Zooey Deschanel Remembers ‘Elf’ Co-Star Bob Newhart as ‘So Funny, But Not Wrapped Up in Himself’

Zooey Deschanel says she remembers the late actor and comedian Bob Newhart as “kind and generous” from her time working with him on “Elf.” Newhart died July 18, and the pair worked on the 2003 Christmas movie alongside Will Ferrell and James Caan.

“I always say the best actors are very generous people,” Deschanel told Variety on the purple carpet at Sunday’s premiere of “Harold and the Purple Crayon” at The Culver Theater in Culver City. “He was really such a kind and generous man and so funny, but not wrapped up in himself or anything. He was just kind, and sweet and wonderful to work with.”

Although Ferrell recently said Caan didn’t enjoy his performance as Buddy the Elf on set until he saw the final cut of the film and called him “not funny,” Deschanel said she “probably wasn’t there for that part,” as they usually weren’t on set at the same time.

“Harold and the Purple Crayon” stars Zachary Levi, Deschanel, “Get Out” actor Lil Rel Howery, Benjamin Bottani and Tanya Reynolds. The live-action and partially animated movie follows Harold (Levi), who can make anything come to life by drawing it with his crayon inside of his book. Once his creator stops narrating his animated life, he journeys to the real world with his friends Moose (Howery) and Porcupine (Reynolds) to search for him.

The film is based off the 1955 children’s book of the same name by Crockett Johnson, and is directed by “Rio” creator and “Ice Age” director Carlos Saldanha. David Guion and Michael Handelman penned the screenplay for the live-action film.

“Shazam!” star Levi said that although he never read the book as a kid himself, he wanted to join the cast after reading the script because it’s a movie his nephews could watch.

“The original script I read was just very smart and funny, and I loved that it was a movie that could be inspiring…” Levi said. “When I told people that I was doing the movie, half the people I talked to were like, ‘That was my favorite book as a child!’”

Saldanha said he was drawn to the project after reading the book to his kids and learning more about the message of creativity and connecting to the animation aspect of the children’s book.

This is the first live-action movie Saldanha has directed, so the hybrid version of partial animation and CGI helped him get into his comfort zone. He said he and his visual effects supervisor’s imaginations “went wild” trying to create ideas of how to represent the crayon drawings in the family film.

“We live in times where sometimes the real world takes the imagination out of your mind,” Saldanha said. “The message of a simple crayon being able to change your life, I love that, going back to the roots of creativity, imagination. You grow up, but don’t lose that.”

“Harold and the Purple Crayon” is in theaters Aug. 2.

See more photos from the premiere below.