The director Jim Carrey called a “genius”
Back in the 1990s, there were few comedy faces more iconic than Jim Carrey. Just take the year 1994 as an example, an unbelieve period of time for Carrey, who starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask and Dumb and Dumber, seeing the establishment of Carrey as the singular biggest comedy star of the time.
Carrey followed up with several more acclaimed comedy performances in the likes of the Ace Ventura sequel, When Nature Calls, Liar Liar, Me, Myself & Irene, Bruce Almighty, and even offered his take on The Riddler in Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever from 1995.
But aside from all the iconic comedy roles, Carrey has also proven himself to be a more than capable dramatic actor too. Take, for instance, his legendary roles in the likes of 1998’s The Truman Show and 1999’s Man on the Moon, or better yet, the 2004 romantic drama Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
It’s the latter film that is undoubtedly one of Carrey’s best-ever efforts in his lengthy career. It was directed by Michel Gondry and was written by Charlie Kaufman as Carrey stars alongside Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood in one of the most unique films of the 2000s.
The plot tells of a former couple who undergo a new medical procedure to erase the memories of one another after their separation. Eternal Sunshine is typical of a Charlie Kaufman film in the sense that it toys with chronology and hits home with some of the most emotional moments of 21st Century cinema.
Carrey has admitted that Gondry’s film is one of his most cherished and beloved from his career. The actor once went one further to express his deep admiration for Gondry, the French filmmaker behind The Science of Sleep, Be King Rewind and Mood Indigo, who won the ‘Best Original Screenplay’ with Charlie Kaufman for his 2004 effort with Carrey.
“Michel [Gondry] is just a creative genius, I think, but people really haven’t discovered him on a mass level yet,” Carrey once noted. “He comes in every day with something that just kind of spins you around and makes you go, ‘Wow, somebody’s thinking, man!’”
The kind of spirit Gondry has on set also had Carrey thinking, “Thank you! This is great! Somebody’s bringing something to the table.” Carrey has worked with some of the biggest and best directors throughout his career. But it looks like one of his favourites is the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director.
