Why most of ‘Elf’ was filmed in an asylum
One of the most beloved Christmas movies of the modern age, Jon Favreau’s Elf, has become a staple part of the festive viewing calendar ever since it was first released in 2003.
A combination of wholesome comedy, a heart-warming family story, a breakout performance from Will Ferrell on inimitable slapstick form, and an old-fashioned sense of fun all combined to cement its reputation as a film that gets rewatched by millions on an annual basis.
Elf might be a story that’s rooted as deeply in New York City as it is in the North Pole, but limitations restricted the amount of time Favreau and his team could spend on location in the Big Apple. As a result, an abandoned asylum ended up serving as the backdrop to huge swathes of the production.
The orphanage where Buddy is initially introduced before sneaking into Santa Claus’ sack full of toys, the apartment that houses James Caan’s Walter Hobbs, Mary Steenburgen’s wife Emily, and Daniel Tay’s son Michael, and the interiors of the Greenway Press building where Walter works were all constructed and shot at Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
Already a popular destination for various film and television crews, its proximity to Vancouver made it an ideal place for Elf to make use of its cavernous spaces. And yet, production designer Rusty Smith couldn’t help but feel uneasy by the ominous surroundings that were being transformed into a myriad of decidedly less foreboding interiors.
“It was a closed down mental institution,” he explained on Netflix’s The Holiday Movies That Made Us series. “We had to repurpose this draconian mental institution. It worked great for the police station, but it is one of the creepiest places I’ve ever been in my life.” The unusual surroundings weren’t lost on Favreau either, especially with what was happening just around the corner.
“To double for Central Park, we used a grassy field that was on the grounds of a mental hospital. Some of the hospital was closed down and used as a lot. I think they were doing Freddy vs. Jason in the same building where we were filming the apartments and Gimbel’s,” he explained to Rolling Stone. “And one of the buildings, I think, was still open and had patients in it. How weird it must have been for them to look out their window and see Santa Claus and a guy in an elf suit running around with reindeer. It may have been counterproductive to their treatment.”
Riverview wasn’t closed entirely until 2012, although much of the property had been unused since long before then. More recently, Deadpool 2 used the asylum grounds for its third act finale, creating an unexpected connection between the R-rated Marvel Comics adaptation and the family-friendly Elf.
