Based on Theodor Seuss Geisel’s book The Grinch Who Wanted to Spoil Christmas (1957), The Grinch tells the story of a green-furred bogeyman who once loved humans and Christmas.
But the little Cabbages took the cabbage away from him. They were so cruel to him that he ended up living in a cave with his dog Max. Since then, this cantankerous recluse has hated Christmas and the preparations that go with it. Then Cindy Lou, a lovely little girl from Chouville, decides to find out more about the man everyone describes as a monster…
The creation of the monster, was very credible! Jim Carrey had to go through a lot of trouble to do this. Indeed, installing his prostheses took about two hours, while their removal required an additional hour. That’s three hours on an already busy day. The Grinch’s yellow contact lenses were the actor’s worst enemy. So much so that in some scenes, his eyes were coloured yellow in post-production.
Following the success of the film “The Mask” in 1994, the colour green was to come out of his eyes… The make-up of his face is finally the work of the specialist Rick Baker, who was rewarded with several Oscars for his talent.
The change of face was due to a subtle make-up that suits Jim, who has a highly mobile face. He doesn’t hesitate to force expressions through the latex. I also knew where I could thin out the face to give him maximum latitude.
“A facial change so realistic that Jim Carrey in disguise was having fun scaring visitors to Universal Park in California during his breaks. Indeed, the Chouville set was located nearby.”
Dr. Seuss praised Chuck Jones’ 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 her husband had created (The Cat in the Hat, the Grinch and Horton the Elephant). Wise, she preferred to wait for computer technology to provide a faithful adaptation of her husband’s vision. So it was to Ron Howard that she entrusted the greenish baby born before our eyes in 2000.
I realized that we now had the technical means at our disposal and I wanted to see the Grinch come to life.
It was a winning bet when you know our hero’s hilarious face and appearance! Afterwards, Audrey Geisel met up with Jim Carrey again for the animated film Horton (2008), for which she was the executive producer. The man indeed lent his voice to the elephant, as did Benedict Cumberbatch who dubbed the bogeyman in The Grinch in 2018.
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