The director Jim Carrey always wanted to work with: “He’s a genius”
Loved for his kooky, zany performances, Jim Carrey has never shied away from all things weird. In a career spanning over 30 years, Carrey has used his almost elastic face to give form to some of cinema’s strangest and most memorable characters in 1990s classics like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask.
Carrey made Dr Seuss’ titular character in How the Grinch Stole Christmas entirely his own, crafting a holiday classic that remains essential seasonal viewing, delighting and terrifying children in equal measure. Meanwhile, his most devastating performance came in one of the best films of the 2000s, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, where he showcased his serious dramatic chops. In that role, portraying a man who chooses to have his memories erased, Carrey revealed his undeniable affinity for idiosyncratic characters and fantastical situations, much like in his comedic work.
Carrey is not, however, the only name in Hollywood known for his love of all things uncanny. Tim Burton, the director of Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is practically the Pope of Weird. Burton’s gothic vision of the macabre and eccentric has haunted the imaginations of cinemagoers for the last 40 years. The name of Burton alone is enough to conjure vivid memories of graveyards, skeletons, unearthly creatures and supernatural apparitions. Burton, however, never scares an audience so much that he neglects to maintain the sense of wonder that permeates his filmography; the secret of his success is this combination of horror tropes and aesthetics inspired by silent films with levity and mirth, resulting in magical worlds the audience longs not to have to leave.
The director is known for his preference for returning collaborators, including multiple roles from Burton favourites Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. With their mutual love of the strange, Carrey’s absence from Burton’s filmography seems a curious disappointment. In fact, the two nearly did work together on a screen adaptation of the multi-media franchise Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, with Carrey’s admiration for Burton as the main draw, as he recounted to Chud.
Carrey commented: “I’ve always wanted to work with Tim Burton. He’s a genius. We met when I was in Paris. When you meet somebody you really admire, you’re so nervous and you think, ‘Gosh I wonder if he’ll like me, and I wonder if he’s somebody I’ll like’, and we met and it was just immediately a great time.”
Sparks flying in Paris between these two icons of the uncanny is a scene that the cinephile cannot help but wish to have witnessed. In the interview, Carrey specifies their mutual fondness for cinematic freakery: “I don’t think anybody can do the freaks better than he could! I’m going to be surrounded by a bunch of misfits in the movie, and I think it’ll be wonderful.”
Ripley’s Believe it or Not would have been the perfect project for Burton and Carrey to collaborate on. The series, which started life as a newspaper cartoon before exploding into comics, museums and a series of books, centres on the unbelievable, gathering news items and stories that defy the credulity of its fans but are, its creators maintain, thoroughly investigated and scrutinised. The film adaptation, which would tell the story of the series’ founder Robert Ripley and his adventures in pursuit of oddity, was announced by Paramount in 2004, with Burton and Carrey attached the following year.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Dissatisfaction with the screenplay landed the project in development hell, and Burton removed himself as director in 2008. Both men, however, remain active creators – Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel hits screens this September, and Carrey – despite suggesting he was considering retirement in 2022 – is expected to feature in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. If Carrey is eyeing an exit from the limelight, what better way to bid goodbye to audiences than by teaming up with an auteur who shares his affinity for all things weird?
