In the film, his character was supposed to die, but fans loved to see more of him so Mike Myers needed to rewrite the script and keep Verne’s character alive.
“When they did a test screening, Mini-Me died at the end. We had to go back and reshoot that because the crowd was upset that Mini-Me was no longer there,” he recalled to Oprah.
“In the beginning, Mini-Me character wasn’t in the film that much,” he said. “Once we started rehearsal, Mike kept adding more parts and more parts and more parts,” he added. “Working with Mike was great. He improv’d a lot. It just kept you on your toes.”
Mike Myers later said: “As written, Mini-Me is like almost a prop, but he brought it up off the page, made it better than written, and we ended up giving him more and more stuff to do.”
As his career advanced, his personal life suffered. Namely, Verne started drinking a lot and even experienced mental issues in the early 2000. He married model Genevieve Gallen in 2014 but their marriage was short lived. In 2017, the actor spoke openly of his addiction and said he was willing to brake his bad habits and even go to rehab.
“While it’s not always been an easy fight, I’m willing to continue my fight day by day,” he said at the time.
“I’ve been receiving treatment for the last week, and I am voluntarily checking into a treatment center later this week to continue to get the help that I need.”
Sadly, on April 21, 2018, Verne passed away. He was 49.
“It is with great sadness and incredibly heavy hearts to write that Verne passed away today. Verne was an extremely caring individual. He wanted to make everyone smile, be happy, and laugh. Anybody in need, he would help to any extent possible,” his family said.
Shortly after his passing, it was revealed that Verne Troyer took his own life.
“Over the years he’s struggled and won, struggled and won, struggled and fought some more, but unfortunately this time was too much,” the statement read. “Depression and [taking your own life] are very serious issues. You never know what kind of battle someone is going through inside. Be kind to one another. And always know, it’s never too late to reach out to someone for help.”
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, Mike Mayers said of his dear friend, “He died at 49. He wasn’t supposed to live past his teens. You saw 150 years worth of life in this photo montage.
“Verne brought so much love to people. Every day you see him, you go ‘Wow! That is a small human.’ But by the end of the day, you just saw Verne. It just sort of went away….He was part of the cast and fantastic. I miss him.”
Please SHARE this article to pay tribute to Verne Troyer.
