Jon Favreau says the first ELF script he read was originally much darker and rated PG-13

The Christmas movie Elf is one of the sweetest and most endearing holiday movies out there. It became an instant hit when it was released in 2003, and became a staple of the Christmas season, airing on multiple channels throughout December. One of the best parts of the film is the excessive optimism embodied in the naïve Buddy the Elf, played by Will Ferrell.

This version of the movie we know and love wasn’t always written this way. The director of the film, Jon Favreauhe recently sat down with Rolling Stone to talk about how he came to direct the film and why he didn’t like it at first:

I had worked with Judd Apatow, who he had nothing to do with Elfwhen I directed an episode of Undeclared and worked on a pilot that was not picked up. When I worked with him, his manager, who also managed Will, sent me a copy [the screenplay of] Elf. I had already directed Doneand people knew me from Swingers. I looked at the script and wasn’t particularly interested. It was a much darker version of the film. I liked the idea of ​​being involved with Will in his first solo film after that SNLbut it wasn’t quite there.

The script eventually reverted to Favreau, who came up with the idea we know today:

I was asked to take another look at it. They were looking for someone to rewrite and possibly direct it. And I remember reading that, and it clicked: If I created the world he came from as if he grew up an elf in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, one of those Rankin/Bass Christmas specials I grew up with, then everything it fell into place tonally. So for a year I rewrote the script. It has turned into more of a PG movie from a PG-13. He was a darker character in the script that I had originally read. The character has become a little more innocent and the world has become more of a pastiche of the Rankin/Bass films. I study [New Line] I read it and agreed to make it, and that’s when I was brought in to direct.

It’s a great concept. I’m so glad Favreau came up with the idea to tune it into a more wholesome film. It really works that way in a comedic way, and it made it into a classic.