,302 --> 00:16:12,552 which was James Caan. 374 00:16:13,554 --> 00:16:15,424 Jimmy Caan was a dramatic actor. 375 00:16:15,515 --> 00:16:17,135 Dramatic's one word for it. 376 00:16:17,225 --> 00:16:18,765 I'm very, very… Dramatic. 377 00:16:20,604 --> 00:16:23,153 He's been in all these incredible movies. 378 00:16:23,231 --> 00:16:25,861 He's a tough guy. He's one of the guy's guys. 379 00:16:25,942 --> 00:16:27,072 He's Sonny Corleone! 380 00:16:27,152 --> 00:16:29,741 You blow their brains all over your Ivy League suit. 381 00:16:29,822 --> 00:16:34,331 If anyone could bring gravitas and strength to the role, it would be… 382 00:16:34,409 --> 00:16:35,409 James… 383 00:16:36,245 --> 00:16:37,745 …Caan. 384 00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:39,710 Eager and excited, they reached out. 385 00:16:39,789 --> 00:16:40,620 Hello? 386 00:16:40,707 --> 00:16:43,418 James Caan read the script and luckily said… 387 00:16:43,501 --> 00:16:44,501 Why not? 388 00:16:44,586 --> 00:16:46,546 But if James Caan was on board… 389 00:16:46,629 --> 00:16:49,299 All of us were a little scared of James Caan, I think. 390 00:16:50,174 --> 00:16:53,465 …that means James Caan would be on set. 391 00:16:54,263 --> 00:16:57,732 Well, to provide some balance, producers began their search 392 00:16:57,807 --> 00:17:00,307 for Buddy the Elf's co-star, Jovie. 393 00:17:00,394 --> 00:17:05,023 The studio was really pushing us to put Katie Holmes as Jovie. 394 00:17:05,106 --> 00:17:06,106 It's your time. 395 00:17:06,150 --> 00:17:07,819 She was a big star. I am. 396 00:17:07,901 --> 00:17:10,151 We didn't get her. She didn't want to do it. 397 00:17:10,738 --> 00:17:11,857 Long story. 398 00:17:11,946 --> 00:17:13,527 We auditioned a lot of people. 399 00:17:13,615 --> 00:17:14,694 What about me? 400 00:17:14,782 --> 00:17:16,492 We auditioned Zooey Deschanel. 401 00:17:16,576 --> 00:17:18,787 Zooey at the time, was a young actress. 402 00:17:18,871 --> 00:17:20,711 You know, I've never had a real job. 403 00:17:20,788 --> 00:17:23,078 She has that sassy kinda edge to her, 404 00:17:23,166 --> 00:17:24,876 but is also just warmhearted. 405 00:17:24,960 --> 00:17:27,589 As an actor, it's easy to sing Zooey's praise. 406 00:17:27,671 --> 00:17:29,381 But as well… She could sing. 407 00:17:29,464 --> 00:17:32,174 We wanted to do something that could bring it to light. 408 00:17:32,259 --> 00:17:34,598 So they told Zooey… You'll be cool. 409 00:17:34,677 --> 00:17:37,557 …and set out to cast her boss. Six-inch ribbon curls. 410 00:17:37,638 --> 00:17:39,848 We really wanted Wanda Sykes. 411 00:17:39,932 --> 00:17:42,692 What do you want? She dropped out at the last minute. 412 00:17:43,770 --> 00:17:47,191 And Favreau knew Faizon Love and called him up, 413 00:17:47,273 --> 00:17:48,983 and he came in and did us a solid. 414 00:17:49,067 --> 00:17:51,278 But his name tag says Wanda. 415 00:17:51,361 --> 00:17:54,201 We were so convinced we had her that we did the name tag, 416 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:56,580 so he wanted to wear the Wanda name tag. 417 00:17:57,409 --> 00:17:59,749 Jon Favreau made a few more calls… 418 00:17:59,827 --> 00:18:02,288 …to round out the cast of Elf. 419 00:18:02,372 --> 00:18:03,622 Favreau… Hello? 420 00:18:03,707 --> 00:18:05,457 …wanted Bob Newhart as Papa Elf. 421 00:18:05,541 --> 00:18:06,791 And as for… Santa! 422 00:18:06,876 --> 00:18:08,497 He wanted Ed Asner for Santa. 423 00:18:08,586 --> 00:18:11,257 That's the most disgusting idea I ever heard. 424 00:18:12,048 --> 00:18:13,759 These were genius choices. 425 00:18:13,842 --> 00:18:15,511 And with those choices chosen, 426 00:18:15,594 --> 00:18:17,354 it was off to Manhattan… 427 00:18:17,429 --> 00:18:21,308 …for 13 days, and get as much Christmas in as we possibly could. 428 00:18:21,391 --> 00:18:24,391 Well, the 13 days of live-action Christmas filming 429 00:18:24,478 --> 00:18:28,268 began in New York City on the 2nd of December, 2002, 430 00:18:28,356 --> 00:18:31,146 with a limited budget and very limited time. 431 00:18:31,234 --> 00:18:33,855 I was figuring out how to shoot these streets. 432 00:18:33,945 --> 00:18:36,195 How do we get the energy of New York City? 433 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:38,161 How do you not have it come out fake? 434 00:18:38,241 --> 00:18:39,122 And the answer? 435 00:18:39,201 --> 00:18:41,790 The best way not to have it fake is to have it real, 436 00:18:41,869 --> 00:18:45,079 that's why we just put him out there on the streets. 437 00:18:45,164 --> 00:18:48,585 They put together a small crew and prepared to shoot on the fly. 438 00:18:48,669 --> 00:18:51,378 We completely bought into this guerrilla style. 439 00:18:51,462 --> 00:18:54,262 So, the first thing we shot was the Lincoln Tunnel. 440 00:18:54,340 --> 00:18:56,010 I was terrified for Will. 441 00:18:56,093 --> 00:18:58,853 He actually went into the tunnel with the camera guy. 442 00:18:58,929 --> 00:19:01,219 They're shoved up against the wall. Crazy. 443 00:19:01,306 --> 00:19:03,096 And that was just the first shot. 444 00:19:03,182 --> 00:19:07,813 That day, we shot stuff like Will playing in the revolving doors. 445 00:19:08,313 --> 00:19:10,772 Running into traffic. He finds the gum that day. 446 00:19:11,316 --> 00:19:13,645 We shot on Park Avenue. 447 00:19:13,734 --> 00:19:16,275 That long-lens shot, we called it the Tootsie shot. 448 00:19:16,363 --> 00:19:18,492 As for the extras? Those are real people. 449 00:19:18,574 --> 00:19:19,584 Those aren't actors. 450 00:19:19,657 --> 00:19:22,327 The guy in the red jogging suit… Santa! Sant... 451 00:19:22,869 --> 00:19:24,619 That guy was just there. 452 00:19:24,704 --> 00:19:26,785 Going up to people and touching them… 453 00:19:26,874 --> 00:19:29,634 Anything could happen. That's what I was most worried about. 