In 2002, Ferrell ended his run on "Saturday Night Live" to prepare to make a name for himself in film.

In 2003, Ferrell starred in "Elf" and the R-rated comedy "Old School."

Ferrell told Entertainment Weekly in 2007 that before taking on the role of Buddy the Elf, he requested that the movie remain lighthearted and took cues from the Tom Hanks film "Big" in creating his character's childlike persona.

Since bringing Buddy to life, Ferrell has gone on to act in over 20 full-length feature films, including "Anchorman," "Kicking and Screaming," "Step Brothers," and "Get Hard."

He's also gone behind-the-scenes as an executive producer, working on hit shows like Netflix's "Dead to Me" and HBO's "Succession," as well as top-rated films like "Booksmart."

He also starred in "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" (2020) and has continued down his producing path, with some of his most recent projects including "Will & Harper" (2024) and Netflix's "No Good Deed."

"Elf" was the ninth feature-length film that Deschanel had appeared in since launching her acting career in 1998.

At the time "Elf" debuted, Deschanel was a relatively new actress in Hollywood with a few films under her belt, including  "All the Real Girls" and "Almost Famous." 

In a 2018 interview with Variety, Deschanel said that she was the second choice for the role and ultimately starred in the movie as Jovie when the film's first choice dropped out.

And in 2003, she told liveabout.com that she believed she mostly got the part because she could sing. 

Post-"Elf," the actress starred in several major movies, including "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "500 Days of Summer," and "Trolls."

In 2006, she formed a two-person indie band with M. Ward called She and Him. The pair has released multiple studio albums together.

Deschanel landed her most notable role as Jessica Day on the Fox show "New Girl" in 2011. The series ended in 2018 after seven seasons. 

She appeared in the short "Katy Perry: Not the End of the World" as a lookalike of the pop star in 2020. Some of her most recent projects include lending her voice to the character Bridget in "Trolls World Tour" (2020) and "Trolls Band Together" (2023).

Caan wasn't a Hollywood newbie when he joined the "Elf" cast as Buddy's father, Walter.

The seasoned actor had previously starred in films like "Misery," "The Godfather," and "Funny Lady."

In 2013, Caan told the AV Club that he remembered "Elf" as one of his favorite comedy productions.

After starring in the holiday flick, he worked on TV series like NBC's "Las Vegas," and continued to star in popular movies like "Undercover Grandpa."

He also went on to voice a character in "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and several "Godfather" video-game characters.

On July 6, 2022, Caan died of a heart attack and coronary artery disease at the age of 82. His final films were "Queen Bees" (2021) and the upcoming thriller, "Dark Harvest."

Having voiced Bernard in Disney's "The Rescuers" and "The Rescuers: Down Under" and appearing in popular films like "In and Out" and "Legally Blonde 2," Newhart was a well-known actor before joining the cast of "Elf."

He even had his own CBS TV series in the 1970s titled "The Bob Newhart Show," which ran for six years. 

Starring as Papa Elf in the 2003 film, Newhart had to appear much shorter than his adoptive son, Buddy, which entailed standing several feet away from Ferrell while acting, according to Variety.

Although he has continued his work on TV, Newhart has only appeared in one feature-length film since the release of "Elf" — the 2011 movie "Horrible Bosses" starring Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman.

Newhart has also made frequent appearances on shows like TNT's "The Librarians" and CBS' "The Big Bang Theory."

In 2017, he reprised his role as Papa Elf for a local TV commercial.

On July 18, 2024, Newhart died at age 94. His final role was Professor Proton on the CBS "Big Bang" spin-off "Young Sheldon."

Steenburgen had made her mark on Hollywood long before the release of "Elf," with roles in films like "Back to the Future III" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

She won an Academy Award for best actress in a supporting role in 1981 for her performance as Lynda Dummar in "Melvin and Howard."

The Oscar-winning actress took her talents to the big screen once again when she appeared as Buddy's stepmom Emily in the film "Elf."

"Elf" wouldn't be the last time Steenburgen would appear in a film with Ferrell. In 2008, the duo reunited in the comedy "Step Brothers," with Steenburgen playing Ferrell's mom once again.

Steenburgen has appeared on TV series like CBS' "Joan of Arcadia" and Netflix's "Orange Is the New Black." 

She was also in the films "Four Christmases," "The Proposal,"  "The Help,"  and "A Walk in the Woods," among many others.

