Ron Howard says he has an idea for a How the Grinch Stole Christmas sequel, but he isn’t telling anyone what it is.
The director, 72, spoke at a festival where he was promoting his new documentary, Avedon, which arrives on Netflix this autumn.
Howard said the idea “popped into my head” about a year ago.
Read more: Jim Carrey’s costar Taylor Momsen reveals if ‘Grinch’ sequel will happen
“I got excited about it and I began to think it through,” he said. He said Jim Carrey believes in the idea, but that Carrey’s attitude is, correctly, that they have to know they are really going to make something great.
Howard acknowledged how tough the original was.
“It was a really hard movie to make, a real struggle,” he said, adding that Carrey struggled with the makeup.
He pointed out that motion capture has since become an option, noting that Carrey made a motion-capture film with Robert Zemeckis, in which he played Ebenezer Scrooge.
That raises the possibility of avoiding the old makeup process.
Howard said the “very funny writers” who punched up the first film and ended up contributing a lot, Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel, are returning for the sequel.
He also recalled that during the original shoot, the production hired Richard Marcinko, a man who trained the military to endure imprisonment and torture, to help Carrey cope with the makeup.
Universal and Imagine Entertainment have been developing the sequel since June.
Howard is expected to direct, with Brian Grazer producing. Carrey was reported to be in talks to return.
Return: Jim Carrey revealed what helped him survive ‘Grinch’ role
