Dec 17, 2025 3:25pm PT Zooey Deschanel Originally Lost ‘Elf’ Role Because ‘We Just Offered It to Katie Holmes’ By Zack Sharf Plus Icon Zack Sharf Digital News Director ZSharf Latest Zooey Deschanel Originally Lost ‘Elf’ Role Because ‘We Just Offered It to Katie Holmes’ 37 minutes ago Jennifer Lawrence ‘Was Hallucinating’ on ‘Hunger Games’ Set After Taking an Ambien by Mistake Before Filming: ‘Elizabeth Banks Got Really Annoyed With Me’ 9 hours ago Whoopi Goldberg Says ‘Damn You All’ to Republicans Staying Quiet After Trump Criticized Rob Reiner: ‘There’s No Way to Justify It’ 1 day ago See All Everett Collection/Getty Zooey Deschanel revealed during an interview on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that she was offered the female lead in Jon Favreau’s 2003 Christmas movie classic “Elf” only after Katie Holmes dropped out of the film due to scheduling conflicts (via The Daily Beast). Deschanel was only 21 years old when she auditioned for the movie, although she revealed Favreau told her they didn’t need to run any lines together because “we just offered it to Katie Holmes.” “And I was like, ‘Oh, Ok, cool,’” Deschanel remembered, adding that she proceeded to “audition” for the movie just by staying in the room and chatting with the director as if they were just meeting up to talk. Popular on Variety Related Stories ‘Looking for Michael,’ a Parkinson’s-Themed Comedy, Brought to Ventana Sur by Filmax (EXCLUSIVE) Spanish Screenings on Tour Touches Down at Ventana Sur “What was great about that was like, I wasn’t nervous,” Deschanel said.