454 00:19:30,376 --> 00:19:32,747 The actor that everybody else was worried about… 455 00:19:32,837 --> 00:19:34,008 Sonny Corleone! 456 00:19:34,088 --> 00:19:36,048 …was about to clock in. 457 00:19:36,133 --> 00:19:38,972 There were rumors that Caan wasn't so easy to work with. 458 00:19:39,051 --> 00:19:39,892 Son of a… 459 00:19:39,970 --> 00:19:43,140 I think all of us had heard stories about James Caan 460 00:19:43,222 --> 00:19:45,682 being kind of… a wild man. 461 00:19:45,767 --> 00:19:49,557 With a reputation to uphold, the "wild man" made an announcement. 462 00:19:49,645 --> 00:19:52,226 On his first day… He went up and gave a speech. 463 00:19:52,316 --> 00:19:56,195 "My name is James Caan, but what I want you to know me as… 464 00:19:56,278 --> 00:19:57,647 is Jimmy the Dream." 465 00:19:57,738 --> 00:19:58,817 Jimmy the Dream. 466 00:20:00,324 --> 00:20:03,453 "When anyone says, 'What was James Caan like to work with?' 467 00:20:03,535 --> 00:20:05,535 I want immediately to come in your head, 468 00:20:05,621 --> 00:20:07,621 'Jimmy the Dream? He was a dream.'" 469 00:20:07,705 --> 00:20:08,705 I like it. 470 00:20:08,749 --> 00:20:10,999 To the credit of our production department, 471 00:20:11,084 --> 00:20:12,503 the next day, we came to set, 472 00:20:12,586 --> 00:20:15,836 and they had changed the stitching on his chair, 473 00:20:15,923 --> 00:20:18,012 and it said, "Jimmy the Dream." 474 00:20:18,090 --> 00:20:19,681 And with that… Good night. 475 00:20:19,759 --> 00:20:23,140 …concerns about working with James Caan were put to bed. 476 00:20:23,221 --> 00:20:24,892 Well… Or were they? 477 00:20:24,972 --> 00:20:26,893 Um… 478 00:20:26,974 --> 00:20:28,934 Tell what he thought of your fancy ring light. 479 00:20:29,019 --> 00:20:32,189 "You're not gonna have that ******* thing on this camera, are you?" 480 00:20:33,898 --> 00:20:34,778 That was weird. 481 00:20:34,857 --> 00:20:36,688 That was my introduction to James. 482 00:20:36,777 --> 00:20:39,567 Just as Greg and James were getting to know each other, 483 00:20:39,654 --> 00:20:41,984 it was nearly time to say goodbye to New York. 484 00:20:42,074 --> 00:20:42,913 Bye, guys. 485 00:20:42,990 --> 00:20:45,371 But not before they shot that heartwarming ending. 486 00:20:45,451 --> 00:20:47,662 The sleigh runs on Christmas spirit. 487 00:20:47,746 --> 00:20:49,665 Yep, that one. And they found a place… 488 00:20:49,748 --> 00:20:53,248 At the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Central Park South 489 00:20:53,335 --> 00:20:55,994 was about the only place that we could make it happen. 490 00:20:57,923 --> 00:21:01,182 Everybody's singing and Christmas spirit is building in the world. 491 00:21:01,259 --> 00:21:03,970 Christmas spirit that gets the sleigh to go, 492 00:21:04,054 --> 00:21:05,814 and Walter singing in the end. 493 00:21:05,888 --> 00:21:07,979 The singing really got me. 494 00:21:08,057 --> 00:21:09,887 A feel-good moment, as they say. 495 00:21:09,977 --> 00:21:12,977 With that, the New York filming was completed. 496 00:21:13,063 --> 00:21:17,113 But as junior executive Cale Boyter brought the dailies back to New Line, 497 00:21:17,192 --> 00:21:20,112 the feel-good feelings turned into hesitation. 498 00:21:20,194 --> 00:21:23,194 I do remember Bob calling me down into his office 499 00:21:23,281 --> 00:21:24,701 and hitting play. 500 00:21:24,782 --> 00:21:27,242 It was Will. Dad walks by, and he sees him. 501 00:21:27,326 --> 00:21:30,616 "Dad! Dad!" 502 00:21:30,705 --> 00:21:33,205 And basically saying, "You think that's funny?" 503 00:21:33,291 --> 00:21:35,001 It was clear what Bob thought. 504 00:21:35,085 --> 00:21:36,835 And Bob wasn't having it. 505 00:21:37,461 --> 00:21:38,301 You stink! 506 00:21:38,380 --> 00:21:41,220 Bravely looking into his boss' eyes, 507 00:21:41,299 --> 00:21:42,680 the junior executive said… 508 00:21:42,759 --> 00:21:44,548 "I do. I think it's really funny." 509 00:21:44,635 --> 00:21:46,556 You sit on a throne of lies. 510 00:21:46,637 --> 00:21:49,097 You're taking everything so seriously. 511 00:21:49,182 --> 00:21:51,442 When you're watching those dailies out of context, 512 00:21:51,518 --> 00:21:52,938 you're not reaching for laughs. 513 00:21:53,019 --> 00:21:55,190 So, instead of putting Elf on the shelf 514 00:21:55,271 --> 00:21:57,152 and firing his junior executive… 515 00:21:57,231 --> 00:22:02,112 Maybe, he kind of quietly respected the fact that I wasn't gonna cower, 516 00:22:02,194 --> 00:22:03,605 'cause it was ******* funny. 517 00:22:03,696 --> 00:22:06,487 Blissfully unaware of New Line's concern, 518 00:22:06,575 --> 00:22:09,234 the crew left New York in a cloud of Christmas spirit. 519 00:22:09,327 --> 00:22:12,958 We'd have shot it all in New York if we could afford to, but that was it. 520 00:22:13,039 --> 00:22:16,710 So, like many movies, they ended up in Vancouver, Canada. 521 00:22:16,792 --> 00:22:19,553 It's much cheaper to shoot on stages in Canada. 522 00:22:19,628 --> 00:22:22,719 But the stages in Vancouver, none of them were wide enough. 523 00:22:22,798 --> 00:22:26,429 In order to create the North Pole, we needed a certain amount of distance, 524 00:22:26,510 --> 00:22:27,681 with nothing in the way. 525 00:22:27,762 --> 00:22:30,563 So, their plans to shoot were put on ice… 526 00:22:31,141 --> 00:22:32,391 Canada style. 527 00:22:32,476 --> 00:22:35,346 We set up in a public-use hockey rink called the PNE. 528 00:22:35,436 --> 00:22:37,517 Giving them plenty of space. 529 00:22:37,605 --> 00:22:40,395 It had enough depth that we could sculpt the environment 530 00:22:40,483 --> 00:22:42,074 and put a backdrop we could light. 531 00:22:42,152 --> 00:22:45,201 And it was here that they constructed Santa's Village. 532 00:22:45,279 --> 00:22:47,490 We were looking at Rankin/Bass for reference. 