Jim Carrey Opens Up About Struggling to Find Himself Again After Portraying Andy Kaufman
Jim Carrey sat in a Los Angeles hotel room on a recent evening explaining that he was non really Jim Carrey anymore — at least not in the way he in one case was.
"I employ his name," Carrey said, dressed all in black, his lanky frame folded onto a couch. "That's the mailing address."
But on a deeper level, the Carrey persona has fallen away. And at present, at 55, the actor is trying to live as much as possible without any kind of mask or pretense and only float freely through this vast, unending absurdity that is existence.
"At that place's e'er going to be two worlds: the accented and the relative," Carrey said. "And the absolute is the agreement that at that place's simply one thing: At that place'southward just a field of free energy, and there's no yous or I involved. It's simply happening."
For as long equally he can remember, Carrey has been a seeker. As a kid growing up in Canada, decades before he found distinction in smash hits like "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "Dumb and Dumber," he would write poems in which he tried to sort out what the universe was all about.
But perchance the most pivotal moment in Carrey's spiritual journey came when he played his comedic idol, Andy Kaufman, in the 1999 film "Man on the Moon," plunging himself and so securely into the function that he was never the same once more.
That experience has now been chronicled in the new Netflix documentary "Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond — Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton." Directed by Chris Smith ("American Moving picture") and produced by Spike Jonze, the film — now playing via streaming and in a handful of theaters — draws from roughly 100 hours of backside-the-scenes footage that was shot during the making of "Human on the Moon."
In exploring the four months that Carrey spent inhabiting Kaufman, "Jim & Andy" creates a kind of cinematic Venn diagram out of the lives of the two comedians.
Kaufman, who died in 1984, was perhaps best known to mainstream audiences for playing the lovably goofy Latka Gravas on the sitcom "Taxi." Merely he earned an enduring cult post-obit for a style of high-wire, bizarro comedy that blurred the boundaries between what was real and what was non.
"Every story you heard about him expanded the possibilities of what y'all could play with," said Jonze, who cites Kaufman equally a powerful influence on his ain work, from the prankish series "Jackass," which he co-created, to listen-bending films like "Being John Malkovich." "You didn't merely accept to play in the expanse they told you to play in. All the stuff that everyone took so seriously was merely a game and theater to him."
For Carrey, who was coming off the acclaimed 1998 satire "The Truman Show" when he signed on to "Homo on the Moon," information technology seemed merely fitting that he should arroyo the function of Kaufman with that same spirit of playfulness and total delivery. In the end, Carrey'south functioning would become something more than an practise in Method acting, verging on an out-of-torso experience.
Somewhere in the background, there'southward a footling piece of Jim going, 'Oh, no, you're not going to do that.' But I was only along for the ride.
Jim Carrey
"I didn't black out, but the balance was way in Andy's corner," said Carrey, who went on to win a Golden Earth Honour for his performance in the film. "I broke a couple of times on weekends and stuff, just pretty much from when I woke up to when I went to bed, the choices were all his."
Carrey's insistence on staying in graphic symbol at times proved exasperating for those effectually him, as when, playing Kaufman-as-Clifton, Carrey would hurl foul-mouthed abuse at manager Milos Forman. Still, the histrion never dropped the deed. "I love Milos and I respect him greatly, but Tony doesn't," Carrey said. "Somewhere in the groundwork, there's a little piece of Jim going, 'Oh, no, y'all're not going to do that.' But I was just along for the ride."
The behind-the-scenes footage from "Man on the Moon" — which was shot by Kaufman's longtime girlfriend, Lynne Margulies, and his shut friend and creative partner, Bob Zmuda, — initially had been intended to be released in conjunction with the moving picture as a kind of promotional add-on. But Universal Pictures ultimately decided to shelve it.
"They didn't want it to be seen past anyone," Carrey said. "They were protecting my persona. It was a scary thing."
For decades, the footage sat in Carrey's office. Jonze, who had met with Carrey early in his career well-nigh mayhap directing the "Ace Ventura" sequel and gone on to befriend the actor, was tantalized by its very existence.
"Every time Jim told me near the footage, I was like, 'That sounds and then cool,' " Jonze said. " 'Nosotros've got to do something with that.' "
For his part, though, Smith, whose other documentaries include "The Yes Men" and "Collapse," initially wasn't quite sure what to brand of the thought when Jonze first approached him about it.
"I hadn't made a pic in a while and I was just terrified of making a glorified DVD extra," Smith said. "I didn't know Jim personally, and I was curious about what he had been upwards to. But I didn't know where information technology was going to go or what it would be. For me, it was having faith in Spike that he saw something interesting here."
The filming, however, proved revelatory. Over the form of five hours of interviews with Smith, Carrey — wearing a heavy beard and staring deeply into the photographic camera — delved into the profound impact the experience of playing Kaufman had on him.
"I'd never washed that before," Carrey said. "Information technology was just nakedness. Fortunately, I'thou at a point in my life where whatever expectations people have of me are non at the forefront of my consciousness."
For Carrey, the experience of letting go of Kaufman and finding himself again later on "Man on the Moon" had been difficult. "I was looking back at myself and going, 'What the hell practise I believe?' " he remembered. "That was a process."
Merely having temporarily lost himself, Carrey started to find a deeper sense of freedom from the person he thought he was supposed to be. "The process over time has been, 'Oh, fifty-fifty that is not real. Even that is not solid,' " he said. "It's disconcerting at get-go considering it'southward a death. Like, 'Wait a second — I worked really hard putting this thing together.'
"But the good thing is that there is another facet to this now. Sooner or later, I'1000 going to ascend out of that belief and empathise: None of this is who I am. None of this matters." He paused. "That's liberation."
Carrey is well aware of how all of this kind of stuff can sound. He knows that a moving-picture show star waxing philosophical well-nigh his identify in the cosmos can come off as woo-woo. He knows that some people think he'south had some kind of breakdown. But bluntly, he doesn't care.
"I'm the same as them — that's the thing," he said. "Most people walk effectually with a mask on, and if you lot have your mask off for long enough, they beginning to become, 'Hey, put your … mask on. You're bravado my bargain.' The fallback is, 'That person is crazy. That person is depressed.' I'm not depressed — at all. I'yard but another bloom in the garden, and I'm dealing with the same weather everybody else is."
A few minutes later, Carrey plant himself riding in the back of an SUV toward the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, where "Jim & Andy" was being screened at AFI Fest. He saw a random young man walking downwards the street and broke into a mischievous smile.
"Watch this. I'm going to change this guy'southward life," he said, rolling down the tinted window and sticking his caput out. "Y'all're going to make it, human!" he yelled with unbridled excitement. "You're going to make it!"
The man turned his head, a look of pure confusion on his face. Was that … Jim Carrey?
josh.rottenberg@latimes.com
Twitter: @joshrottenberg
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Source: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-jim-and-andy-20171118-htmlstory.html
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