The script for 2003's Elf was originally writte by David Berenbaum in 1993 with actors like Chris Farley and Jim Carrey early candidates to play the character of Buddy. According to director Jon Favreau, the script was initially "much darker" and did not interest him, although he was interested in working with Will Ferrell's first post-SNL movie. It was for this reason that Berenbaum's screenplay underwent uncredited rewrites by Scot Armstrong, Chris Henchy, and the writing team of Adam McKay and Ferrell. Asked to rewrite it, a turning point for Favreau came when he realized he could make Buddy's world an homage to the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. This allowed him to conceive of a movie that could be PG rated as opposed to the original script, which he guessed would have been rated PG-13. Stay tuned!
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