533 00:22:47,574 --> 00:22:49,453 Who wasn't? All the sets were white. 534 00:22:49,534 --> 00:22:53,163 It allowed all of the colorful characters to pop out, 535 00:22:53,246 --> 00:22:56,076 and we decided that was the language for our set. 536 00:22:56,165 --> 00:22:59,086 But it was a language written in 1964, 537 00:22:59,169 --> 00:23:02,878 and Elf was being made in the digitally enhanced world of 2003. 538 00:23:02,963 --> 00:23:05,054 Technology was racing at the time. 539 00:23:05,133 --> 00:23:06,893 You bet it was. No! 540 00:23:06,968 --> 00:23:10,307 Even with this new wave of… Extreme graphic chipset processors. 541 00:23:10,388 --> 00:23:12,019 Jon Favreau… You comin'? 542 00:23:12,098 --> 00:23:13,558 Where? …wasn't on board. 543 00:23:13,642 --> 00:23:15,981 I would think about climbing on board. 544 00:23:16,060 --> 00:23:18,651 Jon really wanted to stay away from digital effects. 545 00:23:18,730 --> 00:23:21,859 I think the concern was he didn't want it to feel dated. 546 00:23:21,942 --> 00:23:26,112 So, when shooting a full-sized Buddy in an elf-sized world… 547 00:23:26,195 --> 00:23:28,986 We used forced perspective as much as possible. 548 00:23:29,074 --> 00:23:31,703 Moving to the forced-perspective shot on the big set. 549 00:23:31,785 --> 00:23:35,154 Forced perspective is a simple cinematic trick, in theory. 550 00:23:35,247 --> 00:23:38,537 It's done by compression. They're supposed to be next to each other, 551 00:23:38,625 --> 00:23:42,244 but the actors are literally ten feet away. 552 00:23:42,336 --> 00:23:43,876 No one's where they seem. 553 00:23:43,963 --> 00:23:47,473 And none of this has been done for 50 or 60 years. 554 00:23:47,550 --> 00:23:49,050 It was reinventing the wheel. 555 00:23:49,135 --> 00:23:52,056 A misshapen, wobbly wheel that was slow to get rolling. 556 00:23:52,138 --> 00:23:54,269 Here we go. Let's try a rehearsal. Ready. 557 00:23:54,348 --> 00:23:55,598 First day of trying, 558 00:23:55,683 --> 00:23:59,443 production lost a whole day setting up one shot and never captured it. 559 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,570 While Greg was full of confidence… 560 00:24:01,647 --> 00:24:03,688 I knew what I was doing. 561 00:24:03,775 --> 00:24:05,025 …others weren't so sure. 562 00:24:05,109 --> 00:24:08,200 There was concern on the part of New Line. "Is this gonna work?" 563 00:24:08,279 --> 00:24:10,490 By the time we shot the first morning, 564 00:24:10,574 --> 00:24:11,913 the producers were nervous 565 00:24:11,991 --> 00:24:15,751 they rushed the dailies straight to the lab and processed them, 566 00:24:15,828 --> 00:24:18,078 and we watched them at lunch the first day. 567 00:24:18,164 --> 00:24:21,244 There's room for everyone on the Nice List. 568 00:24:21,334 --> 00:24:24,134 And everybody's like, "It works!" 569 00:24:24,253 --> 00:24:27,763 And it was like, "Yeah, it works. I'd be fired if it didn't work." 570 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:29,931 A good perspective indeed. 571 00:24:30,009 --> 00:24:32,890 But even with Greg keeping a close eye on things, 572 00:24:32,971 --> 00:24:36,351 they were working to a crushing schedule. The clock was ticking. 573 00:24:36,432 --> 00:24:39,192 Jon was gonna have to forget about forced perspective. 574 00:24:39,269 --> 00:24:40,769 We were drifting behind. 575 00:24:40,854 --> 00:24:43,443 I'm going to be a little bit short on today's quota. 576 00:24:43,522 --> 00:24:46,613 But that didn't sit well with Joe Bauer, who said… 577 00:24:46,692 --> 00:24:48,323 Let me figure this out. 578 00:24:48,403 --> 00:24:51,163 I hate to do this to you. Can you help me pick up the slack? 579 00:24:51,239 --> 00:24:54,949 So, we set up a second unit, and we would come in every night… 580 00:24:55,035 --> 00:24:56,325 Lazy bum. 581 00:24:56,411 --> 00:24:57,790 …and set up shots. 582 00:24:57,871 --> 00:25:01,921 I didn't have a minute off for months, but truth is, it was so fun, 583 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,250 there's nowhere else I rather would have been. 584 00:25:04,794 --> 00:25:06,884 Um, here with us, maybe? 585 00:25:06,962 --> 00:25:07,962 Okay. 586 00:25:08,632 --> 00:25:10,471 So, as Joe took his seat, 587 00:25:10,549 --> 00:25:13,640 so did Buddy, on Papa Elf's tiny legs. 588 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,890 How do we get Will sitting on Bob Newhart's lap? 589 00:25:16,972 --> 00:25:19,522 The legs that pop up were a kid. 590 00:25:19,601 --> 00:25:22,810 We came up with this rig. He's lying on a diving board. 591 00:25:22,895 --> 00:25:27,145 Bob Newhart is in another chair ten feet back. 592 00:25:27,233 --> 00:25:31,324 Now it seemed there were no limits to their forced-perspective trickery. 593 00:25:31,403 --> 00:25:34,574 Not too fast, Buddy. We had a real-size kid in the foreground. 594 00:25:34,657 --> 00:25:38,288 Behind them is a little seat for a four-year-old boy, 595 00:25:38,369 --> 00:25:40,500 who's putting his hands over his shoulders, 596 00:25:40,579 --> 00:25:44,250 and Bob Newhart has to lean out and go, "Whoa! Be careful!" 597 00:25:44,334 --> 00:25:45,844 It's all for that one shot. 598 00:25:45,919 --> 00:25:50,128 And one shot at a time, they captured all of Santa's Village. 599 00:25:50,214 --> 00:25:53,505 I think we ended up with 47 forced-perspective setups, 600 00:25:53,593 --> 00:25:56,682 which is a tremendous amount. Maybe a little too tremendous. 601 00:25:56,762 --> 00:25:59,603 And all of those didn't make it into the show. 602 00:25:59,682 --> 00:26:02,143 But given the film's blatant inspiration… 603 00:26:02,227 --> 00:26:03,057 Rudolph. 604 00:26:03,144 --> 00:26:05,864 There was one element that just had to be included. 605 00:26:05,939 --> 00:26:07,608 Jon knew he wanted to do stop-motion. 