“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time, so fans will be happy to know that its lead star is open to returning to that universe. Adapted from Dr. Seuss’ classic book of the same name, the film sees Jim Carrey play a green, holiday-hating monster who befriends a young girl and eventually finds his festive spirit. Despite being a feel-good Christmas caper, however, the film was rocked with behind-the-scenes woes and Carrey has been vocal about hating the experience. Despite this, the actor is open to playing the Grinch again — but he has one condition.

In an interview with ComicBook.com, Carrey admitted that “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” wasn’t a fun movie to make. However, film technology has evolved since the year 2000, so he’d consider reprising the role if the Grinch was digitally created this time. In his own words:

“The thing about it is, on the day, I do that with a ton of makeup and can hardly breathe. It was an extremely excruciating process. The children were in my mind all the time. ‘It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids. It’s for the kids.’ And now, with motion capture and things like that, I could be free to do other things. Anything is possible in this world.”

Some fans might be shocked to learn that Carrey is open to reprising the character. After all, making the first movie was like literal torture for him, and it also had a negative effect on some of his colleagues.

Jim Carry hated dressing up as The Grinch. The process required him to sit in a makeup chair for hours, which, you can imagine, was very uncomfortable. In fact, Carrey has previously likened the experience to being buried alive and admitted that a member of the CIA was recruited to teach him how to cope with torture. With that in mind, it’s understandable why the actor would only return to the role if the anti-Christmas creature was re-created digitally.

“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” also forced makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji into therapy. The Oscar-winning maestro claimed that Carrey’s on-set behavior was terrible at the time, and it had a negative effect on his mental health. Carrey apologized to the makeup artist during the film’s production, but the experience clearly had an impact on Tsuji.

Carrey himself only just came out of retirement for “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” and his comments about playing The Grinch again suggest he wasn’t completely serious about saying goodbye to Hollywood in the first place. Be that as it may, it remains to be seen if he’ll even get the chance to play the un-jolly green monster again. If he does, let’s just hope it’s a more positive experience.