Magical atmosphere and enchanting songs are at the rendezvous of this Christmas nugget that is “The Grinch”, carried by our grumpy green hermit. To achieve such a dose of realism, Jim Carrey gave of himself.
Jim Carrey as a lifelike bogeyman
Adapted from the book by Theodor Seuss Geisel The Grinch who wanted to ruin Christmas (1957), The Grinch tells the story ofa bogeyman with green hairs who once loved humans and Christmas parties. It was without counting on the little Cabbages who took the cabbage from him. They were so cruel to him that he ended up going into exile in a cave with his dog Max. Since, this cantankerous recluse hates Christmas and related preparations. It was then that Cindy Lou, an adorable little girl from Chouville, decided tolearn more about the one everyone describes as a monster…
A monster that had to be made as believable as possible! To do this, Jim Carrey saw green and unripe ones. In effect, fitting his prostheses took about two hours while their removal required an additional hour. That’s three hours on the counter of an already busy day. yellow contact lenses of the Grinch were the comedian’s obsession. So in some scenes, his eyes were simply colored yellow in post-production.
After The Mask in 1994, green was definitely going to come out of his eyes… Her face makeup is finally the work of specialist Rick Baker, who has won numerous Oscars for his talent.
This make-up suits Jim well, as he has an extremely mobile face. He does not hesitate to force the expressions to make them pass through the latex. I also knew at which precise points of his face I could slim down this make-up to give him maximum latitude.
A make-up so realistic that during his breaks, Jim Carrey in disguise had fun scaring visitors to Universal Park in California. Indeed, the setting of Chouville was located nearby.
The GrinchFrom children’s books to the big screen
Dr. Seuss had praised the cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) by Chuck Jones. After his death in 1991, and according to his last wishes, his wife Audrey Geisel found herself in charge of all the creatures that her husband had created (The Cat in the Hat, the Grinch or Horton the Elephant). Wise, she preferred to wait for computer technology to offer a faithful adaptation to her husband’s vision. It was thus to Ron Howard that she confided the greenish baby who was born before our eyes in 2000.
I realized that we now had the necessary technical means and I wanted to see the Grinch come to life.
Winning bet when you know the hilarious face and the hilarious look of our hero ! After what Audrey Geisel reunited with Jim Carrey as part of the animated film Horton (2008), for which she was executive producer. Our man was indeed lending his voice to the elephant, just like Benedict Cumberbatch who doubled the boogeyman in The Grinch in 2018.
