Zooey Deschanel almost lost out on her most iconic role to a star from Dawson Creek. Deschanel stars in the new Prime Video holiday movie, Merv, but 22 years ago she made a name for herself in the hit film Elf playing Jovie, the cynical department store clerk who is won over by Buddy the Elf (Will Ferrell) yule tide cheer.
Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast, via Deadline, Deschanel reveals that he almost didn’t land the role in Elf. “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,'” Deschanel recalled. She added, “And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, cool.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, sit down and talk for a minute.’ I was like, ‘OK!'”
However, Holmes had to back out of the project due to scheduling conflicts with Dawson Creek, opening the door for Deschanel. “Then they were like, ‘Who should we have?’ 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, so that kind of worked out with the character,” Deschanel said. Thinking Holmes had the role was beneficial, as Deschanel said it led her to not be as nervous, ultimately helping her secure the role, saying:
“What was great about that was, I wasn’t nervous. When you’re an actor, you’re first starting, and you’re auditioning, you get nervous, and you’re psyching yourself up. I wasn’t nervous at all, because I was like, ‘Well, I’m not getting the part.’ It was kind of great cause I was not nervous.”
‘Elf’ Was Zooey Deschanel’s Breakout Role
The daughter of legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, when Zooey Deschanel landed the role of Jovie in Elf, she was a relative newcomer, having brief, but memorable parts in movies like Almost Famous and Manic. Elf was her big breakout performance, and she soon followed it up with roles in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Failure to Launch, Bridge to Terabithia, and now her most famous film role, Summer in (500) Days of Summer. Deschanel then went on to star on the hit Fox comedy New Girl, which ran for seven seasons from 2011 to 2017.
Elf also highlighted Deschanel’s singing voice in two memorable covers of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” As Deschanel mentioned, Jovie’s singing was not part of the original script and was only added once she was cast, becoming a key component to the film and also a major factor in the movie’s longevity. In 2006, she and musician M. Ward formed the band She & Him, even releasing two Christmas albums in 2011 and 2016, respectively. Deschanel has also contributed music to movies like Winnie the Pooh, Rock the Kasbah, and Trolls.
Elf opened in theaters on November 7, 2003, and has been a holiday classic for 22 years. It’s difficult to imagine how different the movie might have been with Katie Holmes in the lead role instead of Deschanel. Given Deschanel’s talents, she still would have gotten another big breakout role, but Elf wouldn’t be the same without her, and it’s safe to say it all worked out in the end.
