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Among the many classic Christmas movies, Elf remains a yearly tradition for families. The Jon Favreau-directed hit starred Will Ferrell as he came to New York City for the holiday season, where the elf-raised human learned about a more modern Christmas. A staple of the season for the city is its department store decorations. But the movie went with a different store after Macy’s turned them down.

According to BuzzFeed, Favreau approached Macy’s to be featured in his holiday movie. For many, Macy’s is synonymous with Christmas. The department store goes all out with decorations, events, and, of course, Santa appearances. If there were a Christmas movie scene to be filmed in a department store, Macy’s would likely be just about any American’s first thought. 

Macy’s said no to the offer, but they had a great reason.

Why did Macy’s decline?

macys
A man carrying a Macy’s department store shopping bag waits at an intersection in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)

In the movie, there’s a scene where Ferrell’s Buddy confronts a department store Santa when he realizes that he’s not the real Santa. Macy’s balked at that because they didn’t want to destroy the magic for kids. 

“They felt it would blow the illusion for kids,” Favreau told ABC News regarding Macy’s decision. “Macy’s didn’t like the idea that there was a fake Santa working there.”

Macy’s turned down what seemed like an amazing business opportunity, with tons of free marketing and an opportunity to cement itself as the department store that does Christmas best. They did it so that kids wouldn’t see a fake Santa in their store when they watched the movie. 

Favreau said that they then had to get creative. They used Gilmbel’s, a department store that went out of business in the 1980s. That way the film wouldn’t get in the way of a current retailer, while still using a name that adds an air of realism to it.

Behind the scenes was almost as fun as the movie itself

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There are plenty of other behind-the-scenes secrets about Elf. For instance, Favreau used a technique called forced perspective so that Buddy appeared so much larger than his surroundings in the North Pole scenes. (Because though Ferrell is tall, he’s not that much taller than his co-stars.) The technique is similar to that used in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, in order to make characters like the Gimli the dwarf appear smaller.
Using that technique meant that lighting and sets had to be precise. So they had an onset painter to make sure all the lighting and sets lined up perfectly. “It was very painstaking,” Favreau said. 

The actors were also encouraged to have fun and ad-lib when needed. The fight between the fake Santa and Buddy had to be done in one take, and Favreau told the actors to “just go nuts” doing it. And when Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel sang “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” it was a last-minute add because they wanted Deschanel’s character to seem warmer and more approachable. Favreau said that when he “realized that she had such a wonderful singing voice,” they wrote in the entire scene. 

“The purity of her singing…was really nice,” he told ABC News.

Elf has become one of the classic Christmas movies, and that couldn’t make Favreau happier. “To me, that’s the greatest joy.”

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