Jim Carrey’s versatility and controversial acting style have contributed to his immense career success in Hollywood. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor disclosed that he consistently immerses himself in the character he portrays.
His extraordinary acting style was evident during the filming of the documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, where he claimed that he embodied his character so deeply that he wouldn’t even respond to his real name throughout his time on the movie set. “People were never instructed to call me ‘Andy,’ but they’d never get an answer if they called for ‘Jim,'” Carrey explained, referencing his time filming Man on the Moon, a biopic about the late Andy Kaufman. “I was so deep into it that it was scary for a lot of people around me.”
Jim Carrey’s performance on the set of ‘Man on the Moon’ was bizarre
Carrey’s conduct during the production of Man on the Moon was so bizarre that the movie’s studio was concerned that it could potentially damage the comedian’s reputation if revealed. Paul Giamatti, one of his co-stars in the film, stated that during the production, Carrey amused himself by putting Limburger cheese in his pockets and touching everyone on set.
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“He’d constantly be hugging people, and he had it all over his hands and stuff,” he said. “It was disgusting. He was touching people and making them shake his hands all the time. He smelled horrible.”
Andy Kaufman warned him about his method acting
Following his role in the 1999 Andy Kaufman movie Man in the Moon, Carrey featured in Me, Myself & Irene. However, before starting his role, the director of the film Peter Farrelly who was not a fan of the actor’s style instructed him to take it easy and avoid being too harsh on himself in trying to fit into his character.
“By all accounts, including his own, he’d gone a little nuts,” Farrelly stated. “So when we hooked up with Jim on Me, Myself & Irene, the first thing we said was, ‘Jim, you should approach this job as a vacation because you’re not going to live very long if you keep becoming these characters. Just have fun on this one.'”
Martin Freeman, his co-star, described Carrey’s character on the set during a discussion on the Off Menu podcast. “For me and I’m sure, genuinely sure Jim Carrey is a lovely and smart person, but it was the most self-aggrandizing selfish, f***ing narcissistic, bollocks I’ve ever seen,” Freeman confessed. “And the idea that anything in our culture would celebrate that or support it is deranged. I mean, literally deranged?”