Elf is a 2003 Christmas-themed comedy film directed by Jon Favreau and released in the US on November 7, 2003.
It stars Will Ferrell as the film's central character "Buddy". As an infant in a New York orphanage, Buddy had crawled into Santa's bag on Christmas Eve, and Saint Nick unwittingly brought him back to the North Pole. Not knowing to whom the child belonged, it was decided that he would be raised by the elves, and it would never be disclosed to him that he was really a human. When Buddy overhears the other elves talking about him being human, he goes to his adopted father for advice.
Buddy's adopted father acknowledges that Buddy is a human, and tells him the entire story of how he got to be raised by elves. Most importantly, he tells Buddy about his human father, Walter Hobbs, who lives in New York City. Buddy soon decides to go off on a quest to find his father, which leads to all kinds of humorous trouble.
Will Ferrell - Buddy
Edward Asner - Santa Claus
Bob Newhart - Papa Elf
James Caan - Walter
Mary Steenburgen - Emily
Zooey Deschanel - Jovie
Daniel Tay - Michael
Faizon Love - Krumpet (Gimbel's Manager)
Peter Dinklage - Miles Finch
Amy Sedaris - Deb
Michael Lerner - Fulton
Andy Richter - Morris
Kyle Gass - Eugene
Artie Lange - Gimbel's Santa
Claire Lautier - NY 1 Reporter
Richard Side - Elf Teacher
Directed by Jon Favreau; written by David Berenbaum; distributed by New Line Cinema. Wikipedia