606 00:26:07,691 --> 00:26:10,030 Saving the day again, Joe Bauer knew... 607 00:26:10,109 --> 00:26:13,200 I knew exactly who to call. All right, get on with it. 608 00:26:13,279 --> 00:26:16,029 I'm Charlie Chiodo, and I have a brother, Stephen. 609 00:26:16,950 --> 00:26:20,539 Hi, my name is Stephen Chiodo, and I have a younger brother, Edward. 610 00:26:20,619 --> 00:26:23,579 The Chiodo Brothers is a family business. Three brothers. 611 00:26:23,664 --> 00:26:27,335 It's a group of siblings that create stop-motion effects in Los Angeles. 612 00:26:27,419 --> 00:26:31,088 We like to think that the Chiodo Brothers bring something special. 613 00:26:33,133 --> 00:26:34,133 Holy... 614 00:26:36,176 --> 00:26:38,846 With a relatively un-Christmassy résumé… 615 00:26:38,930 --> 00:26:42,140 A pipe bomb, Jobriath. …this was the chance of a lifetime. 616 00:26:42,224 --> 00:26:46,265 We've made movies since we were kids, and the Rankin/Bass special inspired us. 617 00:26:50,692 --> 00:26:51,902 Yeah, makes sense. 618 00:26:51,984 --> 00:26:54,694 And appropriately, their first shot involved 619 00:26:54,778 --> 00:26:57,868 the long, dangerous tusk of Mr. Narwhal. 620 00:26:57,949 --> 00:27:01,578 The way Jon had described the scene where the Narwhal appears, 621 00:27:02,328 --> 00:27:05,038 he wanted the tusk to come up and rise out of the water 622 00:27:05,123 --> 00:27:06,673 like the Chrysler Building. 623 00:27:06,750 --> 00:27:08,920 And guess who did the voice for Mr. Narwhal. 624 00:27:09,001 --> 00:27:09,882 Bye, Buddy. 625 00:27:09,961 --> 00:27:11,300 "Hope you find your dad." 626 00:27:11,378 --> 00:27:12,669 Nope, it wasn't him. 627 00:27:12,756 --> 00:27:14,965 Jon Favreau did the voice of the Narwhal. 628 00:27:15,049 --> 00:27:17,720 Hope you find your dad. Thanks, Mr. Narwhal. 629 00:27:18,345 --> 00:27:20,255 With the Chiodo Brothers hard at work, 630 00:27:20,346 --> 00:27:22,136 Jon Favreau's Rankin/Bass homage 631 00:27:22,222 --> 00:27:23,932 was really starting to get its… 632 00:27:24,601 --> 00:27:26,480 legs potentially crushed. Sorry! 633 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:28,901 Something abominable was about to happen. 634 00:27:31,191 --> 00:27:33,320 There was some piece of bad news. 635 00:27:33,401 --> 00:27:35,361 … we got in trouble with clearance. 636 00:27:36,028 --> 00:27:39,159 The legal department at New Line started to get worried. 637 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,910 They got nervous we had stolen too much 638 00:27:41,992 --> 00:27:43,502 from Rankin/Bass. 639 00:27:43,619 --> 00:27:44,450 What? What? 640 00:27:44,537 --> 00:27:48,287 There was a question about if they had the rights to duplicate the costumes. 641 00:27:48,375 --> 00:27:51,664 This must have been cleared by now. Who's producing this thing? 642 00:27:51,752 --> 00:27:54,883 Legally, we thought we had made a deal and everything was cool, 643 00:27:54,963 --> 00:27:56,683 so we went off and made the movie. 644 00:27:56,758 --> 00:28:00,137 But the legal department at New Line, well, they had other ideas. 645 00:28:00,220 --> 00:28:04,309 And all of a sudden, we had lawyers in our midst. 646 00:28:05,767 --> 00:28:07,436 Lawyers with you on the set. 647 00:28:08,478 --> 00:28:12,067 Lawyers with you in the art department saying, "Where's your reference?" 648 00:28:12,147 --> 00:28:14,317 "Where did you get this idea from?" 649 00:28:14,401 --> 00:28:16,151 We're trapped! 650 00:28:16,236 --> 00:28:18,486 They were like, "How influenced are you?" 651 00:28:20,949 --> 00:28:22,028 And we said to them, 652 00:28:22,116 --> 00:28:23,866 "Really influenced." 653 00:28:23,951 --> 00:28:26,662 There was no hiding the movie's Rankin/Bass connection. 654 00:28:26,746 --> 00:28:28,326 True. Favreau came in 655 00:28:28,414 --> 00:28:32,085 and threw the book on the frigging table in his first meeting. 656 00:28:32,167 --> 00:28:35,208 But this time, the book was being thrown at them. 657 00:28:35,922 --> 00:28:39,592 The producer came to me and said that the film might not be releasable. 658 00:28:39,675 --> 00:28:43,296 And I remember Jon sitting on top of Elf's miniature sofa 659 00:28:43,387 --> 00:28:45,677 with his head in his hands like this. 660 00:28:45,765 --> 00:28:48,934 Well, in order to weather this legal storm, 661 00:28:49,018 --> 00:28:51,397 production leaped into action. What do we do? 662 00:28:51,479 --> 00:28:54,398 Suddenly, the blue Buddy outfit shows up. 663 00:28:54,481 --> 00:28:56,112 We tried this for one whole day. 664 00:28:56,692 --> 00:28:58,452 We shot with the original costume, 665 00:28:58,528 --> 00:29:00,107 then Will would go change, 666 00:29:00,195 --> 00:29:02,945 and shoot the same thing again with the other costume. 667 00:29:03,031 --> 00:29:04,951 But there was a big problem with this. 668 00:29:05,034 --> 00:29:06,544 We were downfield on the thing. 669 00:29:06,618 --> 00:29:08,788 If they couldn't clear the green costume, 670 00:29:08,872 --> 00:29:10,672 they'd have to reshoot everything! 671 00:29:10,749 --> 00:29:11,828 My gosh! 672 00:29:11,915 --> 00:29:12,996 No one wanted that. 673 00:29:13,084 --> 00:29:15,844 Do you mind telling me what you do wanna do? 674 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,839 One of the outs was, "Let's just…" 675 00:29:17,922 --> 00:29:20,882 Digitally alter the coats or… I don't know. 676 00:29:24,220 --> 00:29:27,220 However, in the end, threats to upend production 677 00:29:27,307 --> 00:29:29,477 were a little bit… toothless. 678 00:29:29,558 --> 00:29:31,898 Basically, some fast legal work had to be done. 679 00:29:31,978 --> 00:29:35,567 Ultimately, we proved ourselves to be free and clear. 680 00:29:35,647 --> 00:29:37,857 Thankfully, some smart people figured it out. 681 00:29:37,942 --> 00:29:40,112 Well, with that monster tackled, 682 00:29:40,194 --> 00:29:42,484 it was time to shoot the New York interiors, 683 00:29:42,572 --> 00:29:44,531 which they shot in… well… 684 00:29:44,615 --> 00:29:46,945 It wasn't a Kmart, but it looked like a Kmart. 