Maybe his heart wasn’t two sizes too small, after all.
Taylor Momsen, who played little Cindy Lou Who in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, is opening up about how costar Jim Carrey, who played the mean one himself, the Grinch, once stopped filming because he worried about her safety.
Momsen was 7 years old at the time of filming the project, which was her breakout role. As such, she told Vulture for its oral history of the film, which turned 25 this year, that from the very beginning, her costar “was incredibly protective” of her.
“That’s what I remember,” she said. “Jim was very, very protective of me on set as a person, as a kid, always looking out for me, checking in, making sure I was okay, because he was very animated, very over the top.”
As an example, Momsen told the outlet about a time the two were filming a scene where their characters came down a mountain on a sled. “It was this real sled that was up on a giant spring that was being controlled and moving from side to side, very aggressively,” Momsen recalled. “Jim is leaning over and being extravagant Jim. There was a moment where I almost fell out of the sled, and he freaked out. He called cut and started checking in on me. I was having a great time. I was laughing; I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I just almost fell very high off the ground.”
Maya Dehlin Spach/WireImage
“I always felt really safe with Jim,” Momsen continued. “I liked being around him. At such a young age, to watch an artist who is that serious at what they’re doing even while playing this very over-the-top character, it was clear to me how much he was putting into it and how much of an artist he was.”
For his part, Carrey explained his over-protective side thusly: “Of course, I’m jumping around her like an out-of-control monster, so I had to let her know that I’m going to be doing some monstrous things, but I’m not a real monster.”
And while he didn’t address the sled stunt directly, Carrey had nothing but fond memories of his costar, telling the outlet that he could tell as soon as he met her that Momsen was “an incredibly precocious child” and “smart beyond her years.” He added, “Her comedy timing was impeccable. A total pro. I don’t think she ever went up on a line or missed a cue or anything like that.”
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The beloved holiday film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman, based on the 1957 children’s book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. It featured Anthony Hopkins as the narrator, and also starred Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, and Molly Shannon in supporting roles.