After our file on Shia LaBeouf, we focus here on another eccentric actor: Jim Carrey. Star of The Mask, Eternel Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or more recently Sonic, Jim Carrey is a chameleon actor, who is afraid of nothing. Sometimes criticized, often misunderstood, we return here to the XX worst (or best) follies of this extraordinary actor.
Le sketch SNL – Black Swan
In 2011, Darren Aronofsky carried out with Black Swan one of his best films. Taken by Natalie Portmanit has become an essential reference for modern “elevated horror”. So much so that Jim Carrey in person decided to parody Black Swan during a sketch for the SNL. An inhabited and disturbing performance in which Jim Carrey is totally inhabited. Jim Carrey plays a character called “Lily“which is actually an exaggerated and comical version of the character of Mila Kunis. A sketch that has become iconic in which Jim Carrey shows his full range as an actor, but also his underlying madness.
The Emma Stone affair
In 2011, Jim Carrey makes a very strange and somewhat distasteful statement. Indeed, alone at home, behind his camera, the actor then aged 49 declares his love for the young actress Emma Stone, 22 years old at the time. Jim Carrey then offers a (too) long two-minute monologue in which he directly declares his love for Emma Stone, who was very bankable at the time:
You are not only beautiful, but also smart and caring. If I were much younger, I would marry you and we would have children. Every day for the rest of your life you would thank God that I am of the right age for you. And sex… But I’m not. I’m 49 years old, I have wrinkles on my face, my beard is starting to gray and I’m taking a little longer than before to pee.
A few weeks later, Jim Carrey declared on Twitter that this video was simply comedy:
Yes, my message to Emma Stone was a joke, and the funny thing is that everything I say in this video is true” then: “People often ask me if I’m joking or if I’m serious. The answer is “YES”.
So a simple, slightly borderline joke, or huge unacknowledged slip? Hard to say…
His meeting with Michel Hazanavicius
In 2022, during an interview with France Interthe actor Eric Judor told an almost disturbing anecdote about Jim Carrey. He indeed explained the progress of the meeting between the American actor and the French director Michel Hazanavicius (0SS 117 – The Artist) :
Michel Hazanavicus receives a script that Jim Carrey would absolutely like to do. The character in the film has an imaginary friend who is a giant bear, a giant stuffed toy. I don’t know if it’s a rabbit or a bear, in short, a 2.50 meter soft toy, to whom he speaks regularly. And so, Michel goes to Los Angeles and has lunch with Jim Carrey. Jim Carrey comes in, he says “Okay, I’m going to have a salad and what do you want?” And he starts talking to his imaginary 2.50 meter rabbit-bear. Michel laughs, obviously, and then Carrey continues. “Did you want to drink something, perhaps? A soda? Or a squeeze of orange juice?” He continues to address his imaginary friend like that! Michel laughs less and less, and then it lasts… all lunch! And that’s a very long time when you have a guy talking to an imaginary character for an hour and a half. Obviously, it was very embarrassing. So I don’t know if Michel authorized me to reveal this anecdote but I don’t care, I told it.
A slightly crazy anecdote which once again proves the totally tortured mind of Jim Carrey. The actor gets so involved in his roles that he even comes to imagine fictional characters…
His relationship with Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones et Jim Carrey worked together on the set of Batman Forever (1995). And apparently, the relationship between the two men was not in good shape. Tommy Lee Jones has often criticized Jim Carrey’s methodswhich he finds too extreme, too eccentric, even dangerous. Shortly after the filming of Batman ForeverJim Carrey meets Tommy Lee Jones at a restaurant table. He decides to go greet him. And that’s when Jim Carrey realized Tommy Lee Jones’ hatred towards him:
He turned pale and stood up shaking, as if he was half-fantasizing about killing me. He came over for a hug and said, ‘I hate you. I really don’t like you.’ I don’t condone your antics.
His girlfriend committed suicide
In 2015, Jim Carrey finds himself at the center of a compromising affair. Indeed, Cathriona Whitea thirty-year-old Irish makeup artist, commits suicide. The latter maintained a stormy and toxic relationship of several years with Jim Carrey. Cathriona White commits suicide from a drug overdose. These said drugs were allegedly obtained via an alias of Jim Carrey. During her suicide, she left a letter behind her to Jim Carrey. Quickly, those close to Cathriona White accused the actor of having manipulated her, of having provided her with the drugs responsible for her death, and of having contaminated her with STDs. Jim Carrey has strongly denied all these accusations. After years of legal battle, the case was dismissed in 2018. But some still think that the actor is not completely unrelated to the death of Cathriona White. Here is an excerpt from Cathriona White’s letter:
You haven’t been here for three days. I could survive my broken heart and mend the pieces. But I just don’t have the will to do it this time. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better support. I tried to give you the best of myself. Please forgive me. I’m just not made for this world.