685 00:29:47,035 --> 00:29:49,444 It was a closed-down mental institution. 686 00:29:49,537 --> 00:29:51,287 That's it! A mental institution. 687 00:29:55,501 --> 00:29:57,632 I was like, "This is perfect for New Line." 688 00:29:57,711 --> 00:29:59,961 It was production designer Rusty Smith's job 689 00:30:00,048 --> 00:30:01,968 to make it perfect for Elf. 690 00:30:02,049 --> 00:30:06,470 We had to repurpose this draconian mental institution. 691 00:30:06,554 --> 00:30:08,263 It was great for the police station, 692 00:30:08,932 --> 00:30:12,561 but it is one of the creepiest places I've ever been in my life. 693 00:30:12,644 --> 00:30:14,233 Why would it be any other way? 694 00:30:15,730 --> 00:30:17,980 But when the storm clouds cleared, 695 00:30:18,066 --> 00:30:20,816 they actually found this building to be quite versatile. 696 00:30:20,902 --> 00:30:22,491 It was here that they shot… 697 00:30:22,569 --> 00:30:25,279 The orphanage. We shot Greenway Press. 698 00:30:25,365 --> 00:30:27,154 Francisco, that's fun to say. 699 00:30:27,241 --> 00:30:28,281 The Hobbs apartment. 700 00:30:28,367 --> 00:30:30,198 What shall we put on first? Lights. 701 00:30:30,286 --> 00:30:32,286 I love when he's decorating the tree… 702 00:30:32,372 --> 00:30:34,922 How do we get the star on? …to put the star on. 703 00:30:34,999 --> 00:30:35,999 I got it. 704 00:30:36,084 --> 00:30:37,963 It's what's called a "Texas switch." 705 00:30:38,044 --> 00:30:40,673 You see your principal actor, Will Ferrell. 706 00:30:40,755 --> 00:30:42,505 He goes back to take a look at it, 707 00:30:42,589 --> 00:30:45,680 and then the stuntman takes a running jump off the sofa, 708 00:30:46,845 --> 00:30:48,674 and it falls over. 709 00:30:48,762 --> 00:30:50,272 All done in one take. 710 00:30:50,347 --> 00:30:52,597 You know that that's not really me, right? 711 00:30:53,476 --> 00:30:55,726 While Will brought funny to the funny farm… 712 00:30:57,188 --> 00:30:59,268 …Zooey Deschanel brought the heart. 713 00:30:59,356 --> 00:31:03,356 She's pissed to be stuck at Gimbels, working in this ridiculous outfit. 714 00:31:03,443 --> 00:31:04,653 Enjoying the view? 715 00:31:04,737 --> 00:31:07,067 But in that ever-shining light of Buddy the Elf… 716 00:31:07,155 --> 00:31:09,445 Someone needs to sing a Christmas carol. 717 00:31:09,534 --> 00:31:11,163 Go away. …she gets melted. 718 00:31:11,243 --> 00:31:12,453 But let's be honest. 719 00:31:12,537 --> 00:31:15,457 We all melt just a little bit when we hear her sing. 720 00:31:15,539 --> 00:31:18,039 We knew she could sing, and Favreau wanted that duet 721 00:31:18,125 --> 00:31:19,536 between Jovie and Buddy. 722 00:31:23,381 --> 00:31:25,590 When someone opens their mouth and they can sing, 723 00:31:25,674 --> 00:31:27,045 there's always that delight 724 00:31:27,634 --> 00:31:28,924 and surprise. 725 00:31:29,011 --> 00:31:31,061 Get out! Don't look at me! 726 00:31:31,138 --> 00:31:32,888 And the surprises didn't end here… 727 00:31:33,682 --> 00:31:37,153 It tickles! …as Will harnessed his SNL improv skills. 728 00:31:37,228 --> 00:31:39,518 Again, Will. See if we get a tighter seal. 729 00:31:39,605 --> 00:31:43,736 Shoot it the way it's written once and shoot it again with alternatives. 730 00:31:43,817 --> 00:31:45,028 We're tight. 731 00:31:45,111 --> 00:31:48,201 Don't know if I'd say "tight." Make it more Buddy. 732 00:31:48,780 --> 00:31:51,240 Will's antics were cracking the crew up. 733 00:31:51,326 --> 00:31:52,326 Cut! 734 00:31:52,367 --> 00:31:54,498 But had a different effect on his co-star. 735 00:31:55,078 --> 00:31:56,118 Dad? 736 00:31:57,999 --> 00:31:58,878 What? 737 00:31:58,958 --> 00:32:00,998 Despite his best efforts to be… 738 00:32:01,085 --> 00:32:03,204 "Jimmy the Dream." …Will had other ideas. 739 00:32:03,296 --> 00:32:06,836 Will is constantly doing things that deliberately aggravate James Caan. 740 00:32:06,924 --> 00:32:09,174 And James Caan wasn't tickled. 741 00:32:09,259 --> 00:32:11,140 When we shot the tickle-fight scene… 742 00:32:11,220 --> 00:32:14,519 Tickle fight. Jimmy Caan getting manhandled. 743 00:32:14,598 --> 00:32:17,888 After take two, I think he was like, "We got this?" 744 00:32:19,019 --> 00:32:20,019 Dad? 745 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:23,480 What? James tries to end it, but Will wouldn't. 746 00:32:23,566 --> 00:32:24,816 Dad… He wouldn't. 747 00:32:24,901 --> 00:32:26,861 I love you. Go to sleep now. 748 00:32:26,944 --> 00:32:27,815 Do you love me? 749 00:32:27,903 --> 00:32:29,743 Will's relentless performance… 750 00:32:29,821 --> 00:32:31,321 Dad! …had its advantages. 751 00:32:31,406 --> 00:32:35,326 It worked so damn good, just in terms of the tension between him and his son. 752 00:32:35,411 --> 00:32:37,371 He's my dad. But if he wasn't careful… 753 00:32:37,454 --> 00:32:40,325 He bailed me out. …this dream might become a nightmare. 754 00:32:40,415 --> 00:32:44,705 When he gets upset with Buddy, and he pushes him against the glass… 755 00:32:44,796 --> 00:32:46,296 What do you want? Some money? 756 00:32:46,381 --> 00:32:48,090 …everybody on crew goes, "Whoa!" 757 00:32:48,173 --> 00:32:50,973 There's an electricity here that is dangerous. 758 00:32:51,051 --> 00:32:55,392 But there was only one person who could get James Caan fully charged. 759 00:32:55,472 --> 00:32:57,603 It wasn't Will. Get the hell outta here. 760 00:32:57,683 --> 00:33:00,483 On one of the final days of shooting, Jon Favreau… 761 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:02,770 …whispered something into Jimmy's ear… 762 00:33:02,855 --> 00:33:04,184 I like to whisper too. 763 00:33:04,272 --> 00:33:06,573 …and he gave the take that's in the movie. 