This A-Lister Was Almost Cast Instead of Zooey Deschanel In Elf

Zooey Deschanel owes one of her first big breaks to a Hollywood superstar passing on the female lead role in Elf. Originally, Deschanel’s character Jovie was meant for a more well-known actor. But, because Deschanel made such a good impression during a very unconventional audition, she wound up landing the part that has since made her a Christmas season staple.

Deschanel recounted how she learned she’d lost the Elf role to Katie Holmes during her Dec. 17 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast. “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 said.

At the time in the early 2000s, Holmes was at the height of her Dawson’s Creek fame with a few buzzy films under her belt as well, whereas Deschanel had not had a breakout role yet. Since there was no point in auditioning, Deschanel instead used that time to get to know Favreau better.

“He’s like, ‘Well sit down and talk for a minute.’ I was like, ‘OK,'” Deschanel said. She felt she was able to endear herself to the director much better with the pressure of auditioning now gone. “What was great about that was like, I wasn’t nervous,” Deschanel said.. “It’s like when you’re an actor, you’re like first starting, and you’re auditioning, you get nervous, and you’re like 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.”

Soon after that, Holmes dropped out of the movie due to “some scheduling conflict,” Deschanel said, and the door was back open for Deschanel.

Upon her casting, the character of Jovie was slightly altered to incorporate Deschanel’s musical talents. “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.

And the rest is holiday history.