In 2020, she appeared in the much-anticipated holiday movie "Happiest Season," and has since been on recent seasons of several series, like "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist."

Most recently, she appeared in the film "Book Club: The Next Chapter" (2023).

Starring as Michael, Buddy's half-brother, in the film, Tay's first major role was in "Elf."

The only acting credit he had prior was in the 2003 film "American Splendor" as young Harvey.

Post-"Elf" success, the child actor voiced Doogal in the 2006 film of the same name. He also appeared in the movies "Beer League" in 2006 and "Brooklyn Rules" in 2007.

His last project was providing the voice of Bill Blue in "Grand Theft Auto IV," which was released in 2009.

In the years since "Elf" premiered, Tay graduated from Yale University, according to The Mirror.

With the exception of "The Station Agent" in 2003, Dinklage was a relatively unknown actor prior to his role in "Elf."

In the film, Dinklage appears as Miles Finch, the seemingly grumpy best-selling author who doesn't take kindly to Buddy.

After "Elf," Dinklage would go on to appear in several popular movies, including "Death at a Funeral," "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," and "X-Men: Days of Future Past."

Most notably, Dinklage played the complex and well-loved character Tyrion Lannister on "Game of Thrones."

He also appeared in "Avengers: Infinity War" and lent his voice to animated films like "The Angry Birds Movie 2" and "The Croods: A New Age." He starred in the film "Cyrano" in 2021 and lent his voice to Dr. Dillamond in "Wicked" in 2024.

Starring as Santa in "Elf" might not have been a defining moment for Asner's career, but for a generation of kids, it's one of his most memorable roles.

Asner's acting career stretches back to 1957 when he appeared on the CBS TV series "Studio One in Hollywood."

He starred in upwards of 50 projects before joining the "Elf" cast in 2003.

Asner has kept his Hollywood career thriving. Since 2003, Asner has been credited with over 60 roles, including the TV short "Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas."

He appeared on Netflix's "Dead to Me" and Super Channel's "Forgive Me." 

Recently, he was in the movies "Tiger Within" and "Rain Beau's End."

In August 2021, Asner died of natural causes at the age of 91.

This story was originally published in December 2018 and most recently updated on December 24, 2024.

No, Ferrell wasn't belching on-screen for an impressively long time in the film. Instead, the long burp was recorded by Maurice LaMarche.

Better known as the voice of Brain from "Pinky and the Brain," LaMarche's vocal contributions to the film were uncredited, but his belch will live on in cinematic history.

Although Buddy is one of Ferrell's most well-known roles, Vulture reported that when the script was first circulating in 1993, Carrey was the first choice to play the curious elf.

Many scenes from "Elf" were set in New York City, but a lot of the production actually took place in Canada.

VFX supervisor Joe Bauer told Creative Planet Network in 2012 that "Elf" director Jon Favreau wanted to use "analog techniques" to bring the magic to the North Pole.

The crew used techniques like forced perspective to make Buddy look bigger than the elves around him.

Bauer also told Creative Planet Network that the sets for the North Pole were meant to establish a scale for the elves in the film. The teams worked with a two-thirds scale to allow Ferrell to seem bigger than his elven counterparts.

Afterward, the crew would adjust the height of the cameras and objects to bring the optical illusion to life.

Even though it might not seem obvious, CGI was used in some parts of the film — including the snowball scene.

Naturally, the miraculously long throw during this scene was CGI, as were any snowballs you didn't see thrown by someone.

Actor Peter Billingsley played the iconic role of Ralphie in classic holiday movie "A Christmas Story." He also made an uncredited appearance in "Elf" as Ming Ming the elf.

This story was originally published on November 27, 2018, and most recently updated on December 12, 2025.

"Elf" director Favreau makes an appearance in the film as Buddy's doctor.

"Elf" has a lot of great scenes, but the one of elves playing hockey wasn't meant to be one of them. This scene was cut from the film, but you can still watch it online.

For just a few short weeks at the end of 2010, "Elf" was transformed into a Broadway musical that brought in a reported $1.4 million in just one week.

In a 2015 interview with Good Morning America, Ferrell said he's surprised that "Elf" has continued to be successful years after its release.

He joked that it could have been his last movie, but instead, the film has become a cult classic.

According to Esquire, the famous "throne of lies" scene was filmed in one take. This was due to a tight budget and because production had little time to rebuild such an intricate set. 

