Jim Carrey Compares His Sonic 3 Makeup to The Mask and The Grinch

Jim Carrey has worn heavy makeup for many of his most famous roles, but some prosthetics were more difficult to put together than others.

To play the villainous Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Carrey, 62, sported a bald cap and an over-the-top fake mustache. But according to the actor, the makeup for his latest role was “easy” compared to playing How the Grinch Stole Christmas’ titular holiday icon.

“There was no challenge like The Grinch,” he exclusively told Us Weekly about starring in the beloved 2000 movie. “[For] The Grinch, I had to be trained by a guy who actually tells CIA people and operatives how to endure torture. That’s how I got through The Grinch. So that was the worst one.”

Carrey was famously covered head-to-toe in green hair in the Ron Howard-directed film, and wore full facial prosthetics and yellow-colored contacts. However, Carrey played another makeup-heavy, green-colored character before playing the Grinch.

“The Mask was the prep for that one, and I was pretty challenged by that,” he told Us of the 1994 comedy, in which he starred as a man who transformed into a green-faced superhero upon putting on a magical wooden mask.

Even though Carrey plays two roles in Sonic 3 — Dr. Robotnik and his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik — the makeup process for the film was much smoother compared to his experiences on The Grinch and The Mask.

“The group was easy. They made it, kind of, really as simple as the process could be, and Mark Coulier and his group really, really did a fantastic job,” he shared. “And we had a blast. I mean, we just had a nutty time in the trailer.”

While Professor Gerald Robotnik shares his grandson’s bald head and mustache look, Carrey also had to wear old age makeup to portray his villain’s relative. “We had one of the most zany makeup experiences of my life,” he stated in a December 2024 behind-the-scenes video for the film, which hit theaters on December 20.

Sonic 3 sees the Robotniks team up with Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves) to take down Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and his friends Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey).

As for where Carrey thinks Dr. Robotnik would rank himself among film history’s greatest villains, he told Us: “Robotnik would say No. 1 and 2, at least. To me, he’s the most dangerous kind of human being there is. A loveless child with a triple-digit IQ and whose bitterness has metastasized into total villainy.”

He went on to praise the film’s cast and crew, including Schwartz, 43, whom Carrey said “makes me laugh.” He stated: “[Ben is] really funny, really great. And he does a fantastic job with this character, so he’s a wonderful foil.”

He continued: “There’s just a bunch of fantastic people involved in this production, Colleen O’Shaughnessey and all these wonderful actors that are coming through and joining up, and Keanu Reeves and Idris Elba. And it’s just growing exponentially. … It’s really fostering this really creative atmosphere.”

For more on from Carrey, watch the video above and pick up the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is in theaters now.

With reporting by Tufayel Ahmed