How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Trivia: When the Grinch takes the table cloth from the table, everything on the table was supposed to fall off. When Jim Carrey yanked out the cloth however, everything stayed in place. Jim immediately walked back to the table and improvised knocking everything off and then knocking the table over.

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Suggested correction: There is no evidence this was a mistake.

There's an apparent scan of an original script on scriptslug.com that indicates the scene, as written, had him pulling the cloth without disturbing anything, then kicking the table over.

Direct link to the page of the script referenced: https://assets.scriptslug.com/live/pdf/scripts/how-the-grinch-stole-christmas-2000.pdf?v=1729114926#page=81.

Trivia: Jim Carrey's makeup took 2 hours to put on and 1 hour to take off, every day for 92 days of filming.

Trivia: Director Ron Howard eventually decided that he had to experience what the cast was going through (since they all had to spend so much time in makeup, especially Jim Carrey) so Howard wore the Grinch makeup one day and directed all day long as the Grinch.

Trivia: The Grinch is imitating Ron Howard in the scene in which he is trying to decide what to wear to receive his Cheermeister award. Watch when he puts on the baseball cap.

Trivia: The widow of the late Dr. Seuss insisted that if the story were made into a movie, no one but Jim Carrey would play the role of the Grinch. Sure enough, she got her wish.

Toolio

Trivia: When Cindy Lou goes up to the Grinch's lair, before she goes inside you can hear him yell "Owiee." This is exactly what Jim Carrey said in "Liar Liar" when he was hitting his head above the urinal (when he beat himself up in the bathroom).

Piemanmoo

Trivia: When watching the giant Christmas tree go up in flames, the Grinch says, "Oh, the Whomanity!" This is possibly paying homage to Herbert Morrison, who famously exclaimed, "Oh, the humanity!" during his witnessing the Hindenburg catastrophe.

Movie Nut

Trivia: Director Ron Howard has a cameo role as one of the startled Whos while the Grinch is ranting in the city square.

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Mistakes

Revealing mistake: When the mayor has his head shaved by the Grinch, Clint Howard grabs the clippers and shaves his own head down the middle. His hair is yanked off his head before he even moves his hand. Even better in slow motion.

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Quotes

Grinch: Hello!
Grinch's Echo: Hello! Hello! Hello!
Grinch: How are you?
Grinch's Echo: How are you? How are you? How are you?
Grinch: I asked you first.
Grinch's Echo: I asked you first. I asked you first. I asked you first.
Grinch: Oh, that's real mature. Saying exactly what I say.
Grinch's Echo: Exactly what I say. Exactly what I say. Exactly what I say.
Grinch: I'm an idiot.
Grinch's Echo: You're an idiot.
Grinch: [Whispering] All right. Fine. I'm not talking to you anymore. In fact, I'm going to whisper. So that by the time the sound of my voice reverberates off the walls and gets back to me, I won't be able to hear it.
Grinch's Echo: You're an idiot.

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Questions

Question: In the beginning, there is a watchman that announces "Another minute closer to Christmas!" as each minute ticks off a countdown clock. Assuming that each panel (days, hours minutes) is on a revolving wheel of some sort, how can the three wheels work correctly in such close proximity to each other? Granted, only the minutes part moves for the sake of the story, but it still begs the question.

Movie Nut

Answer: By machine.

The clock in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is designed for cinematic effect; a real-world counterpart would rely on precise gearing and engineering to allow three separate wheels to operate in close proximity without interfering with each other. The key would be in the gear ratios and the alignment of the gears to ensure smooth operation of each panel.

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