764 00:33:06,651 --> 00:33:08,740 I don't care where you go or that you're an elf! 765 00:33:08,819 --> 00:33:11,700 I don't care that you're nuts! I don't care that you're my son! 766 00:33:12,365 --> 00:33:14,115 Get out of my life, now! 767 00:33:14,826 --> 00:33:18,246 So, the question was… "What did you whisper in his ear?" 768 00:33:18,328 --> 00:33:20,249 And Fav said, "I reminded him 769 00:33:20,330 --> 00:33:22,631 that he was Sonny ♪♪♪♪♪♪♪ Corleone." 770 00:33:22,709 --> 00:33:25,378 Come here. You're taking this very personally. 771 00:33:25,461 --> 00:33:26,590 That's great. Cut. 772 00:33:27,422 --> 00:33:30,471 From New York to Vancouver, live action filming 773 00:33:30,549 --> 00:33:32,009 had finally ended. 774 00:33:32,093 --> 00:33:33,853 I'm like "It ended?" 775 00:33:36,763 --> 00:33:38,854 We'll figure out what happens in the editing. 776 00:33:38,932 --> 00:33:41,063 That's when you decide what the movie will be. 777 00:33:41,144 --> 00:33:45,193 So, as Jon Favreau and editor Dan Lebental worked out just that… 778 00:33:45,272 --> 00:33:47,192 We like where he sings all high. 779 00:33:49,359 --> 00:33:51,490 …the Chiodo Brothers had been hard at work. 780 00:33:51,570 --> 00:33:53,070 Or at least, hard-ish. 781 00:33:53,155 --> 00:33:55,865 Some of the stop-motion wasn't quite finished yet.♪ 782 00:33:55,950 --> 00:33:59,039 Instead, it was somebody walking around in a big foam head. 783 00:33:59,119 --> 00:34:02,539 By the way, don't eat the yellow snow. I know that. 784 00:34:02,623 --> 00:34:06,883 But then we get a call saying there's a preview screening coming up. 785 00:34:06,961 --> 00:34:08,760 They had a screening with New Line. 786 00:34:08,838 --> 00:34:12,547 Jon felt if they didn't have our stop-motion sequence at the screening, 787 00:34:12,632 --> 00:34:13,842 that it might be cut. 788 00:34:13,925 --> 00:34:17,965 The stop-motion origin of Elf was in danger of being cast out. 789 00:34:18,056 --> 00:34:20,675 You'll never fit in! But why? 790 00:34:20,766 --> 00:34:24,896 Jon was concerned that New Line was trying to save money. 791 00:34:24,978 --> 00:34:28,068 They didn't have as much faith in the movie as Jon did. 792 00:34:28,148 --> 00:34:29,978 But looking at the calendar… 793 00:34:30,068 --> 00:34:32,858 We had one day to shoot this to get Jon's deadline. 794 00:34:32,945 --> 00:34:34,105 Better get to work. 795 00:34:34,197 --> 00:34:37,617 Okay, so Teresa Drilling, an incredible animator, 796 00:34:37,699 --> 00:34:38,739 a real hard worker, 797 00:34:38,826 --> 00:34:43,036 she said, "Guys, just give me some coffee, and I'll shoot it in one day." 798 00:34:43,121 --> 00:34:46,251 She worked basically 27 hours straight. 799 00:34:46,333 --> 00:34:48,844 And I think she drank 12 pots of coffee. 800 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,880 It really must have been… World's best cup of coffee. 801 00:34:51,963 --> 00:34:53,514 Because… We made the deadline. 802 00:34:53,590 --> 00:34:54,880 Got it into the preview. 803 00:34:54,967 --> 00:34:58,387 And with that, Jon Favreau's vision was ready to watch. 804 00:34:59,304 --> 00:35:02,175 New Line was just doing a very small, like… 805 00:35:02,266 --> 00:35:05,516 employee-friends-family screening, just to test it out. 806 00:35:05,603 --> 00:35:08,362 And we watch the movie, and it's got temp score in it. 807 00:35:08,438 --> 00:35:10,228 Well, not temp stop-motion though. 808 00:35:11,818 --> 00:35:15,568 And as they all began to watch Elf for the very first time… 809 00:35:15,655 --> 00:35:18,614 It exceeded my expectation of what the movie could be. 810 00:35:20,242 --> 00:35:22,043 My heart just, like, sang. 811 00:35:23,036 --> 00:35:24,786 This is it, a hundred percent. 812 00:35:24,871 --> 00:35:28,172 And as they settled back, basking in the warm… 813 00:35:28,876 --> 00:35:31,045 projector glow of comedy glory, 814 00:35:31,545 --> 00:35:35,295 it was time to bring it home with that heartwarming ending. 815 00:35:35,382 --> 00:35:39,143 And the engine fires and they fly off… 816 00:35:42,181 --> 00:35:44,891 And that's it. That's the movie. Roll credits. 817 00:35:45,601 --> 00:35:47,811 I was literally thinking they skipped a reel. 818 00:35:47,894 --> 00:35:51,605 And I am shocked to say the least. What was missing? 819 00:35:51,690 --> 00:35:55,070 There's no Christmas spirit that gets the sleigh to go, 820 00:35:55,152 --> 00:35:56,992 and Walter and everyone singing, 821 00:35:57,070 --> 00:35:59,990 and cutting to the people that Buddy has met along the way. 822 00:36:00,074 --> 00:36:02,664 Hey! All that is gone. It's out of the movie. 823 00:36:03,994 --> 00:36:06,405 Without the magical Christmas ending, 824 00:36:06,496 --> 00:36:08,996 Elf was in danger of losing its heart. 825 00:36:09,583 --> 00:36:11,293 What the **** happened? 826 00:36:11,376 --> 00:36:14,376 One thing happened between the time when we shot the movie 827 00:36:14,463 --> 00:36:15,592 and we tested it, 828 00:36:15,672 --> 00:36:16,882 and that was Old School. 829 00:36:16,965 --> 00:36:19,635 Old School? That happened, like, 25 minutes ago. 830 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:20,719 Old School was shot. 831 00:36:21,721 --> 00:36:23,061 But hadn't come out yet. 832 00:36:23,139 --> 00:36:26,179 Well, when it did come out, just months before Elf… 833 00:36:26,266 --> 00:36:27,387 It rocked the house. 834 00:36:27,476 --> 00:36:29,476 Will Ferrell the star was on full display. 835 00:36:29,561 --> 00:36:32,192 We're going streaking! Yeah! 836 00:36:32,273 --> 00:36:35,362 And Will was awesome in that movie. He kinda just blew up. 837 00:36:35,443 --> 00:36:37,112 But how did that blow up Elf? 838 00:36:37,195 --> 00:36:39,695 Suddenly, we had a movie starring Frank "The Tank"… 839 00:36:42,657 --> 00:36:43,947 I'll ******* kill you! 840 00:36:44,034 --> 00:36:46,034 …wearing yellow tights. 841 00:36:46,119 --> 00:36:48,210 I like to smile. It's my favorite. 