Jim Carrey wanted to become the Grinch at all costs

Ron Howard’s Live Action How the Grinch Stole Christmas reaches its 25-year milestone with a tribute to the iconic Seuss picture book character. In an oral history published by vultureHoward and Jim Carrey, along with the Universal Pictures production creative team, revealed the Mt. Krumpit-sized challenges they faced to stay true to the spirit of commonality.

Carrey’s casting came after he received approval from Theodore Geisel’s widow Audrey. “I met with Audrey and told her how much Dr. Seuss meant to me growing up and how important it was to pay tribute to that. Suddenly, at the other end of the table, I was doing the Grinch for her and actually putting makeup on her face. I had no makeup on. I just gave her one sentence: ‘I have to find a way to stop Christmas,'” Carrey sneered, recalling the spontaneous decision to model Boris Karloff and his own gritted teeth.

While versions of the script already existed, Carrey’s interpretation of the character was rewritten in collaboration with during preparation Seinfeld Authors Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel (the minds behind the most important party scene).

Schaffer said of the story’s development: “Jim was supposed to wear this suit that was super hot, with these green eye contact lenses that would cause him so much pain. He’s like, ‘I’m not going to be able to improvise if I wear this suit.'” With this in mind, they developed iconic scenes like the Grinch’s to-do list. This isn’t a Seuss creation, but it has become a popular part of the live-action Christmas film.

And indeed, physically becoming the Grinch was torture for Carrey, but something the actor was deeply committed to once he and famed FX artist Rick Baker found the look they wanted – even if the studio originally wanted Carrey to be a more recognizable version of himself. Baker got around this by passing the details on to a writer at Ain’t It Cool News, an influential film site at the time.

“I said, ‘Listen, Universal wants to paint Jim Carrey green. I think that’s a big mistake. I tested on myself what I think it should look like. Is there any way you can say that you saw that test and that Universal is making a big mistake and they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about?’ And he did,” Baker said. “And there were outrageous reactions from everyone. ‘What the hell is wrong with these people at Universal? I don’t want to see the green Jim Carrey. I want to see a Grinch!'”

Howard added: “Jim was very particular about the look. Some things made him quite uncomfortable, but he was determined. There was no compromise on the look that he would accept.” He and producer Brian Grazer suggested digital green eyes, which Carrey rejected in favor of bulbous contact lenses, to make him a living Seuss creation.

“It was something I asked for and I can’t blame anyone but myself. You have to be careful what you ask for,” Carrey said. “The first day of makeup was eight hours. And I went into the trailer and asked Ron and Brian to come in and I told them I couldn’t do the film and I was giving up.”

Of course, Carrey stuck with it, and the rest is holiday movie history. “I appreciated it, even though (Carrey) felt so tormented that if he felt he wasn’t performing the way he wanted, he would take another take and another take,” Baker said. “He was fantastic in the film and I don’t think anyone would have been better. I just wish he was a little easier to deal with.”

25 years later, Carrey’s Grinch endures. And as Howard told Vulture, “We were briefly toying with someone else’s idea Grinch. I have a take that excites Jim and the boys would come back and write it. None of us are sure we really want to go there again.”

He added: “But the one thing is that I was able to tell Jim, ‘You might have to wear the suit, but you wouldn’t have to wear make-up and you certainly wouldn’t have to wear the contact lenses.’ We would still have the exact same look because we have so much footage of him in makeup that we could solve that digitally.”

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