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Jim Carrey Needed a Special-Ops Trainer to Get Through Filming ‘The Grinch’

Carrey says the brutal Grinch makeup caused panic attacks, so producers brought in a special-ops trainer to help him cope.

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Though 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas ended up being a huge hit, the experience of making it was not a fun one for Jim Carrey. In fact, the comedian came very close to walking away from the production early on because of the costume and the grueling makeup process.

“The first day in makeup took eight hours,” Carrey told Vulture in 2025. “And I went into the trailer and asked Ron [Howard] and Brian [Grazer] to come in, and I told them that I wouldn’t be able to do the movie and I was quitting.”

Carrey even offered to pay back all the money he’d gotten for the........

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