The two co-stars who hated working with Jim Carrey: “I hate you. I really don’t like you”
Becoming a truly accomplished performer does not necessarily equate to being the easiest to perform alongside. In any art form, becoming one of the greats to perfect it means you have naturally been gilded with a sense of ego, of competition and of comfort in exacting your will on the stage or under the spotlight. Especially within the context of a Hollywood production, it can lead to tension with your co-stars, as Jim Carrey has found out over the years.
Climbing the professional ladder in Hollywood is a difficult task requiring a certain sense of bullishness to achieve it. Such determination usually comes complete with a powerful sense of self-esteem, or at the very least, self-preservation, which can manifest in troublesome ways on set. Carrey’s climb may have seemed quicker than most, excelling himself to the top of the pile of male actors in the 1990s through a string of huge successful pictures like Dumb and Dumber, Ace Ventura, The Mask, Liar Liar and The Truman Show, but he still had to fight hard to get to where he was.
So when he started to gain more serious roles, his tough exterior would often rub his co-stars the wrong way. Even aside from his notably challenging performance in Man on the Moon, the Andy Kaufman biopic, which Carrey admitted saw him lose himself in the character he was playing, the actor certainly irritated two of his more prestigious co-stars.
Working with Morgan Freeman is the kind of mark of commendation that most actors strive for, and when Carrey clocked in alongside the veteran star for Bruce Almighty, he was equally thrilled, telling the BBC: “Morgan Freeman is so class. Man, he’s so cool.”
But the reality of the star was also prevalent, as Carrey continued: “[He’s] kind of scary. He terrified Tom [Shadyac, the director] – it was hilarious. Tom didn’t know what to do with Morgan.” A naturally charismatic performer with many hit movies under his belt, Carrey confidently approached Freeeman, “The first day I met Morgan, I walk up to him, shake his hand and say, ‘Hi Morgan, this is so great, I’m so glad you’re doing this movie.’ And he says, ‘Nice to meet you too. Now, never touch me again.’ He’s just got that way about him. He’s like this laser that goes right to your soul”.
It’s not the friendliest welcome from one colleague to another. It would prove to be a somewhat uncomfortable on-set experience as Carrey concluded: “He’s just got that way about him. He’s like this laser that goes right to your soul,” he said. “He raked Tom over the coals something awful through this whole movie – you knew he was joking, but it was still so uncomfortable. To me he’s one of those guys that every actor is afraid of, because you walk on screen with him and you’ve got to be ready. Be ready, or he’ll burn your soul,” he added.
While the issues with Freeman may have been somewhat emphasised for an interview, one co-star who truly detested working with Carrey was Tommy Lee Jones. Carrey was taking on the role of The Riddler in the ill-fated Joel Schumacher picture Batman Forever. Filmed in 1995, Carrey had only just begun to take his position at the top of the tree, and his antics seemed to push Jones over the edge.
In an interview on Norm MacDonald Live, Carrey explained how their issues came to a head when he was booked for dinner at the same restaurant as the actor: “The maître d’ said, ‘Oh, I hear you’re working with Tommy Lee Jones. He’s over in the corner having dinner.’ I went over, and I said, ‘Hey Tommy, how are you doing?’ and the blood just drained from his face.”
“He got up shaking,” Carrey continued. “He must have been in a mid-kill-me fantasy or something like that. And he went to hug me, and he said, ‘I hate you. I really don’t like you.’ And I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ and pulled up a chair, which probably wasn’t smart. And he said, ‘I cannot sanction your buffoonery.’”
The reason for Jones’ issues seemed simple to Carrey: “I was the star”. It’s true, the actors were certainly beginning on different trajectories, but Carrey still regards Jones highly: “He’s a phenomenal actor, though. I still love him. He might have been uncomfortable doing that work, too. That’s not really his style of stuff.”
Hollywood may well be a collective effort to pursue commercial creativity to its highest platform, but it is also extremely competitive. A star in the making will always upset those veteran actors they are working with, and Carrey is certainly no different.
