A closer look
Jim Carrey felt so suffocated and claustrophobic while enduring the eight-hour daily application of heavy green prosthetics for How the Grinch Stole Christmas that the studio actually brought in a CIA specialist to train him in techniques used to survive torture. The actor reportedly told director Ron Howard that the makeup process was akin to being buried alive, throwing massive fits and kicking a hole in the wall of his trailer before they decided to treat the production like a literal hostage situation. Thanks to the advice of an intelligence operative whose normal job involved teaching spies how to withstand agonizing interrogations, Carrey learned to manage his panic by chain-smoking in full costume and punching his own legs. It is oddly comforting to know that our beloved holiday family film was entirely fueled by a man desperately employing psychological warfare tactics just to avoid tearing his own fake green skin off
