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How the Grinch Stole Christmas: Viral video highlights mistake in Jim Carrey film
Dr Seuss adaptation didn’t skimp on the special effects.
Monday 19 December 2022 15:36 GMT
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Christmas film How the Grinch Stole Christmas features scene showing adults hosting ‘key party’
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A TikTok video highlighting a behind-the-scenes gaffe in How the Grinch Stole Christmas has gone viral.
The film, released in 2000, was adapted from the popular children’s book by Dr Seuss, and starred Jim Carrey in the lead role.
To portray the Grinch, Carrey wore extensive make-up that sometimes took as many as eight hours to apply. As well wearing green, furry skin, Carrey also changed the colour of his eyes, from brown to an unnatural amber colour.
However, as a video created by TikTok user @redcobweb shows, there was one moment the special effects team seemingly missed.
“Every time I watch the Grinch I notice this one little mistake they made whether they forgot to either put his contacts in or to edit them in afterwards,” they said.
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“So just Jim Carrey’s brown eyes are just there. And in the next scene, they’re back to that.”
The clip from the film is also shown in the video, which can be watched below:
The TikTok video has been viewed more than 3.2 million times.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas was released to mixed reviews, with many fans of Seuss’s book criticising the liberties taken with the story.
However, Carrey’s performance was generally praised, and the film ended up winning an unlikely Academy Award (for its special effects).
Speaking to Graham Norton, Carrey revealed that that a CIA operative had to be brought in during production to teach him specialist techniques for enduring torture, claiming that the procedure for applying the Grinch make-up “was like being buried alive every day”.
15 Things You Didn’t Know About “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
Here are 15 things you didn’t know about “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”:
1) The prosthetic make-up Jim Carrey wore, took about three hours to apply, and one hour to remove. In an interview, Carrey said he felt so confined and uncomfortable in the latex skin, that he sought counseling from a C.I.A. Agent, who taught him torture-resistance techniques.
2) Ron Howard was so thankful for Jim Carrey putting up with the uncomfortable hours to apply his make-up, he had the same make-up put on himself to make Carrey feel better. However, when Carrey first saw Howard in full Grinch outfit, he was angered, mistaking Ron for a stunt double who “looked nothing like him”.
3) Jim Carrey’s Grinch suit is covered in yak hair, which was dyed green, and sewn onto a spandex suit.
4) More than 1,000 man hours were used during shooting to apply makeup to the actors.
5) Actors and actresses went to Who-School with a choreographer, learning how to move and be comfortable being a Who.
6) Many Cirque du Soleil performers were used for the more acrobatic tricks and stunts in the movie. They can be spotted in the beginning as some of the Whos in the parade.
7) Suss Cousins, a Los Angeles-based sweater designer (whose first name is pronounced just like Dr. Seuss), along with two other knitters, produced two hundred fifty pieces of original knitwear for this movie (including eight identical red-striped sweaters for Jim Carrey) in four months. That works out to 83.3 sweaters per person in just one hundred twenty days, which is quite amazing, as all were hand knitted.
8) Max, the male dog, is played by Kelley, a female dog.
9) Eddie Murphy and Jack Nicholson were considered to play The Grinch.
10) 152,000 lbs. of crushed marble were used to create a wintery scene in Whoville.
11) Not since 1939’s The Wizard of Oz had so many characters in a film, including extras, worn such heavy stage makeup.
12) Sir Anthony Hopkins recorded all the narration for the movie in one day.
13) Jim Carrey’s yellow contact lenses were so uncomfortable that he couldn’t always wear them. Some shots of his eyes were colored in post-production.
14) Tim Burton was ALMOST the director but he had a scheduling conflict with another movie.
15) The Whoville set was built mostly on the backlot of Universal Studios behind the Bates Motel. During a break in filming, Jim Carrey surprised and scared tourists on the Universal Backlot Tour, by running out of the hotel wearing a dress and brandishing a knife.
