Claim: Zooey Deschanel acts.

Elf is a 2003 American Christmas comedy film directed by Jon Favreau and written by David Berenbaum . It stars Will Ferrell , James Caan , Zooey Deschanel , Mary Steenburgen , Daniel Tay , Edward Asner , and Bob Newhart . It was released in the United States on November 7 , 2003 by New Line Cinema . The story is about one of Santa 's elves -LRB- Ferrell -RRB- who learns of his true identity as a human and goes to New York City to meet his biological father -LRB- Caan -RRB- , spreading Christmas cheer in a world of cynics as he goes .   The film received positive reviews from critics and earned $ 220.4 million worldwide on a $ 33 million budget . It inspired the 2010 Broadway musical Elf : The Musical and NBC 's 2014 stop-motion animated television special Elf : Buddy 's Musical Christmas .