“It was horrifying.” To play the Grinch, Jim Carrey underwent training to endure torture like CIA agents
Jim Carrey for his performance in How the Grinch Stole Christmas had to undergo training like a CIA agents to cope with the role and the difficulties that come with it.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, starring Jim Carrey, is the perfect holiday movie that audiences are eager to return to during the Christmas season. And while seemingly it was a simple family production that one would think would be a pleasure to play, Carrey can't describe his time on the set of this film as a pleasant experience.
This involved a costume that he had to stay in for long periods of time, during filming and breaks. The actor was bundled up in green fur and had giant contacts put on, through which fake snow fell into his eyes, which was not pleasant.
Jim Carrey, when he appeared on The Graham Norton Show, confessed that in the Grinch costume he felt like he was buried alive. Being in that costume was like torture for him and he was close to quitting the project, however, the filmmakers came up with the idea of bringing a specialist who trains CIA agents how to survive torture to the set to help the actor.
The makeup was like, being buried alive every day. The first day was like 8 and a half hours and I went back to my trailer… and I told Ron Howard, I couldn’t do the movie. Then, Brian Grazer came in and being the fix-it man, came up with a brilliant idea which was to hire a gentleman who is trained to teach CIA operatives how to endure torture.
So that’s how I got through the Grinch. He said eat everything you see. And if you’re freaking out and you start to spiral downward, turn the television on, change your pattern, have someone you know come up and smack you in the head, punch yourself in the leg or smoke as much as you possibly can. It was horrifying and it was like It’s for the kids, It’s for the kids!
Carrey survived only because of his advice. However, through the difficulties he experienced, it was rumored that working with him on the set of How the Grinch Stole Christmas was a real challenge and negatively affected makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsui, who at one point refused to return to work.
He was eventually persuaded to return, but needed the help of a therapist after completing the work, as he confessed during an interview with Vulture. But he explained that when he returned to the set after the break, Carrey, after understanding the position of the makeup artist, changed his approach and kept his temper in check.