Originally appeared on E! Online
Jim Carrey is looking back on creating one of his most iconic roles — a process he loathed entirely.
The actor — who starred in the 2000 family film “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” as the holiday-hating protagonist — revealed that the heavy green suit, elaborate facial prosthetic and lengthy makeup process required for the part nearly drove him to walk away from the project altogether.
“The suit was made of unnervingly itchy yak hair that drove me insane all day long,” he said in an interview with Vulture published Dec. 12. “I had 10-inch-long fingers, so I couldn’t scratch myself or touch my face or do anything. I had teeth that I had to find a way to speak around, and I had full contact lenses that covered the entire eyeball, and I could only see a tiny tunnel in front of me.”
While Carrey, 63, noted that the character’s intricate design was “something that I asked for,” the costume quickly caused him to experience panic attacks, leading to a fateful conversation with the movie’s director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer.
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“The first day in makeup took eight hours,” he continued. “And I went into the trailer and asked Ron and Brian to come in, and I told them that I wouldn’t be able to do the movie and I was quitting.”
In fact, Ron, 71, could tell Carrey was “sincere” about his wish to exit the movie, noting that the comedian was “ready to give his $20 million [salary] back.”
Fortunately, the pair managed to keep Carrey onboard by introducing him to U.S. Navy SEAL commander Richard Marcinko, who taught him torture endurance tactics to get through filming in the green getup.
“He gave me a litany of things that I could do when I began to spiral,” he recalled. “Like punch myself in the leg as hard as I can. Have a friend that I trust and punch him in the arm. Eat everything in sight. Changing patterns in the room. If there’s a TV on when you start to spiral, turn it off and turn the radio on.”
Marcinko also encouraged Carrey to “smoke cigarettes as much as possible,” which made for an unlikely scenario behind the scenes.
“There are pictures of me as the Grinch sitting in a director’s chair with a long cigarette holder,” he shared. “I had to have the holder, because the yak hair would catch on fire if it got too close.”
Along with the survival training, Carrey — who appeared in the film alongside Taylor Momsen — also developed his own method of coping with the process that made his heart grow three sizes along the way.
“What really helped me through the makeup process, which they eventually pulled down to about three hours, was the Bee Gees,” he revealed. “I listened through the makeup process to the entire Bee Gees catalogue. Their music is so joyful. I’ve never met Barry Gibb, but I want to thank him.”
PHOTOSJim Carrey, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 2000
