Everything You Never Knew About Jim Carrey's Legendary Grinch Face
By Chloe Bennett
Among all elements of the makeup, the yellow contact lenses were the most excruciating. Unlike modern soft contacts, these were large scleral lenses made of hard plastic that covered the entire visible surface of the eyeball. The lenses immediately restricted oxygen to the cornea. Dust, fake snow made of pulverized marble, and hair fibers constantly drifted into Carrey's eyes on set, lodging underneath the hard shells.
The pain often escalated to the point where Carrey could not keep his eyes open between takes. Tsuji and the on-set medical staff frequently flushed his eyes with saline solution. On multiple occasions, the scratches on his corneas became so severe that Howard abandoned the lenses entirely for specific shooting days. For those sequences, the production captured Carrey's natural eyes and spent thousands of dollars per shot tinting them green and yellow in post-production, an early, expensive nod to digital fixes in a primarily analog era.
Chloe Bennett explores the intersection of pop culture, streaming entertainment, digital trends, and contemporary lifestyle. Her weekly commentary reaches thousands of culture enthusiasts.