842 00:36:48,289 --> 00:36:50,579 At least he was wearing something. Hey! 843 00:36:50,666 --> 00:36:54,416 Here we were, this very saccharine, sweet, gentle, kind movie. 844 00:36:54,503 --> 00:36:58,052 I don't think New Line, the boss-bosses, knew exactly what to do. 845 00:36:58,132 --> 00:37:00,262 People started to question whether or not 846 00:37:00,342 --> 00:37:02,762 Elf jokes would work for the Old School audience. 847 00:37:02,844 --> 00:37:04,965 So, New Line made a switch. 848 00:37:05,472 --> 00:37:07,393 Hello? I got a call from Jon. 849 00:37:07,474 --> 00:37:08,474 I wanna talk to you. 850 00:37:08,516 --> 00:37:10,097 He was in the editing process. 851 00:37:10,186 --> 00:37:12,856 We kinda like that ending, so we use that ending now. 852 00:37:12,980 --> 00:37:15,190 He basically delivered his cut, 853 00:37:15,273 --> 00:37:19,954 and he let me know that New Line took the movie away from him. 854 00:37:20,028 --> 00:37:22,739 Ripped from the clutches of Jon Favreau, 855 00:37:22,822 --> 00:37:24,913 Elf was in New Line's hands now. 856 00:37:24,992 --> 00:37:28,121 They tried to re-edit it into something else. 857 00:37:28,204 --> 00:37:29,833 Blue, you're my boy! 858 00:37:29,914 --> 00:37:32,673 There was a fight to make it more like a normal comedy. 859 00:37:32,750 --> 00:37:35,460 Which might have happened if it weren't for the crew. 860 00:37:35,543 --> 00:37:39,304 We had been so committed to Jon's vision 861 00:37:39,382 --> 00:37:41,512 and his way of executing that film, 862 00:37:41,592 --> 00:37:42,931 that they couldn't do it. 863 00:37:43,427 --> 00:37:46,467 They couldn't re-edit it and make it into something 864 00:37:46,554 --> 00:37:48,594 that the studio thought was better. 865 00:37:49,516 --> 00:37:52,686 Elf was Elf right down to its DNA. 866 00:37:52,769 --> 00:37:56,190 You couldn't abandon the movie's roots. You can never change that. 867 00:37:56,940 --> 00:38:00,320 The reason the movie still works is because it never lost its heart. 868 00:38:00,402 --> 00:38:03,362 Faith, light, love. The things that make the world go. 869 00:38:03,447 --> 00:38:05,567 So, New Line gave Buddy another chance, 870 00:38:05,657 --> 00:38:07,577 and tested Jon's original ending. 871 00:38:07,659 --> 00:38:10,079 Filled the house with Old School audience, 872 00:38:10,161 --> 00:38:11,791 and… boom! 873 00:38:14,333 --> 00:38:17,253 At that point, we knew we had something that was special. 874 00:38:17,836 --> 00:38:19,297 And the rest is history. 875 00:38:19,380 --> 00:38:21,800 This is the fun part. Where it all pays off. 876 00:38:21,882 --> 00:38:23,262 Elf not only paid off… 877 00:38:23,342 --> 00:38:24,842 It set the house on fire. 878 00:38:24,927 --> 00:38:27,637 …it exceeded everyone's expectations. 879 00:38:27,722 --> 00:38:32,101 Elf was a complete surprise to me, because I expected, frankly, to hate it. 880 00:38:32,184 --> 00:38:35,023 Seeing a movie that you wrote is like a dream. 881 00:38:35,103 --> 00:38:37,114 And maybe it was because of the dream. 882 00:38:37,188 --> 00:38:39,938 James Caan was nothing but a dream. 883 00:38:40,025 --> 00:38:41,025 I like hearing that. 884 00:38:41,110 --> 00:38:44,110 Or the appearance of a ghost from Christmas movies past. 885 00:38:44,195 --> 00:38:45,356 You'll shoot your eye out. 886 00:38:45,447 --> 00:38:48,617 Or even this guy, in a "Wanda" name tag. 887 00:38:48,701 --> 00:38:52,251 Whatever the reason… My God, this is really working. 888 00:38:52,329 --> 00:38:54,420 Yeah. Working its way up the box office charts. 889 00:38:54,498 --> 00:38:56,498 In our second week of release, 890 00:38:57,083 --> 00:38:58,963 we were number one at the box office. 891 00:38:59,045 --> 00:39:01,505 Who knew it would just kinda keep making money? 892 00:39:01,588 --> 00:39:03,628 Actually, it's making more than money. 893 00:39:03,715 --> 00:39:05,835 Elf was also the springboard 894 00:39:05,925 --> 00:39:08,965 that launched this group of young, inexperienced filmmakers 895 00:39:09,054 --> 00:39:10,675 into the Hollywood stratosphere. 896 00:39:10,764 --> 00:39:13,014 And Jon Favreau has become one of the top-ten, 897 00:39:13,099 --> 00:39:16,559 top-grossing directors of all time, as well as producing the Iron Man… 898 00:39:16,644 --> 00:39:19,474 Avengers! …and Avengers franchises. 899 00:39:19,565 --> 00:39:22,815 And even delivering Baby Yoda into the world with The Mandalorian. 900 00:39:22,902 --> 00:39:25,112 Wait. Is there another Rankin/Bass... What? 901 00:39:25,195 --> 00:39:27,565 Nah. But as for Elf's star, well, 902 00:39:27,655 --> 00:39:32,286 Will Ferrell has obviously become one of America's most beloved comedy actors. 903 00:39:32,369 --> 00:39:35,039 And there's no question… I'm Ron Burgundy. 904 00:39:35,121 --> 00:39:35,961 …about why. 905 00:39:36,039 --> 00:39:38,460 Will's performance is this movie. 906 00:39:38,541 --> 00:39:41,461 I mean, he is literally the engine 907 00:39:41,545 --> 00:39:43,875 and the heart and soul of the movie. 908 00:39:43,963 --> 00:39:47,094 Without Will, there is no Elf. I love you. 909 00:39:47,175 --> 00:39:52,096 What Will Ferrell did was so true to what I had envisioned 910 00:39:52,181 --> 00:39:54,351 from that first coffee with David Berenbaum. 911 00:39:54,432 --> 00:39:57,353 That first coffee, that they had here… 912 00:39:57,436 --> 00:39:59,356 Here we are again. Here we are. 913 00:39:59,438 --> 00:40:02,858 …where two regular Joes had some coffee and percolated a plan. 914 00:40:02,942 --> 00:40:05,152 You remember that that's where my office was. 915 00:40:05,235 --> 00:40:07,695 I didn't want to travel far for that first meeting. 916 00:40:07,780 --> 00:40:11,489 I understand. If it doesn't work out, you just hop… "I gotta go." 917 00:40:11,574 --> 00:40:13,405 "There's a thing…" Sure. Yeah. 918 00:40:14,577 --> 00:40:16,077 Look at this place. 