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Zooey Deschanel’s character Jovie in Elf was almost played by another A-list star — and it wasn’t Katie Holmes.
“I found out from Zoey that they talked about Selma Blair doing it before she was on board,” comedian Andy Richter exclusively told Us while promoting his new book, Elf Unwrapped: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Christmas Classic.
“I have no idea why people come and go,” he explained, sharing that he believes Holmes, 47, couldn’t join the beloved Christmas classic because she was already committed to something else.
According to Richter, 60, Elf bosses wanted to highlight a real-life talent of whoever played Jovie, which he said was why Deschanel, 46, sang in the film.
But Blair, 54, brought something else to the table.
Zooey Deschanel, Selma Blair New Line/courtesy Everett Collection/Getty Images
“Zoey told us that apparently at that time Selma Blair was like a big skateboarder, and so they were going to maybe have Jovi skateboard around Manhattan, which would have been interesting in December in Manhattan, somebody skateboarding around,” Richter added.
Deschanel previously shared that Holmes was initially offered the role of Will Ferrell’s character Buddy Hobbs’ love interest in the 2003 comedy.
“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,’” she said on a December 2025 episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast with Alex Cooper. “And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, cool.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, sit down and talk for a minute.’ I was like, ‘OK!’”
Deschanel auditioned anyway. She was offered the role when Holmes dropped out of the movie.
Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel New Line/courtesy Everett Collection
“And then they were like, ‘Who should we have?’” she told Cooper, 32. “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.”
More than 20 years after Elf became the iconic holiday movie it is today, Richter is sharing several never-before-heard stories from the film’s making in his upcoming book.
He finished Elf Unwrapped on the set of Dancing With the Stars last year after he was voted off during week 9.
“We had a deadline in the middle of December last year, and then from August to November, I was dancing on TV, so I didn’t have a lot of free time. … After I was voted off of ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ I still had my trailer there, and that’s where I wrote the end part of the book,” Richter shared. “I did it in my trailer there because it was such a nice little isolated place.”
The comedian — who played the children’s book publisher employee Morris alongside James Caan’s character Walter Hobbs — even had Ferrell write the foreword.
Richter told Us that having Ferrell and Favreau’s support for this project was “essential.”
Zooey Deschanel loves “being cozy” and watching movies on Christmas, but her 2003 hit Elf is not one of them. “I don’t watch myself in anything,” Deschanel, 44, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her partnership with Vera Bradley for its Winter/Holiday collection. “I feel like that might be narcissistic of me.” The actress revealed […]
“Talking to him and John Favreau were the major marks of validation and endorsement that this is going to be a project that really reflected truly what the making of the movie was like. Without them, it wouldn’t have been complete, and it wouldn’t have been correct,” he said.
Like many families, as the holiday season approaches, Richter and his loved ones will make time to watch Elf.
“It’s a ritual for us and for everybody,” he said.
Richter’s Elf Unwrapped: Behind the Scenes of a Modern Christmas Classic hits bookshelves on November 3.
