This editing from How the Grinch Stole Christmas is sure to steal your attention.
In the 2000 holiday film based on Dr. Seuss' book by the same name, there's a scene where Jim Carrey's character the Grinch, who hates Christmas, returns home after nearly ruining a festive celebration put on by the nearby town of Whoville—only to be shocked to learn that he still hasn't squashed their spirits. While the scene may not stand out at first, it caught the attention of one social media user for a particular reason. And it has to do with…the Grinch's eyes?
Yes! TikTok user @redcobweb noticed the color of the Grinch's eyes change from a yellowish green—the shade they are for the majority of the film—to Carrey's actual eye color brown and then back again.
"So every time I watch the Grinch I notice this one little mistake they made where they forget either to put his contacts in or they forgot to edit them in afterwards," the content creator noted. "And so Jim Carrey's brown eyes are just there."
Pausing the video so followers could see the difference for themselves, they added, "You'll see it. Right there! Those are his, like, brown eyes. And then in the next scene, they're back to that."
@redcobweb i’m sorry for the way i spoke lol it’s really annoying to me how “matter of factly” i am in this xD #thegrinch#moviemistakes ? original sound - cobweb
Many viewers couldn't believe they hadn't spotted the switch before. "All the times I've seen this movie I never noticed that," one commenter wrote, "and I'll never unsee it." Added another, "Very observant!"
However, others wondered if this was done on purpose. "Literally feels like it was intentional because it looks like cartoon pupils?" one follower wrote. "I don't know. Just kinda feels right where it is to me." Added another, "I love it like this lol I thought it was intentional."
Then Universal Pictures All-Access' TikTok entered the chat. "Jim Carrey is so good he wasn't using contacts," the account replied. "That's all acting."
In the past, Carrey has spoken about wearing contact lenses for his character's transformation.
"I was in hell in that Grinch costume, too," the actor told Playboy in 2004. "It was like knives were stuck in my eyes."
Alas, he was able to push through. "It was just the worst situation comfort-wise you could possibly imagine," the Bruce Almighty alum added. "But still, when they said 'Action!' I was free, you know? There's something about that suspended life moment. When they say 'Action!' I'm free."
In fact, it took about eight and a half hours to do all the Grinch makeup on the first day. However, he claimed someone was brought in to help with any discomfort.
"I went back to my trailer and put my leg through the wall and told [director] Ron Howard that I couldn't do the movie," Carrey said on The Graham Norton Show in 2014. "And then [producer] Brian Grazer came in, and being the fix-it man, and came up with a brilliant idea, which was to hire a gentleman who is trained to teach CIA operatives how to endure torture. So that's how I got through the Grinch."
For more fascinating facts about Carrey, keep reading...
(E! and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family).
This story was first published on Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022 at 1:10 pm. PT.