919 00:40:16,163 --> 00:40:17,293 Wow. 920 00:40:17,373 --> 00:40:18,873 Look at this. It has changed. 921 00:40:18,958 --> 00:40:21,168 This has changed. These windows weren't here. 922 00:40:21,251 --> 00:40:22,461 I don't think, right? 923 00:40:22,545 --> 00:40:24,875 No. I like what they've done to the place. 924 00:40:24,963 --> 00:40:29,974 You and I, again, I think, for two guys who'd done nothing, really, at that time… 925 00:40:30,052 --> 00:40:31,641 Neither of us had made a movie, 926 00:40:31,719 --> 00:40:34,349 and we sat down, 'cause of the script that you wrote, 927 00:40:34,431 --> 00:40:36,681 with a great concept that was hilarious. 928 00:40:36,766 --> 00:40:39,556 It happened to be the right idea, with the right producers, 929 00:40:39,644 --> 00:40:41,855 with the right star, with the right director. 930 00:40:41,938 --> 00:40:43,068 Jonny Favs! 931 00:40:43,148 --> 00:40:45,278 That first creative session, we got it. 932 00:40:45,358 --> 00:40:46,858 We were on the same page. 933 00:40:46,943 --> 00:40:49,324 From that very first meeting, it was clear 934 00:40:49,405 --> 00:40:52,485 that Jon Favreau was meant to be. Check the gate on that. 935 00:40:52,574 --> 00:40:56,445 Your job is to make sure that everybody is sharing the same vision. 936 00:40:56,536 --> 00:40:59,327 A vision that included three simple things. 937 00:40:59,414 --> 00:41:01,625 Yeah. What was that third thing? 938 00:41:03,293 --> 00:41:07,014 And the third thing he said, which I thought was really ambitious, was… 939 00:41:07,088 --> 00:41:08,588 Well, go on then. Um… 940 00:41:08,673 --> 00:41:11,974 He said he wanted it to be a timeless Christmas classic. 941 00:41:12,052 --> 00:41:14,972 That was his original pitch, and he accomplished it. 942 00:41:15,681 --> 00:41:17,351 And I'm lucky that he did. 943 00:41:17,432 --> 00:41:20,943 So, Jon Favreau's wish to make a timeless Christmas classic… 944 00:41:21,019 --> 00:41:23,690 You wrote a heck of a script, we made a great movie. 945 00:41:23,771 --> 00:41:25,442 …of course, came true. 946 00:41:25,523 --> 00:41:28,994 We definitely wanted to make a movie that stuck around for generations. 947 00:41:29,068 --> 00:41:30,909 And speaking of generations, 948 00:41:30,987 --> 00:41:33,867 when these guys set out to make a family Christmas movie, 949 00:41:33,949 --> 00:41:35,028 they really meant it. 950 00:41:35,117 --> 00:41:37,746 This guy here, that's Will Ferrell's little brother. 951 00:41:37,827 --> 00:41:38,947 Go back to Gimbels! 952 00:41:39,038 --> 00:41:41,038 Gardiner's daughter made an appearance. 953 00:41:42,081 --> 00:41:44,001 And Buddy's long-lost mom? 954 00:41:44,083 --> 00:41:46,304 She's somebody. Somebody? 955 00:41:46,378 --> 00:41:49,007 The love of my life! Sorry, Todd. That's your wife. 956 00:41:49,088 --> 00:41:52,588 And even baby Buddy himself is Jon Favreau's son. 957 00:41:52,675 --> 00:41:55,135 Jon said, "I wanna make a movie for my 1-year-old." 958 00:41:55,721 --> 00:41:58,681 How he wanted it to be warm and heartfelt, 959 00:41:58,766 --> 00:42:02,346 and, you know, and be in every family's home… 960 00:42:03,728 --> 00:42:05,398 Um, I get choked up about it. 961 00:42:06,148 --> 00:42:08,478 And much like Christmas spirit itself… 962 00:42:08,567 --> 00:42:10,896 It starts, often, with one person. 963 00:42:17,451 --> 00:42:19,911 It started with one person, Dave Berenbaum, 964 00:42:19,994 --> 00:42:23,824 sitting down and writing something and believing in it when there was nobody… 965 00:42:23,916 --> 00:42:26,456 There was nobody waving him on. 966 00:42:28,086 --> 00:42:32,586 You know, when I wrote the movie, I wrote it as a… 967 00:42:32,675 --> 00:42:33,675 as a son. 968 00:42:35,052 --> 00:42:38,891 And now… now I'm a father, so… 969 00:42:38,972 --> 00:42:40,932 the fact that I can… 970 00:42:41,934 --> 00:42:44,693 show the movie, today, to my kids, 971 00:42:45,853 --> 00:42:48,023 it means everything. 972 00:42:48,648 --> 00:42:50,778 When David Berenbaum wrote Elf, 973 00:42:50,858 --> 00:42:53,608 he tapped into something more than a comedy, 974 00:42:54,572 --> 00:42:56,282 more than a heartwarming movie. 975 00:42:56,782 --> 00:42:59,452 I'll always… I'll always be here for you. 976 00:42:59,534 --> 00:43:02,905 Maybe even more important than Christmas itself. 977 00:43:03,831 --> 00:43:06,291 My father passed away when I was younger. 978 00:43:06,375 --> 00:43:09,244 This movie's about the search for the father. 979 00:43:09,753 --> 00:43:15,632 That is what, writing the film, I really wanted Buddy to achieve. 980 00:43:16,135 --> 00:43:17,385 Um… 981 00:43:18,554 --> 00:43:20,434 So at the end of the movie, 982 00:43:20,514 --> 00:43:24,143 when… Walter hugs Buddy, 983 00:43:24,684 --> 00:43:26,644 that's the movie to me. 984 00:43:29,481 --> 00:43:30,900 My son, I love you. 985 00:43:35,195 --> 00:43:38,695 And so, Elf's legacy is that a movie about family 986 00:43:38,782 --> 00:43:41,661 has become the ultimate Christmas family movie. 987 00:43:41,744 --> 00:43:44,293 So, we'd better give the Elf family some love too, 988 00:43:45,039 --> 00:43:48,208 because thanks to these guys, this movie isn't just about love, 989 00:43:48,958 --> 00:43:50,168 it really was made with… 990 00:43:50,251 --> 00:43:51,842 Love. Love. 991 00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:53,670 There was lot of love. And light. 992 00:43:53,755 --> 00:43:57,545 …that has really made a little dent in the darkness of the world. 993 00:43:57,635 --> 00:43:59,635 It's magic. It's really magic. 994 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:01,849 That's really the true meaning of Christmas. 995 00:44:01,929 --> 00:44:04,559 Merry Christmas! 996 00:44:06,351 --> 00:44:08,561 I feel like a ******, holding this thing. 79452

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