The scene in the Will Ferrell Christmas favorite Elf where Zooey Deschanel’s character Jovie sings in the shower was added just for her. Deschanel and Ferrell starred together in the quirky 2003 Jon Favreau comedy. While Ferrell’s onscreen antics were perfectly suited to his brand of humor, one of Deschanel’s key strengths in the film was her musical ability.

With each passing year since the film’s release some seventeen years ago, Elf seems to become increasingly entrenched in the list of must-see Christmas movies. The story follows Buddy, a dim-witted but kind young man adopted as a baby by one of the elves in Santa’s workshop, Papa Elf (Bob Newhart). As he grows older (and much, much bigger than the other elves), Buddy’s inability to do the things typically associated with Santa’s elves becomes painfully clear. After discovering that his father lives in New York City, Buddy decides to search for his real family. Of course, New York isn’t quite the place for someone as inherently naïve as Buddy is, but thankfully he makes fast friends with his Gimbels department store co-worker, Jovie.

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Buddy and Jovie’s friendship gets off to a strange start, as Buddy – clueless to the concept of boundaries, follows the sound of someone singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in the Gimbels staff shower room. It just so happens that it’s Jovie doing the singing, and she is terrified when she discovers that Buddy is in the room, performing his version of a duet with her. In a new interview with EW, Deschanel revealed that the singing wasn’t in the original script and that it was added by Favreau, who wanted to tailor the scene to her particular skillset:

“I remember [director] Jon Favreau telling me that they were catering it to whoever played the part. One actress they were looking at was good at skateboarding. But I had a cabaret act at the time and I was performing a lot. They knew that I was a singer, so they put that in to be my special thing that he could discover I was good at.”

Though the scene allows for a humorous moment between Buddy and Jovie, it’s strange to see a man creeping into a shower room while a woman is showering. This, Deschanel admits, is weird, but she believes that audiences accept it because it’s clear that Buddy’s intentions are both pure and innocent. As for Favreau, the filmmaker had yet to make a name for himself as a blockbuster director in 2003. His attention to detail in his characters can be seen in his desire to incorporate Deschanel’s real-world talents with her onscreen persona.

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There’s no doubt that Elf has taken on its own significance since it was first released, and over the years, fans have become so attached to it that there has been plenty of talk about a sequel. Unfortunately, word recently spread that Favreau and Ferrell did not get along while making the film. If this is the case, hopefully, one day, the two will set aside their differences long enough to provide the world with another glimpse at Buddy and Jovie’s world.

Source: EW

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Mike Jones
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Mike Jones is an author, screenwriter, world traveller and cinephile. His work has been featured in print and online in a variety of publications, and he’s also a Berlinale Talents alumnus. Cinema has always moved him in a big way and aside from having seen The Talented Mr Ripley more times than any other living person, he maintains a pretty darn healthy physical media collection. His favourite filmmakers include: Jordan Peele, David Lean, Alfred Hitchcock, Mike Leigh, Steven Spielberg, the Dardenne Brothers, Noah Baumbach, Michael Haneke, Barry Jenkins and Andrea Arnold. Often jet-lagged, Mike once turned down a certain A-list celebrity’s offer to join them for a night of partying after a strange encounter in an airport.

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