It’s hard to imagine anything being different in one of your favorite movies. For example, I can picture no one other than Zooey Deschanel playing Will Ferrell’s love interest in Elf, which is one of the best Christmas movies ever. However, there was a time when a different actress was set to play Jovie, and the New Girl star revealed who had the part before her.
Again, I can’t picture the Elf cast featuring anyone other than Ferrell, Deschanel, James Caan, Bob Newhart and co. However, during an episode of Call Her Daddy, Zooey Deschanel revealed that she originally wasn’t going to play Jovie. In fact, Katie Holmes had already been cast when she took a meeting about the movie with its director, Jon Favreau. Speaking about how all this went down, she said:
When I met with Jon Favreau, the director, I walked in, and he was like, 'Oh, you don't need to read, we just offered it to Katie Holmes.' And I was like 'Oh, OK, cool.' And he's like, 'We'll sit down and talk for a minute.' And I was like 'OK.' So what was great about that was like, I wasn't nervous.
So, since she sincerely thought she wasn’t getting the part, nerves were out of the equation. Well, that ended up working really well in her favor. That’s because, as we know, Katie Holmes wasn’t in Elf due to scheduling conflicts, according to Deschanel, so she was able to step in. Continuing to speak about getting the part, she said:
She had some scheduling conflict, and then they were like ‘Who should we have?’ And I think the character was kind of meant to be worked around whoever played her, and they knew I sang, because I had a cabaret act where I did jazz standards and stuff. So, that kind of worked out with the character.
First of all, I love that they were able to shape Deschanel’s role in this great 2000s movie to her. I mean, that singing scene in the bathroom is iconic! However, it does make me wonder who Jovie would have been if Katie Holmes had played her. Would she still sing? Would she have been blonde? What would her relationship with Buddy look like?
I’m sure she would have done a great job too. However, I’m very happy that the 500 Days of Summer actress ended up with the gig. Elf is easily one of Will Ferrell’s funniest movies, and it’s one of her’s too. She’s amazing in it, and her chemistry with the SNL alum is irresistible.
It served as a pivotal moment in Zooey Deschanel’s career, too. She was 21 when she got Elf; at that point, she’d been working consistently since 1999. However, there’s no question that this film was one of her first signature projects. After that, she starred in a bunch of movies, including 500 Days of Summer. Then, in 2011, she started working on the hit show New Girl.
Now, if you are looking to go back and watch Elf and think about what could have been while also appreciating Zooey Deschanel’s performance in it, you can stream the classic Christmas film with an HBO Max subscription.
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