behind the scenes

Mike Myers Was a Huge ‘Diva’ While Filming The Cat in the Hat

Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

As if any other bad news could possibly plague Mike Myers’s infamous 2003 comedy The Cat in the Hat it was so widely panned that Dr. Seuss’s widow banned any other live-action adaptations of her late husband’s oeuvre — his odd, and oftentimes unconventional, diva behavior on the set is now coming to light. In a new A.V. Club interview with character actress Amy Hill, who had a small supporting role in the film, Hill divulged how wholly unpleasant it was to work with Myers behind the scenes. “He is like a little hermit. He would come in and, I guess, be in hair and makeup. We would wait. I’d be there at the crack of dawn, waiting. We would all be waiting for Mike Myers to come,” she said. “He had his handlers dress his trailer, and his area was all covered with tenting because he didn’t want anybody seeing him. It was so weird. It was just the worst. It was like I was there forever, and my daughter was two and a half and I felt like I was missing her first everything. I was miserable. I just thought it was really rude for him to not take all of us into consideration.”

Hill added that the film’s first-time director did nothing to curb Myers’s behavior, and even deferred to him for creative direction. “Mike would do a take, and then he’d go over and look at the monitors, and then he’d talk to the director and then we’d do another take,” she explained. “It was just a horrible, nightmarish experience. I don’t think he got to know anybody. He’d just be with his people and walk away. People would come and then he’d stand there. There was a guy who held his chocolates in a little Tupperware. Whenever he needed chocolate, he’d come running over and give him a chocolate. That’s what divas are like, I guess. Or people who need therapy.” Myers will soon be returning to the big screen with a noir thriller after a rather long acting hiatus, where he’ll hopefully leave the chocolate handler at home.

Mike Myers Was a ‘Diva’ in The Cat in the Hat