Watch: North West Transforms Kim Kardashian Into "Mommy Grinch"Minus the whole setting-the-Christmas-tree-on-fire thing, is the Grinch actually the hero the world needs right now? Whoville's scroogiest citizen may have had his wires crossed due to a traumatic childhood event, causing him to act out in not the most productive of ways, but he wasn't wrong about the avarice. But Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas is really about how little Cindy Lou Who-who astutely wonders if the mad dash for presents and unneighborly one-upmanship to have the best lights isn't a little much-saves the day with her kind heart and generous spirit. Which, after all, is the true meaning of Christmas. And when you add Jim Carrey to the mix in director Ron Howard's 2000 take on the 1966 animated TV classic (which was adapted from the 1957 children's book), you get a scene-stealing Grinch of a thousand faces, Ace Ventura-meets-The Mask-level mugging, and a strangely charged love story between the onion-chomping Grinch and Christine Baranski's buxom Martha May Whovier. Which made perfect sense at the time.readYou Might've Missed This How the Grinch Stole Christmas Editing Error"I've always been kind of a little bit of an outsider," Carrey told E! News when the movie was released, "and I think that he's the ultimate outsider. He's the ultimate disenfranchised guy, the person who doesn't fit in." Fearlessly facing off against Carrey was Taylor Momsen as Cindy Lou. The future Gossip Girl star was only 7 at the time but a total pro, according to her costar, who called the second-grader "super cool."Ron Batzdorff/Universal/THA/ShutterstockWorking with Carrey, meanwhile, "I remember him being so kind, so concerned, but so methodical with what he was doing," Momsen told TODAY in 2020. "Even at that young of an age, I remember watching him and going, 'I'm watching an artist right now at work.'" But speaking of artists at work, can you guess how long it took to turn Carrey into the Grinch? And who needed therapy afterward? Or who inspired Momsen to become the singer she is today? There's no need to scale Mount Crumpit. We've got secrets about How the Grinch Stole Christmas that are more fun than a whole bag full of snoozlephones:Francois Duhamel/Universal Pictures/THA/ShutterstockThey Put a Grinch on the MoonJim Carrey infamously went full method to play late comedian Andy Kaufman in the 1999 biopic Man on the Moon. Which, since filming on How the Grinch Stole Christmas got underway that same year, resulted in some overlap for the star of both films. "Jim Carrey didn't exist at that time," the actor told an audience at the 2017 Venice Film Festival, which hosted the premiere of the documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond - The Story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton. "Andy actually affected the Grinch as well." Namely, Carrey said he spent two hours on the phone with Howard one night going over notes, but in character as Andy. "It was psychotic at times," he admitted.
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesI Will Try to Entertain You as Best I CanCarrey even met with Theodore Geisel's-aka How the Grinch Stole Christmas author Dr. Seuss'-widow Audrey Geisel as Kaufman, according to director Ron Howard. Audrey being the gatekeeper of her late husband's legacy and the one to say yea or nay to the project. But apparently she appreciated Carrey's commitment to both characters. "He invited Mrs. Geisel to the set," Howard told Empire in 2000, "and for a while he was talking to her like Andy Kaufman. And then he'd drop that and turn back to her and be the Grinch for a whole minute of Grinchiness, including the big grin, and she was totally enthralled. By the time I came to her with my idea, she said to me, 'I love it, and I want Jim Carrey to play the Grinch.' Which is what I wanted to hear because I probably wouldn't have done the movie with anyone else." And it was only the beginning, as Carrey also voiced Horton in the 2008 animated hit Horton Hears a Who!Blue Sky/20th Century Fox/Kobal/ShutterstockThe Seussian Cinematic UniverseYou can't tell when you're in Whoville (or on it), but the whole planet fits on a speck of dust, according to Dr. Seuss' 1954 book Horton Hears a Who! And yes, according to Seuss canon lore, the microscopic Whos Horton hears are from the Whoville of How the Grinch Stole Christmas fame.
Universal/Getty ImagesA Sweet GestureTaylor Momsen, who was 7 when she played Cindy Lou Who, would bring Carrey candy bars from his native Canada. And he, in turn, told people that she "used to give him too much candy," so if he forgot his lines it was because he was "all hyped up" from the sugar, the Gossip Girl actress told E! in 2000. "That's just a funny story that he tells." Meanwhile, though she remembered bringing him toffees and couldn't remember the name of the chocolate bar he said was his favorite, Carrey recalled being awash in his preferred confection. "She was buying