Did Jim Carrey really work with a CIA trainer to play the Grinch? How the actor endured the hellish role
- - Did Jim Carrey really work with a CIA trainer to play the Grinch? How the actor endured the hellish role
Allison DeGrusheDecember 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
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Jim Carrey as the Grinch in 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'Key Points -
Jim Carrey has been open about just how tough it was to play the Grinch.
He spent hours in heavy green makeup, prosthetics, and an itchy suit.
To survive the Grinch transformation, Carrey worked with a man who trained CIA operatives to handle extreme torture.
What comes to mind when you think of Christmas? Santa Claus? Or is it the grumpy, green, holiday-hating Grinch?
Created by Dr. Seuss in the 1950s, the Grinch is best known for the 1966 animated special How the Grinch Stole Christmas, based on the author's 1957 story of the same name. But for younger generations, Ron Howard's 2000 adaptation starring a ghoulishly grouchy Jim Carrey is just as essential.
But playing the Grinch wasn't exactly fun for Carrey. Over the years, the actor's been candid about the grueling hours he spent in heavy prosthetics and an uncomfortable suit. To endure his routine transformation into the Grinch, Carrey trained with someone who knows a thing or two about pain — a CIA trainer versed in torture endurance techniques.
Did Jim Carrey work with a CIA trainer on How the Grinch Stole Christmas?
Samir Hussein/WireImage; Ron Batzdorff/Universal
Jim Carrey; Carrey as the Grinch in 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
Yes, Carrey did work with a CIA trainer while filming How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The decision came early on in filming, when the physical demands of the role pushed Carrey to his breaking point and nearly made him quit the movie altogether.
Becoming the Grinch required between three and eight hours in the makeup chair, as well as a costume made out of what Carrey described to Vulture as "unnervingly itchy yak hair that drove me insane all day long."
The discomfort was immediate upon suiting up. Oversized prosthetic fingers limited movement, fake teeth made speaking a challenge, and full contact lenses shrank his vision down to what he called "a tiny tunnel."
It was Carrey who'd asked for the extreme transformation, but he hadn't realized how punishing the actual process would be. "You've got to be careful what you ask for," he said. "You don't think about it when you see an actor do a part that is about excruciating pain or whatever. But that actor has to live in that feeling. They don't just go home and suddenly stop feeling it."
Howard saw the toll it was taking on Carrey. Despite his commitment to the Grinch's look, the actor began having panic attacks. "I would see him lying down on the floor in between setups with a brown paper bag. Literally on the floor. He was miserable," Howard recalled.
Billy Farrell/Patrick McMullan via Getty
Brian Grazer, Jim Carrey, and Ron Howard attend the Museum of the Moving Image Salute to Ron Howard in New York City on Dec. 4, 2005
By the end of the first day, Carrey was ready to walk away.
He spoke with Howard and producer Brian Grazer and told them he couldn't do the movie anymore. According to Howard, Carrey even offered to return his $20 million paycheck. "I will give all my money back. I'll pay interest. But I quit," Grazer recalled Carrey saying.
To keep their star on board, Grazer brought in Richard Marcinko, a former U.S. Navy SEAL commander who served as a founding commander of SEAL Team Six. One of Marcinko's specialties was training CIA operatives and soldiers on how to survive harsh imprisonment and torture. An inspired choice, honestly.
What did Jim Carrey's CIA-style Grinch training involve?
Ron Batzdorff/Universal
Jim Carrey as the Grinch in 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
To survive his long spells suiting up and performing in the Grinch suit, Carrey leaned on Marcinko, who seemed to know exactly what the actor needed to handle the discomfort. Carrey told Vulture that Marcinko gave him "a litany of things" to stop himself from spiraling when the makeup and costume became unbearable.
Some of those techniques included punching himself "in the leg as hard as I can," hitting a close friend in the arm, eating "everything in sight," rearranging "patterns in a room," and listening to the radio instead of watching TV. Smoking even made the list. "There are pictures of me as the Grinch sitting in a director's chair with a long cigarette holder," Carrey said. "I had to have the holder, because the yak hair would catch on fire if it got too close."
Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic
Author and former U.S. Navy SEAL Richard Marcinko at Sapphire Pool & Day Club on Aug. 1, 2014 in Las Vegas
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly back in 2000, Carrey reflected on the process and the tips he received. "You just forget [the pain]. Sitting around in that suit was not too fun, but performing in it was amazing," he said. "I can be as uncomfortable as I want, but when somebody says action, it's like going into another reality."
But not all of Carrey's survival tactics came from the military. The Bee Gees, he said, played a big part in keeping him sane too.
"What really helped me through the makeup process, which they eventually pulled down to about three hours, was the Bee Gees," he revealed. "I listened through the makeup process to the entire Bee Gees catalogue. Their music is so joyful. I've never met Barry Gibb, but I want to thank him."
Where can I watch Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas?
Ron Batzdorff/Universal
Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou Who and Jim Carrey as the Grinch in 'Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas'
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas is currently streaming on Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.
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