What Jim Carrey responded to in the stands of US Weekly :
I am shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of my sweet Cathriona. A lovely, delicate Irish flower, too sensitive for this world, for whom loving and being loved was the only thing that mattered.
Heartbreaking…
He wrote letters to Tupac when he was in prison
In 1995, Tupac Shakur was incarcerated at Dannemora Prison. A particularly difficult period for the rapper, who could nevertheless count on the support of… Jim Carrey. Tupac was a die-hard Jim Carrey fan. The two men were just beginning to become friends when Tupac was incarcerated for a rape case. Over time, Jim Carrey wrote many humorous letters in support of the rapper. Unfortunately, Jim Carrey never wanted to reveal the contents of these letterswhich he maliciously keeps secret.
His lunar interviews
Jim Carrey is no stranger to totally lunar television appearances. We can cite his totally crazy speech at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards or his existential speech at the 2016 Golden Globes:
I’m a two-time Golden Globe winner…and when I go to bed at night, I don’t just dream of being just another actor making movies. No, I dream of being a three-time Golden Globe winner. Because then I could finally feel complete, and I would know that what I am pursuing has been achieved. Until then, I will remain worried, as we all are.
But the best example of his madness is undoubtedly this lunar interview in 2016 on the carpet of Fashion Week. As he attends the party Harper’s Bazaar Icons on the sidelines of New York Fashion Week, the actor is questioned by a journalist from the American channel AND! News. The journalist, in complete disarray, did not expect the actor’s totally blasé and offbeat responses:
I wanted to find the most meaningless thing I could go to and here I am. You know that doesn’t make any sense? We celebrate icons this evening, do you believe in icons? I don’t believe in personalities, I don’t believe you exist, but you leave a wonderful scent behind you. I don’t believe in icons. I believe peace is found beyond personalities, beyond the invention of the heavens, beyond the red S on your chest that makes balls bounce. I think it’s deeper than that, I believe we are dancing energy fields, and I don’t care. I am not dressed, I do not exist. There are just things happening and there are tetrahedral clusters moving together.
Man on the Moon
But Jim Carrey’s biggest breakdown was undoubtedly during the filming of Man on the Moon of Milos Forman. An extraordinary biopic-fiction which tells the story ofAndy Kaufmana famous American comedian who died in 1984. A facetious and eccentric character, Andy Kaufman was ready to do anything to get people talking about him. He notably invented a character called Tony Clifton. When he became Tony Clifton, Andy Kaufman allowed himself to do anything and everything and became an undrinkable, rude and provocative individual. For years, Andy Kaufman played with both of these personalities.
Andy Kaufman went so far in his performance that some believe he is still alive and staged his own death. And for Man on the MoonJim Carrey broke all the boundaries of reality to get as close as possible to the character. Already, during the entire duration of filming, which spanned several months, during and outside of shooting, Jim Carrey wanted everyone to call him Andy. He even went further and asked production for two caravans: one in the name of Andy Kaufman, the other in the name of Tony Clifton.
According to Jim Carrey, he contacted Andy Kaufman. When he got the role, Carrey went to observe the sea. Suddenly dolphins came out of the water. He was convinced it was a sign from Andy Kaufman:
It was a telepathic response. It was completely absurd, but it worked!
Jim Carrey exhausted the entire film crew Man on the Moonstarted by director Milos Forman. When the film was released, he confided to our colleagues about First that he was ” exhausted “ and that he did not have “never met Jim Carrey on set”. His obsession with Andy was infectious since Milos Forman decided to name his children Jim et Andy.
But Jim Carrey’s obsession sometimes went too far. The actor was so much in the role of Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton that he became detestable. A makeup artist burst into tears, some threatened to file a complaint for moral harassment, etc… Then things got out of hand during a fight scene between Jim and the wrestler Jerry Lawler. By provoking him, the latter actually physically attacked Jim Carrey and sent him to the hospital. The incident was then mentioned on the news, much to Carrey’s delight.
In short, there are an abundance of anecdotes like this during the filming of Man on the Moon. The role of a life and a almost neurotic involvementtold in the excellent documentary Jim & Andyavailable on Netflix.
Source: hitek.fr