In 2006, Ferrell told The Observer he turned down a reported $29 million offer to star in the sequel. He said he didn't want to do it just for the money. 

"I remember asking myself: could I withstand the criticism when it's bad and they say, 'He did the sequel for the money?' I decided I wouldn't be able to," he told the publication. 

Later, in 2013, Ferrell reaffirmed his decision to People, saying he wouldn't make another "Elf" movie. He said it would look "slightly pathetic" if he tried to "squeeze" back into his elf tights.

It took several weeks for the director Chris Columbus and his crew to find the McCallister house for "Home Alone."

Ultimately, they chose a house in Winnetka, Illinois, because they thought it was both warm and menacing.

"I took some pictures and sent them over to John, and I remember John saying: 'This is perfect. This is exactly how I imagined the house,'" he told Entertainment Weekly.

Though the film was ultimately produced by Hughes Entertainment and presented by 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers initially had rights to the project.

According to an article in Chicago magazine, a budget dispute occurred three weeks before the production of "Home Alone" was set to start.

"The question was, 'Do we lay everyone off?'" the associate producer Mark Radcliffe told the publication. "John [Hughes] said to just hold tight."

Luckily, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to the film and production continued as planned.

Per Us Weekly, during a 2015 interview on "Watch What Happens Live," Catherine O'Hara told Andy Cohen that she and Culkin had a sweet interaction at an art event.

"I haven't seen him for years and years, but I saw him two years ago — a year and a half ago? — at a Martin Mull art opening, and he was coming out, and he went, 'Mommy!' And I said, 'Baby!'" she recalled.

She added that her husband made them take a picture and that she was happy to see him.

Forbes reported that until 2017, "Home Alone" had the highest single-territory total for a live-action comedy, with $285.7 million.

The film held this impressive record for 27 years, until the Chinese film "Never Say Die" surpassed it in 2017 (without accounting for inflation).

Regardless, "Home Alone" is still one of the highest-grossing live-action comedies in the US.

In his first acting credit, Culkin's younger brother Kieran appeared as Kevin's cousin, Fuller, in "Home Alone."

The brothers appeared together on-screen again in "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York."

John Hughes, who also wrote 1980s blockbusters like "The Breakfast Club," "Pretty in Pink," and "Sixteen Candles," crafted the first draft of the screenplay for "Home Alone" in just nine days.

According to the same Chicago magazine article — which was written by his son, James — the film was written after a family trip to Europe in response to his father's severe traveler's anxiety.

"I was going away on vacation,'" Hughes told Time magazine in 1990, "and making a list of everything I didn't want to forget. I thought, 'Well, I'd better not forget my kids.' Then I thought, 'What if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do?'"

In a 2018 interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Culkin said he couldn't watch "Home Alone" without remembering a bunch of personal context. 

"When I'm watching it, I'm seeing like — I'm remembering that day on set. You know, like, how I was hiding my Pepsi behind the couch," he said. "I can't watch it the same way other people can."

In the same interview, he referred to the film as "background radiation at Christmastime."

Columbus was originally working on "Christmas Vacation" — which was also written by Hughes — but he eventually called the writer to tell him he couldn't work with the actor Chevy Chase.

"John was very understanding. About two weeks later, I got two scripts at my in-laws' house in River Forest. One was 'Home Alone,' with a note from John asking if I wanted to direct," he told the publication. "I thought, 'Wow, this guy is really supporting me when no one else in Hollywood was going to.'"

Columbus told Business Insider's Jason Guerrasio in 2020 that the legendary comedic actor John Candy came on set ready to improvise.

"He was on the movie for only one day, but it resulted in so much great improvisation. None of that stuff was in the script," he said. "The funeral-parlor story, that was all improvised at 4:30 in the morning. We could barely keep a straight face on set just listening to John."

Beyond Candy's cameo, Hughes didn't allow for a ton of improvisation or tweaks to his script, but Columbus had a sweet vision for the character of Old Man Marley that he was able to sneak into the film.

Though the scene in the church was always in the script, the director added to the conversation between Kevin and Marley. 

"I added the moment when Marley talked about not being able to see his granddaughter. I also added the very end of the movie when Kevin sees that Marley is reunited with his granddaughter," Columbus told BI. "That is probably my proudest addition to the movie."

Before Joe Pesci took on the role of Harry in "Home Alone," the production team had its eyes on Robert De Niro.

