Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 Broke A Big Movie Record Held By Jim Carrey's Grinch

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" may not have broken any box office records when it hit theaters back in May, and the soundtrack isn't anywhere near as big as the first movie, but the Marvel Studios blockbuster sequel broke an entirely different kind of record — one set by a Christmas movie. 

The 2000 adaptation of Dr. Seuss' classic book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" brought the classic holiday tale to life in live-action for the first time. It was quite an undertaking for director Ron Howard's crew, who not only had to cover Jim Carrey in a hairy full-body suit and seamless, green prosthetic make-up, but had to turn every single actor in a given scene into one of the critter-esque Who people. The work was so grueling that it sent one of the makeup artists into therapy. In fact, the production required so many makeup prosthetic pieces that it held the record for the largest use of prosthetic makeup in film history for the past 23 years. But that record now belongs to "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3."

While we don't know the exact number of prosthetic appliances required for "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," Makeup Department Head Alexei Dmitriew and award-winning Hair Department Head Cassie Russek confirmed that the work done on "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" overtook the holiday movie's hold on the record.

According to Variety, who interviewed the duo, "Guardians 3" required around 75 makeup artists to apply 22,542 prosthetic appliances spread across 100 principal actors and over 1,000 background artists. On top of that, they used nearly 500 wigs, more than 130 facial hairpieces, and 117 pairs of contact lenses. That's leaps and bounds more than the team of 50 makeup artists who applied approximately 1,250 prosthetics between the principal cast and alien extras in the original "Guardians of the Galaxy."

Why so many makeup effects? Aside from the typical makeup jobs required for the main cast and the various aliens who populate the cosmic story, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" had one specific influx of prosthetic-heavy characters: the Humanimals. These animal-human hybrids live on Counter-Earth, the planet created by the High Evolutionary in an effort to create a perfect world. Every single character on that planet required prosthetic makeup to look like these hybrids, and they were all complete with mostly practical effects, though some may have required a little visual effects in post-production. That's exactly how director James Gunn prefers to operate, as Dmitriew explained to MovieWeb:

"James has a real track record of using practical effects, even back to his first film, 'Slither.' He loves practical effects. It really helps him see the things on camera, and it helps the actors get into the role and what they're playing. We're really lucky that he believes in that as much as he does. It gives us a purpose to be able to create awesome stuff. I worked on 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,' too, and for us, it just really helps to make that world a full thing, and just a really rich environment."

Each of the actors wore "intricate 3D-sculpted skull caps" before getting their full makeup and wig job. Remember Neelie, the bat-woman? Darla Delgado was under the makeup, and she had to wear "nails and bat fins, a nine-piece prosthetic makeup, a custom wig, contact lenses and teeth." However, Delgado's experience wasn't unique because of her interaction with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Dmitriew confirmed, "All the characters had makeup at that level." Big ear pieces were magnetic to hold strong on actors' heads, and there were Humanimals like turtles and rabbits who required magnetic eyepieces with larger eyeholes that actors could still see through. 

With so many background actors requiring so much makeup work, Dmitriew and Russek held classes in order to prepare them for production. As Dmitriew explained to Variety, "Because it was so unique and intricate, it has to be perfect and we wanted everyone to know just what they were getting into."

It's a testament to the power of movie magic that you're never thinking about this when you see all these characters. It's all done seamlessly thanks to dozens of hard-working artists behind the scenes. But it's exactly the kind of thing you want to pay attention to when you can get a closer look at the movie in its home release.

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is still in theaters now.