The Poster Memorabilia blog

Meeting the Grinch After Christmas

A childhood scare, a teenage crush, and one March night at the Oscars that started a hobby.

By an anonymous Hollywood insider

What's your favorite Christmas movie? Is it the 1964 classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? Disney's The Santa Clause franchise starring Tim Allen? Or maybe the 2003 hit, Elf? There are so many holiday films out there that it's hard to choose. But for me, it's always been How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

I actually thought it was a horror film when I first watched it on TV. I was just five years old, and it was the first Christmas I remember as a child. My mom put the movie on to distract us as they prepared the house for a Christmas Eve family gathering, and when I first saw the Grinch, he freaked me out.

Jim Carrey is just too good at acting all goofy like that. I still get creeped out by his performance in The Mask movie, even though I actually liked the cartoon. Painting him green is bound to add a touch of whimsy that always gets too weird for my taste. He terrorized us kids in the early 2000s.

“He terrorized us kids in the early 2000s.”

It took a couple of rewatches, all during Christmas Eve, for me to turn the tide with The Grinch, and when it did, it became one of my favorites. I even developed a small crush on Carrey as a teenager. I don't know; I just eventually found his wacky energy charming.

Thank goodness I grew out of it by the time I finally met him as an adult. I stayed calm in front of someone I was obsessed with growing up. And because I got it together, I managed to get his autograph on my movie poster.

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It was at the 2014 Academy Awards, and I heard that he would present Best Animated Feature at the ceremony. My friend, the real autograph hound, dragged me along to the fan bleachers as she tried to get as many autographs as possible. She's been doing this for years, but it was the first time she asked me to join her.

I only agreed when I found out Jim Carrey would be there, and I finally had the chance to see him in person. She also told me to bring my poster to have him sign it, something I never thought I'd do. But life is wild like that. Suddenly, you're about to meet the guy you've been watching all your life.

I'm happy to say that Jim Carrey was an absolute delight in real life. He's just as zany, but also so nice and pleasant with fans. When he signed my poster, my old crush came back in a snap. He was a lot more handsome in person, and I couldn't help but blush when he was right in front of me. Later that night, I watched him do his Bruce Dern impression on stage, and I laughed all over again.

That moment flipped a switch in me, and I've since become an autograph hound myself. I then chased down the rest of the movie's cast and got them to sign the same poster, including Jeffrey Tambor, the iconic Christine Baranski, the hilarious Molly Shannon, and more. They were all great in real life, too.

Some things you watch. This one you keep.

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