Taylor Momsen was just 6 years old when she landed her breakout movie role as Cindy Lou Who in the 2000 Christmas movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which also starred Jim Carrey as the titular Grinch.
During filming in September 1999, Jim was 37 years old and an incredibly established Hollywood actor, having starred in movies like Dumb and Dumber, The Mask, and The Truman Show by that point.
Jim was renowned for his impressive and dedicated character acting and comedic prowess when little Taylor became his movie co-lead, and she has now revealed that, despite his status as a bona fide movie star at the time, he was incredibly protective of her.
Speaking to Vulture for their recent oral history of the film, Taylor — now 32 — opened up about always feeling “safe” around Jim, detailing one specific moment when he stopped production in the middle of filming after a stunt almost harmed her.
“I remember when we were shooting the scene coming down the mountain on the 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,” Taylor explained.
“Jim is leaning over and being extravagant Jim. There was a moment where I almost fell out of the sled, and he freaked out,” she went on. “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.”
“I always felt really safe with Jim,” Taylor added. “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.”
Meanwhile, Jim told Vulture that he immediately realized that Taylor was “smart beyond her years” and “an incredibly precocious child” when they met before filming, recalling: “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.”
Taylor previously opened up about how lovely Jim was during a 2023 appearance on the Podcrushed podcast, where she said: “He was, first of all, so nice. That’s what I remember. He was very, very nice. Very methodical. I didn’t quite understand what an artist was at that age, but if I had any inkling of what it was, it was that guy. Just the way he carried himself and the way he full-on went into that character was intense and insane.”
And during the same interview, she also recalled being “relentlessly” bullied at school for her role in the film. For what it’s worth, Cindy Lou is an integral part of the storyline, and is best remembered for her attention-grabbing braided hairstyle, as well as her song “Where Are You Christmas?”
“I moved around a lot when I was young, so I was never in one school for too long,” she began. “Making friends and that kind of thing was always a bit of a challenge for me. I was very introverted and kind of shy. I would go to school for a couple of months and then leave to go work and come back.”
“The Grinch changed my life in a multitude of ways, one of them being I was made fun of relentlessly,” Taylor explained. “Every time I would start at a new school or go somewhere else, I don’t even think the kids knew my name. I was just Grinch girl.”
“Not even my character name, just Grinch girl… I got used to it, but it was alienating,” she added.
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