Zooey Deschanel Reveals the Real Reason She Went Blonde for “Elf”
Zooey Deschanel Reveals the Real Reason She Went Blonde for “Elf”
Catherine SantinoTue, July 7, 2026 at 9:02 PM UTC
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Zooey Deschanel.Credit: Gary Gershoff/Getty; Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock -
On the Zach Sang Show podcast, Zooey Deschanel explained how her Elf character’s blonde hair came about
“It was totally random,” she recalled
Deschanel previously opened up about landing the audition for Elf at 21 years old
Zooey Deschanel wasn’t originally supposed to be blonde for her role in Elf.
While appearing on the Zach Sang Show podcast on Monday, July 6, the actress and singer, 46, shared the story behind her hair color in the 2003 Christmas classic.
“It’s really funny,” she began. “I did a screen test for a movie that never ended up going about a pop star that was like Britney Spears ... it was like Roman Holiday where she has a day where she’s like, not a pop star.”
“I didn’t look to them like what a pop star looks like and so they were like, ‘We’re gonna make you into a pop star,’” the New Girl alum continued of the unnamed project. “So they dyed my hair blonde and they put these extensions in, they gave me a tan, a whole thing. And I did look as much like a pop star as I can. But then the movie never happened.”
Deschanel explained that she got the audition for Elf shortly after and because it was “a long process” to dye her dark brown hair blonde, she decided to keep it.
Zooey Deschanel in ‘Elf.’Credit: Alan Markfield/New Line Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock
“Once I got cast I was like, ‘Well, can I dye my hair back brown?’ and they were like, ‘No, you need to look how you looked in the audition. So, that’s how I ended up blonde in Elf,’” she said, adding, “It was really random.”
Deschanel played Buddy the Elf’s Gimbels love interest Jovie in the 2003 film, which follows a human who, after learning he was adopted and raised by Santa’s elves, heads to New York City to find his biological father.
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Along the way, Buddy (played by Will Ferrell) connects with Jovie, who helps him restore his dad’s Christmas cheer and save the holiday for boys and girls everywhere.
Zooey Deschanel.Credit: Gary Gershoff/Getty
During a Dec. 17 appearance on Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper, Deschanel opened up about her audition for the film, which happened when was 21 years old.
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“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,’ she recalled. “And I was like, ‘Oh, OK, cool.’ And he’s like, ‘Well, sit down and talk for a minute.’ I was like, ‘OK!’”
“What was great about that was, I wasn’t nervous,” Deschanel continued. “When you’re an actor, you’re first starting, and you’re auditioning, you get nervous, and you’re 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.”
Later, when Holmes dropped out of the film due to a scheduling conflict, she got the part.
“And then they were like, ‘Who should we have?’” Deschanel said. “I think 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.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
