Early Version Of Christmas Classic "Elf" Was A Much Darker Film By: Brody Sorbera

Since 2003, “Elf’ has entertained people of all ages every holiday season with its colorful cast, funny moments, and memorable plot surrounding a human-born elf searching for his long-lost father in the Big Apple. The iconic film is now 20 years old and with the anniversary coming up, a producer of the film revealed a much darker and “edgier” version of the film that never made it on the big screen. 

 Before Jon Favreau took over the directing role, original director Judd Apatow was worried that the movie wasn’t edgy enough which would not interest enough people into seeing the movie, an early idea was having Buddy’s love interest Jovie have an abusive boyfriend living with her in her apartment, needless to say the director didn’t stay on and this idea was thankfully scrapped. Another idea was to make the character dip into the “syrup” a few more times and bump it up to a PG-13 rating. Because during the Christmas season where it's supposed to be about family and joy, seeing a woman being a victim of domestic abuse is exactly what people want to see during the holiday season.

 Thankfully Jon Favreau took over the project and turned it into the classic we all know and love today, it is one of those few movies that people of all ages can truly enjoy and that's what makes it so endearing and memorable, most especially one of Will Ferrell’s finest performances in his entire lustrous career, another fun fact was Jim Carrey was the first choice to lead the film but after the film spent years floating around as a script not being picked up until nearly a decade later the producers realized after rewriting the script that Will Ferrell was perfect for the role, and that’s how we got the classic we all love to watch every Christmas season and will continue to be a “must-watch” for decades to come.