It’s that time of year when we all cosy up on the sofa to watch those heart-warming Christmas movies but did you know that, behind the bells and baubles of the festive flicks, lie some dark secrets?
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
It’s no wonder he was grumpy! Jim Carrey, who starred in the Dr Seuss adaptation in 2000, had to spend two and a half hours in make up every day to get his memorable green-skinned look.
He described it as like being “buried alive” and wearing the costume’s contact lenses as like “having knives in my eyes.” The discomfort of the prosthetics led him to put a foot through the wall of his trailer and even seek torture training from CIA.
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Home Alone
With all that slapstick action, it’s not surprising there were some real injuries on the set of the original 1990 movie.
Actor Joe Pesci, as thief Harry, accidentally bit the finger of Macaulay Culkin, who played Kevin, for real, leaving the youngster with a scar.
In 1992’s Home Alone 2, Pesci himself suffered a serious burn to his head in the scene where Harry’s hat is set on fire.
Bad Santa
Billy Bob Thornton took ‘method acting’ a bit far on the set of the 2003 movie, where he plays a thieving Father Christmas.
In a scene where he turns up to his job in a mall drunk, it turns out he really was.
The American star said: “I drank about three glasses of red wine for breakfast. Then I switched over to vodka and cranberry juice and then I had a few Bud Lights. By the time I got to that scene there, I barely knew I was in a movie.”
Elf
The 2003 movie, about a human raised by elves, sees Will Ferrell take on the role of loveable, but blundering Buddy.
But making the movie took its toll on the star, who suffered severe headaches and insomnia because of all the maple syrup and sweets he had to eat.
He’s since said: “That was tough. I ingested a lot of sugar in this movie and I didn’t get a lot of sleep.”
It’s A Wonderful Life
The feel-good flick stars Jimmy Stewart as down-on-his-luck bank boss George Bailey, who is rescued by a guardian angel.
However, some of the movie’s stars suffered serious personal tragedies…
Bailey’s sweet six-year-old child Zuzu, who is at the centre of the climactic scene, was played by Karolyn Grimes, now 84. Aged 14, she lost her mum to early onset Alzheimer’s disease and a year later her dad died in a car crash.
Fellow cast member Carl Switzer, who played a student, died from a gunshot wound in a fight, aged 31, in 1959.
Die Hard
Set on Christmas Eve, the 1988 action thriller saw Bruce Willis, playing hero cop John McClane, narrowly escape death when he made a stunt jump from a five-storey building and nearly missed the airbag below.
The star also said that due to an accident on the movie he suffered “two-thirds partial hearing loss in my left ear.” Now aged 69, Willis was diagnosed with dementia in 2023.
Love Actually
Divorce actually! The star-studded 2003 movie told the love stories of multiple characters in the run up to Christmas.
But in real life, many of its actors have been through marriage break-ups, including Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton and Denise Richards.
This year Martine McCutcheon, who played Natalie in the film, announced she’d split from her husband of 12 years, Jack McManus.
Liam Neeson played a widower in the film. Tragically, six years later, the actor’s wife, Natasha Richardson, 45, suffered a fatal head injury in a skiing accident.
The Santa Clause
The 1994 comedy romp sees Tim Allen play Scott, a man who has to take on the role of Santa, but one of its jokes backfired badly.
At one point in the movie, he reads out a number on a piece of paper for an X-rated phone line, “1-800-SPANK-ME.”
Unknown to film-makers, it was a real sex line, which some kids actually rang. The gag had to be taken out of later editions of the movie.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
