Zooey Deschanel hasn’t been able to take her family through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, past the sea of twirly-swirly gum drops.
Especially because her kids Elsie, 10, and Charlie, 8—who she shares with ex-husband Jacob Pechenik—aren’t exactly the biggest fans of their mom’s 2003 hit film Elf.
“They’ve seen part of it,” Zooey explained to E! News’ Will Marfuggi during an exclusive interview alongside Merv costar Charlie Cox, “but they weren’t really that into watching it.”
As for why her children couldn’t get into the Christmas classic? As she put it, “I think it was a little weird.”
Still, the 45-year-old is hoping for a bit of an Elf resurgence for her kids this year.
“A bunch of my daughter’s friends were talking about it,” she added. “So now she wants to watch it with her friends.”
And while her kids might not be super into an evening with Buddy the Elf, her costar Charlie is a big fan, even confessing that he was actually nervous about costarring alongside Zooey in Merv—which starts streaming globally on Prime Video Dec. 10—because of his love for Elf.
