Jim Carrey Was Originally Wanted for Buddy in ELF

As perfect as he is for the role, Will Ferrell was not the first choice to play Buddy in the now iconic Elf. Jim Carrey (via IMDB) was the original choice for the film, but passed on the project. Mind you, this was wayyyy back in 1993 when the screenplay for the film first appeared. This would be one year before Carrey really emerged in Hollywood, and the following year Carrey would film Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb And Dumber. Young Jim Carrey is not the Jim Carrey I would expect to see in a children's film!

Then again, Ferrell took the role of Elf almost immediately after filming Old School, so maybe it wouldn't have hurt his career after all. 

Of course, Carrey would get a Christmas film of his own years later when he played The Grinch in Ron Howard's film adaptation of How The Grinch Stole Christmas, so it's not like he lacks the holiday spirit. Carrey has never commented on declining the role, and I'm sure he doesn't even remember the offer, considering it was over 20 years ago. I did manage to dig up some weird tweet about elves on his Twitter though from 2009...

wow! looks like this elf died while trying to pass a 'Super Gobbstoppin' Jaw Breaker'! which, in elf world, is natural causes. painful! ;)}}

— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) December 31, 2009

I think Elf would've been radically different with Jim Carrey in the lead. Don't you?