\u201cI was kind of really missing East Coast winters,\u201d he recalls over the phone. \u201cI was not used to LA winters at all. I sort of missed the family and everything like that and so I essentially surrounded myself with all sorts of Christmas movies. And then I started writing one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the initial idea he had for a Christmas movie was not Elf but an entirely separate film titled Christmas in New Jersey \u2013 a rom-com that never went on to be produced. But although that script didn\u2019t go anywhere itself, it did open all sorts of doors that would later make Elf possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt got me in the door with all sorts of people and they said, \u2018What\u2019s next?’\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd then I thought of the idea for Elf because I was surrounded by all this Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rankin\/Bass stuff. And I sort of thought it would be amusing to put a human into that sort of environment. Buddy is sort of a misfit, he doesn\u2019t fit in \u2013 Rudolph is sort of a misfit, he doesn\u2019t fit in. And they both go off on quests. So that was sort of the beginning of that \u2013 Rudolph mixed with a healthy dose of Big, the Tom Hanks movie.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Big which ended up serving as \u201ca bit of a template\u201d for Elf\u2019s script in the early stages of development, with Berenbaum using Hanks\u2019 character Josh Baskin as a \u201cguidepost\u201d for the character of Buddy the Elf, well before Will Ferrell first got involved. Indeed, in those first days of putting pen to paper, Ferrell was hardly on Berenbaum\u2019s radar at all \u2013 he was only just getting started on Saturday Night Live \u2013 but fast forward a few years and it was the star himself who played a key role in getting the film the green light following a number of false starts.<\/p>\n As Berenbaum explains: \u201cIt had gone out and was optioned once and they put an actor on it and were looking at directors, and nothing sort of materialised from that. And then right after that the option expired, it was picked up by another company for another year and went down a development road, and nothing happened with that.\u201d<\/p>\n It was then that Bernabaum\u2019s manager had the idea that Ferrell would be perfect for the lead role, and after he\u2019d attached himself things quickly began to gather pace \u2013 with Jon Favreau signing on as director and working on a couple of rewrites with Berenbaum (including a change to the ending that brought in the famous Christmas cheer scene). Favreau himself has previously stated that he initially wasn\u2019t interested in the script, explaining in a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone<\/a> that the original version was \u201cmuch darker\u201d \u2013 but this isn\u2019t how Berenbaum remembers it.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was always sort of lighter in tone,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know about that. It was, you know, it was always sort of light on its feet \u2013 it was very much something that Disney was considering making for a while because I was employed at Disney at the time. So it was, I thought, always a very sweet story.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of what the original version of the film might have looked like, it can\u2019t be denied that Ferrell put his own distinctive stamp on the script as soon as he got his hands on it. Berenbaum was kept involved by the producers throughout the process \u2013 spending a couple of weeks on set \u2013 and watching the star take his script and run with it was something he got a great deal of enjoyment out of.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t quite frankly think of another actor who would be better playing the role than Will,\u201d he says. \u201cI mean, realistically the movie doesn\u2019t work at all without Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf. So to see him inhabit that role and really bring it to life was amazing, I mean he would do an ad lib and he would go here and there \u2013 he would take it in unexpected directions and he has such an infectious energy that really just brought the entire thing to life.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, Ferrell wasn\u2019t the only big name in the cast, and Berenbaum was especially delighted about another actor who was brought in to play a key supporting role: the late James Caan, who plays Buddy\u2019s biological father Walter.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I heard that James Caan was going to be playing Walter I thought that was a stroke of genius,\u201d he explains. \u201cTo have Sonny Corleone playing against this sweet, innocent Elf? I just thought would be incredible. I had grown up watching The Godfather, and to think that James Caan was going to be in this movie was kind of insane to me. And, you know, it could not have worked better!\u201d<\/p>\n And there were other actors that he was equally happy to see bringing his characters to life.<\/p>\n \u201cI just thought that literally every casting decision was spectacular,\u201d he continues. \u201cBob Newhart as Papa Elf, Ed Asner as a sort of a grumpy but sweet, crusty Santa, and then Zooey Deschanel \u2013 it just sort of went straight down the line. And they had character actors filling out the universe of this movie, real sort of independent actors. It made it feel real, these actors really grounded the movie in a way that let Will just kind of run wild. And I think that was sort of the secret sauce that made the movie work.\u201d<\/p>\n Berenbaum was already \u201cover the moon\u201d when he found out the movie was getting made, and watching the process of it being put together was something he was deeply proud of too \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t until he watched it in front of an audience for the first time that he realised quite how big a hit he had on his hands.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, clearly, there was an energy and electricity there that you can feel,\u201d he recalls. \u201cAnd you know going through all that was Will\u2019s performance and Favreau\u2019s direction. It retained its heart \u2013 people could really feel the movie from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n From that point onwards, the film hasn\u2019t looked back: it\u2019s watched more times every December than just about any other 21st-century film, and recently finished fourth in our RadioTimes.com<\/strong> poll to crown the greatest Christmas film ever made<\/a>. So how often does Berenbaum revisit it?<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it played in theatres out here for the years, I would take my kids to go see it and that was fun to share with them,\u201d he responds. \u201cAnd, you know as we\u2019re decorating the tree, we\u2019ll sort of put it on and it\u2019s a great thing to have Buddy come back into your life every year, this time of year. It\u2019s really quite amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n The film has also taken on a life of its own when it comes to reimaginings and parodies \u2013 from a 2022 Asda Christmas advert to a musical theatre version that opened on Broadway in 2010 \u2013 and Berenbaum is very happy to see the film\u2019s legacy live on in this way. He\u2019s less sure, however, when it comes to talk of a potential sequel. There were reports at one point that Ferrell had turned down a huge offer to reprise the title role in a follow-up, and for now, Berenbaum feels that might just have been the correct decision.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, there have been discussions over the years,\u201d he says. \u201cI think Buddy\u2019s story had a good beginning, middle and end and I think there are other ways to look into that world and that universe and see if there are other things that can spring out of it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I\u2019m very satisfied with the way it is and the way that people have embraced it into their homes \u2013 that is something that\u2019s rare and special. And I don\u2019t know if Will getting back into the tights would be perhaps the best idea at this point!\u201d<\/p> If you\u2019re looking for more to watch, check out our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a> and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>. Visit our Movies<\/a> hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Christmas double issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong>Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By Patrick Cremona Published: Friday, 23 December 2022 at 12:00 am Since its release almost two decades ago, Elf has secured its place as a bonafide Christmas classic. The image of Will Ferrell cheerfully gallivanting around Manhattan in his yellow tights has become iconic, as has the declaration that the \u201cbest way to spread Christmas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27678,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/elf-screenwriter-on-its-lasting-legacy-its-something-thats-rare-and-special-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/elf-screenwriter-on-its-lasting-legacy-its-something-thats-rare-and-special-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/elf-screenwriter-on-its-lasting-legacy-its-something-thats-rare-and-special-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/elf-screenwriter-on-its-lasting-legacy-its-something-thats-rare-and-special-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/elf-screenwriter-on-its-lasting-legacy-its-something-thats-rare-and-special-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/elf-screenwriter-on-its-lasting-legacy-its-something-thats-rare-and-special-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/elf-screenwriter-on-its-lasting-legacy-its-something-thats-rare-and-special-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Patrick Cremona Published: Friday, 23 December 2022 at 12:00 am Since its release almost two decades ago, Elf has secured its place as a bonafide Christmas classic. 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