How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of the most-loved Christmas movies of all time.
Regardless of whether you’ve seen it or not, and whether you hate Christmas or love it, you’ll recognize the green character who always manages to make his way onto our screens over the holiday season.
Here are ten things you probably didn’t know about the Grinch!
The costume took a lot of dedication.
It’s one of Jim Carrey’s most famous and recognizable roles, but it definitely wasn’t easy to pull off the Grinch.
The costume was made predominantly from yak hairs which had been dyed green and then individually sewn onto the suit.
Carrey spent a grand total of 92 days wearing the costume, and it took him three hours before each filming session to get into the suit.
The Grinch didn’t originally look like that.
Can you imagine the Grinch being anything other than the loveable green monster we’ve grown used to seeing on the TV every December?
In the original story, the Grinch was actually black and white with bits of red and pink eyes.
When Chuck Jones became the director of the animated movie, he decided that the main character was going to be entirely green.
Anthony Hopkins’ narration was recorded in just one day.
Hollywood actor Anthony Hopkins was the narrator of the story, and while it might have taken Jim Carrey several hours to get in and out of his difficult costume, Hopkins had a comparatively easy job.
However, he certainly made it look easier than it really was and recorded the entire narration in a day.
Director Ron Howard pulled a prank on Jim Carrey while filming.
One day, Jim Carrey came into the studio to start a long day of filming and was surprised to find somebody else dressed as the Grinch.
He became annoyed, thinking it was a stunt double who appeared to look absolutely nothing like the character he was playing.
However, he soon discovered that it was director Ron Howard who had been up since 3:30 am getting into full costume.
He then went on to direct in full costume for the day!
The song has become a famous part of Christmas.
The song “You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch” is recognizable every year when How the Grinch Stole Christmas makes its usual appearances.
Thurl Ravenscroft was the person who recorded it for the movie, but many people don’t know that he is also the voice of Tony the Tiger, a much-loved cartoon character and mascot of Frosted Flakes cereal.
Jim Carrey also showed off his vocals and recorded a version of the song himself.
Jim Carrey nearly wasn’t the Grinch!
During the audition process, two other famous actors were nearly given the part of the Grinch.
These were Eddie Murphy and Jack Nicholson.
While both actors have proven themselves to be highly comedic, lovable, and great on the screen, it wouldn’t be quite like having Jim Carrey as the Grinch we know and love.
“Fahoo Foraze” wasn’t real Latin.
The nonsense song which is sung during the movie was created to imitate Latin words.
When people watched the movie, they thought it was being sung in real Latin and started looking around for a translation.
Even when people involved in the movie were asked for translations, they were obviously unable to provide an answer, and fans of the movie were forced to accept that it was fake Latin.
Highly-trained professional acrobats were used in the making of the movie.
For many of the stunts in the movies, the producers had to search far and wide to find trained professionals capable of pulling it off.
As a result, they ended up hiring several acrobats and performers from the world-famous traveling circus show Cirque du Soleil.
The movie almost didn’t happen…
Making a Christmas movie requires a certain level of sponsorship.
When Chuck Jones got permission from Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) to make the movie using his story, he struggled to find businesses to support it.
The Foundation for Commercial Banks was the organization that made the movie a reality in terms of finances and endorsed it throughout the process.
The budget for the animated version was huge.
Considering it was a 26-minute animated movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas had a massive budget.
In today’s money, it cost around $2.5 million, which was totally unheard of for a production so small.
