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This time of year, nearly everywhere you look, you can find Christmas movies on TV and streaming services.
But one always seems to stand out above the rest: Ron Howard’s 2000 adaptation of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” starring Jim Carrey as the titular character.
But what most fans don’t know is that the movie nearly collapsed after Carrey threatened to quit and pay back the entire $20 million he was paid for the role.
What happened next is almost too good to believe.
SEAL Team Six Found Saves Jim Carrey’s Role As The Grinch
As one can imagine, getting into costume for the Grinch isn’t exactly easy. And the costume wasn’t exactly comfortable.
Carrey, Howard, and others recently spoke with Vulture for an oral history of the filming of the movie, and what they revealed was somewhat shocking.
According to Carrey, it took eight hours to get into a yak hair costume that was extremely itchy. He could not scratch the itch because he had 10-inch-long fingers, and he wore green contact lenses for the role that were extremely painful.
“Jim started 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 said of the star actor.
After the first day in hair and makeup, Carrey threatened to quit, and told the filmmakers that he would repay what he was paid, including interest.
That’s when film producer Brian Grazer called in the big guns. He contacted Richard Marcinko, a former Navy SEAL who trained CIA officers and special-ops members on how to endure torture.
Marcinko taught Carrey a number of tricks he could try to ward off panic attacks, many of which sound extremely unconventional.
“He gave me a litany of things that I could do when I began to spiral,” Carrey said. “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. Changing patterns in the room. If there’s a TV on when you start to spiral, turn it off and turn the radio on.
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. I had to have the holder, because the yak hair would catch on fire if it got too close.”
Carrey later learned that Marcinko was responsible for founding SEAL Team Six, perhaps the Navy’s most revered special-ops unit.
So shoutout to Ron Marcinko, an American hero on multiple fronts.