Jim Carrey to Return for The Grinch Sequel

Why Jim Carrey Almost Quit The Grinch & Gave Back $20 Million Salary

Pucker up, Whoville—the Grinch is coming back.

Indeed, director Ron Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer’s production company Imagine Entertainment confirmed on Instagram June 18 that a sequel to Jim Carrey’s 2000 movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas is in development.

The pair said Carrey will also be involved, and he’s reportedly in talks to reprise the titular role in the Dr. Seuss adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, Howard has signed on to direct the movie and will produce alongside Grazer, Plus, writers Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel—who wrote the 2003 Seuss movie The Cat in the Hat—will pen the script.

It’s unclear if Taylor Momsen—who played Cindy Lou Who as a child before starring on Gossip Girl—will return.

After its release in November 2000, the Grinch film became the highest grossing domestic movie of the year and earned the 2001 Oscar for Best Makeup.

But while the Academy may have been pleased with Carrey’s costuming as the green-haired menace of Whoville, the actor had quite a different experience.

“The suit was made of unnervingly itchy yak hair that drove me insane all day long,” he told Vulture in December. “I had ten-inch-long fingers, so I couldn’t scratch myself or touch my face or do anything. I had teeth that I had to find a way to speak around, and I had full contact lenses that covered the entire eyeball, and I could only see a tiny tunnel in front of me.”

Carrey’s discomfort was so intense that he actually considered quitting the project. However, the production ended up hiring Richard Marcinko, who the Liar, Liar actor described as “a gentleman that trained CIA officers and special-ops people how to endure torture.”

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“He gave me a litany of things that I could do when I began to spiral,” he explained. “Like punch myself in the leg as hard as I can. Have a friend that I trust and punch him in the arm. Eat everything in sight.”

One piece of advice Carrey took was to “smoke cigarettes as much as possible.”

“There are pictures of me as the Grinch sitting in a director’s chair with a long cigarette holder,” he continued. “I had to have the holder, because the yak hair would catch on fire if it got too close.”

As for how Carrey ultimately survived the filming process, though?

“What really helped me through the makeup process, which they eventually pulled down to about three hours, was the Bee Gees,” he said. “I listened through the makeup process to the entire Bee Gees catalogue. Their music is so joyful. I’ve never met [creator] Barry Gibb, but I want to thank him.”

While awaiting more details about the sequel to How the Grinch Stole Christmas, read on to learn secrets about the 2000 film.

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