However, Columbus said, the actor never seriously considered taking the role. 

"It was talked about a little internally, but when Pesci said yes, I was stunned," he told BI.

Kevin's reaction to putting on aftershave is arguably one of the best-known scenes of the film — and it's since become one of the most iconic moments in movie history.

However, Culkin apparently didn't do it the way Columbus told him to. 

"If you put something on your face that burns, most people move their hands right away. So my direction to him was when you pat your face, move your hands and scream. And I think it was the first take, he kept his hands on his cheeks," the director told BI.

He added, "It's funny, the iconic moment from 'Home Alone' was an accident."

When "Home Alone" came out in 1990, CGI wasn't the norm on film sets. Since the movie was already working on a tight budget, the production team had to get creative with special effects. 

During the scene in which Kevin shoots Marv in the head with a BB gun, the pellet is actually animated. 

"We paid a guy living in his mother's basement in Chicago $600 to hand-paint that BB going into Marv's head. So that was an animated effect. A guy with a paintbrush in a basement for six frames hand-painted a BB," Columbus told  BI.

He continued: "This was an $18 million film, so, for our budget, I'm pretty happy how it turned out."

Kevin uses a black-and-white movie called "Angels With Filthy Souls" to aid in his defense plan against the Wet Bandits, and many people — including Seth Rogen and Chris Evans — were shocked when they learned it wasn't a real film. 

The scene was created specifically for "Home Alone," but there's a reason it looks so real. 

"'Home Alone' is one of the last films shot with an old carbon-arc lighting system that was popular back in the 1940s through 1960s for Technicolor films," Columbus told BI.

He explained that they used the same technique for "Angels With Filthy Souls."

"That richness of black and white made it look like a movie from that era, and I think that's why some people think it's a real movie," he added.

A year before "Home Alone," Culkin starred alongside Candy in Hughes' "Uncle Buck."

After watching the actor play Miles Russell, Hughes was inspired to write a film with a young boy at its helm.

Once the idea started taking shape, he thought Culkin would be great in the role. 

The production team shared stories about working at New Trier Township High School in Winnetka, Illinois.

Hughes liked to make his movies in the Chicagoland area, so they set up their production offices in the same building where some of his other classics, such as "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Uncle Buck," were shot.

They also ended up building the interior sets for the McCallisters' house in the school's gym, and they inventively built the set for the Murphys' house — which floods at the end of the film — in the swimming pool.

Candy filmed all his scenes during one 23-hour day on set, but he didn't get much in return as far as compensation.

The actor did the cameo as a favor to Hughes, and he received "scale" pay — the minimum pay rate that a studio agrees to.

In the end, Candy ended up making less than Danny Warhol (aka Dan Charles Zukoski), who played the pizza boy.

"Home Alone" was shot in Chicago in February, and the crew was hoping for snow.

Fake snow can eat away at a budget, so when a snowstorm rolled in on the second day on set, everyone jumped at the chance to film the "money shot" where Kevin wakes up on Christmas morning and reunites with his family.

To enhance the natural flurries, the crew used potato flakes to make it look as if snow was blowing around — which was said to be effective but left them with a whole heap of rotting starch when the snow melted a few days later.

Though Culkin, Pesci, and Daniel Stern weren't responsible for all of the falls and hits their characters took throughout the film, their stunt doubles did them for real. 

They didn't use any special-effect tricks, and there weren't any pads built into the ground, so the film crew was under a lot of pressure to get the shots right on the first take. 

Pesci's stunt double for the film, Troy Brown, said on the docuseries that for his first fall on the icy stairs, he "just launched myself as far and as high as I could." 

The film's wild stunts had a long-lasting impact.

"Now when someone does a fall where they get a lot of air, and they fall on their back, they'd call it the 'Home Alone,'" the director of photography Julio Macat said on an episode of "The Movies That Made Us."

"Home Alone" was only the third feature-length film that Columbus directed, but he's since gone on to direct popular movies like "Mrs. Doubtfire," "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

In addition to taking on some fantasy classics, Columbus directed Netflix's "The Christmas Chronicles 2" (2020), marking his return to holiday films.

An earlier version of this story was published in November 2018, and it was most recently updated on December 11, 2024.

Read More:

• 'Home Alone' at 30: Director Chris Columbus talks Trump 'bullying his way' into a cameo and more never-before-told stories
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