Jim Carrey portrayed a famous children’s book character in 2000 – the Grinch. The film has a cult status, but it was a real challenge for the actor, which he almost quit.
Jim Carrey is known for playing absurd roles and giving it his all. His facial expressions are legendary and his energy on screen has delighted audiences for decades – including in a rather quirky superhero film.
In 2000, The Grinch was released in theaters. It was the adaptation of the book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” which was written by the American author Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1957.
Most of you have probably seen the film and know how Jim Carrey looks in it: hairy, green, and quite close to the illustrations of the original. For that, an elaborate mask was necessary, but it caused Carrey some very exhausting weeks.
Shortness of breath and panic attacks
What was Carrey’s experience like? Today, 25 years later, the actor and those involved in the film can look back and shared their experiences with Vulture. Early on, it was clear that Carrey would be put in an elaborate mask, and they did not simply want to paint him green. After all, the character was supposed to look like the Grinch, not like Jim Carrey.
For that, he received a hefty fee of 20 million US dollars, about 17 million euros. After the makeup artist Rick Baker completed the design, the result was tested on the actor. Carrey remembers:
When it came to designing the Grinch so that he really looked like the Grinch, they had to put the tip of my nose on the bridge of the Grinch’s nose. The rest of my nose was completely covered, so I couldn’t breathe through my nose… ultimately, I breathed through my mouth the entire film.
Jim Carrey
Additionally, the suit he had to wear was full of hair that constantly itched. The contact lenses, which the actor had to wear all day, were equally terrible. They were so large that they caused Carrey pain. Director Howard, who once saved Star Wars, among other things, remembers how bad his leading actor felt back then:
Jim had panic attacks. I saw him lying on the floor with a brown paper bag between takes. Literally on the floor. He felt miserable.
Ron Howard
The problem was not just the long shooting days. Even before the first shot was fired, Carrey had to sit still in the makeup chair – for eight hours. Shortly after shooting began, the actor approached the producers and offered to return his fee and drop out of the project. As we know today, he didn’t do that.
What was the solution? The producers decided on an unusual step: they assigned Carrey the former Navy SEAL commander Richard Marcinko. He had experience in training soldiers and practiced with them how to cope with torture and confinement.
According to Carrey, he received many tips and tricks on how to deal with the pain and the tightness of the costume. Another help during the long sessions in the mask was the music of the Bee Gees, which lifted Carrey’s spirits.
The anecdote shows how hard the life of an actor can be. Do you think the effort was worth it? Feel free to let us know in the comments. In the Amazon series Fallout there is also an actor who had to sit for hours in the makeup chair. This was due to the unusual creature he portrayed: Everyone knows the ghouls from Fallout, but how did they become that way?
