In honor of the 25th anniversary of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Jim Carrey and the crew gave an interview to Vulture , revealing new details about the extremely difficult filming process.
Initially, Universal Pictures planned to simply paint Carrey’s face green to conceal the actor’s appearance, earning a whopping $20 million. However, makeup artist Rick Baker insisted on full-blown prosthetic makeup. To convince the producers otherwise, he leaked unsuccessful tests using simple paint. Fan reactions were overwhelmingly negative, and the studio greenlit the complex makeup application.
Carrey himself described the filming as pure torture: the costume was made of yak wool, which was extremely itchy, thick contact lenses almost completely obscured his vision, and a prosthetic nose forced him to breathe through his mouth throughout the entire film. After the first day of shooting, when the makeup application took about eight hours, Carrey had a panic attack: he was ready to quit the project and return his salary.
To help Carrey, producer Brian Grazer hired Richard Marcinko, a CIA torture resistance consultant. Marcinko taught Carrey pain management and dissociation techniques. According to the actor, Bee Gees music also helped him get through the hours-long makeup sessions. Filming was also difficult for the crew: makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji later admitted that after working with Carrey, he needed therapy due to the tense atmosphere on set.
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” was a major box office hit, grossing $346 million worldwide. Carrey said he would be open to playing the Grinch in a potential sequel, but only if motion capture technology was used—without physical makeup.
