It was no picnic for me either, Pal.
At that time, Hiro said, “All’s well that ends well.”
“About two months after filming was completed, Jim and I spoke again,” he told the Times. “He praised me and told me I did a great job and thanked me. I thanked him too, because he went through all of that. I think How the Grinch Stole Christmas was the hardest movie I’ve ever worked on. It’s a fond memory, but if we had to do it again…we wouldn’t do it!”
After all, Hiro, a two-time Oscar winner for 2017’s Darkest Hour and 2019’s Bombshell, started therapy after his experience at HTGSC.
Things got bad enough, Hiro told Vulture in 2018 that producers suggested he step down to show Carey how important he was to the production. (Although the film’s makeup department was huge, Hilo is the only character dedicated to the Grinch in the credits.)
Hiro said that when Carey called him a week later, he didn’t answer, but Howard assured him that Carey vowed to change his ways.
Friends encouraged him to ask for a big raise, but the Kyoto-born artist went on to say that he decided instead to ask the studio for help getting a green card.
It worked, and he has since become an American citizen. (Thanks to therapy, he was able to realize that he was actually an introvert.)
