Movies - TV
How The Mask Managed To Transform
Jim Carrey Without Hiding His Unmistakable Face
By JOE ROBERTS
Jim Carrey is remembered today as one of the most prominent comedians and movie stars of the ‘90s. However, back when he was cast in his breakthrough role in 1994’s “The Mask,” his larger-than-life presence was a challenge for the director Chuck Russell to balance out with the prosthetic facial features he was wearing in the movie.
Russell recounts that Carrey's bombastic style was a perfect fit, but he still faced the problem of allowing his lead actor to use his "extremely mobile face" to emote while wearing substantial silicon and latex prosthetics. The problem was eventually solved by Steven Williams from the famed effects company Industrial Light and Magic and makeup effects artist Greg Cannom.
In an interview with Forbes, Russell said, "I worked out how to do a design with a lot of very, very small applications with one headpiece off of the boney structures on Jim's face, so I could still get that expressiveness." In the end, they stressed Carrey's cheekbones, forehead, and chin, while everything else was "such a thin prosthetic that you got every expression ... that Jim Carrey normally does."