Jim Carrey's various on-set personas have been well documented over the years, from annoying Tommy Lee Jones with his 'buffoonery' on Batman Forever, to the 'psychotic places' that his portrayal of Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon took him to.
However, it seems that he took his method acting a little too far on 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', as one make-up artist who worked on the film says that Carrey's treatment of him sent him to therapy.
The Oscar-nominated Kazuhiro Tsuji told Vulture that working on the 2000 film was 'not easy' for Carrey. "He was encased head-to-toe in green fur, in a design that kept changing, and the fake snow on set kept getting into the gigantic contacts he was forced to wear," the piece read. 'The way Tsuji tells it, he took these frustrations out on the crew. “Once we were on set, he was really mean to everybody and at the beginning of the production they couldn’t finish,” he said. “After two weeks we only could finish three days’ worth of shooting schedule, because suddenly he would just disappear and when he came back, everything was ripped apart. We couldn’t shoot anything.”
He goes on to reveal that Carrey's combative behaviour actually made him leave the set for a week at one point.
"In the makeup trailer he just suddenly stands up and looks in the mirror, and pointing on his chin, he goes, ‘This color is different from what you did yesterday.’ I was using the same color I used yesterday. He says, ‘Fix it.’ And okay, you know, I ‘fixed’ it. Every day was like that.”"
The piece continued: "Mentally exhausted, Tsuji met with Baker and one of the producers, who were also unhappy with the slow pace. They came up with a solution: He would go away for a while, which would make Carrey see how valuable he was. After a week of hiding, Carrey called. Tsuji didn’t answer, and he didn’t call back. Then director Ron Howard called. He left a message saying Carrey had sworn to change.
“I went back under one condition,” Tsuji said. “I was talking with my friends, and they all told me, ‘You should ask for a raise before you go back.’ I didn’t want to do that — kind of nasty. Then I got the idea: How about I ask them to help me to get a green card?” He returned, and Carrey kept his temper in check the rest of the shoot."
Eventually, Tsuji said that he started seeing a therapist after the experience, "and it made him realize how unhappy he was on set. “I’m really an introvert,” he said. “I don’t like to be in many groups of people, or work under those conditions.”
Carrey's agent said that he was 'unavailable for comment' in response to the story.
