Some Hollywood stars are known for being big divas on movie sets and now its alleged that Carrey was one on The Grinch.
The 2000 Dr Seuss film saw special makeup effects artist Tsuji, who is nominated for an Oscar for Darkest Hour, work on Carrey’s character.
The actor once appeared on The Graham Norton Show, where he said of the make-up, “It was like being buried alive each day.”
The result was an irritable Carrey, who was allegedly unpleasant on set, just as is claimed of Mike Myers on fellow Dr Seuss movie, The Cat In The Hat.
Speaking with Vulture, Tsuji said: “Once we were on set, he was really mean to everybody and at the beginning of the production they couldn’t finish.
“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.”
But one incident was too much for Tsuji, who ended up leaving the set for a while, so Carry would “see how valuable he was.”
Tsuji continued: “In the makeup trailer he just suddenly stands up and looks in the mirror, and pointing on his chin, he goes, ‘This colour is different from what you did yesterday.’ I was using the same colour I used yesterday. He says, ‘Fix it.’ And okay, you know, I ‘fixed’ it. Every day was like that.”
After a week away, Tsuji ignored a phone call from Carrey, before director Ron Howard had to call and said the star had promised to change.
In the end the makeup artist did return to set, but only on the condition of being recommended for a green card.
Tsuji admitted he had to see a therapist afterwards due to how unhappy he had been on set, but did go on to win a BAFTA for his work on The Grinch.