One Week in Hollywood

Jon Favreau Makes The Score

In a Santa Monica editing room, indie actor-turned-indie writer/director Jon Favreau (Swingers) auditions composers for his first major-studio release, Elf, in which Will Ferrell plays a human raised by Santa's little helpers. A CD is inserted and music fills the tiny room. ''Can you turn that off?'' Favreau quickly asks. ''It's depressing me.'' The score's too somber for an off-kilter comedy featuring oddities like a smooth-talking, stop-motion snowdude (pictured). Still, overall, Favreau's feeling chipper. ''I helped make Will a leading man,'' Favreau says. ''Everybody knows he's funny, but I got to show he's a really good actor.'' Elf is due out this November, baby, November.