How the Bee Gees saved Jim Carrey $20 million: “I will give all my money back, but I quit”
The Bee Gees cemented their cinematic legacy the second the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack was released, but little did the brothers Gibb realise that over 20 years later, they’d become instrumental in ensuring that Jim Carrey didn’t hand over his $20million fee and back out of a movie.
Mention movies and the Bee Gees in the same sentence, and 99% of the time, it’s tied to John Travolta strutting his stuff as Tony Manero in Jon Badham’s zeitgeist-seizing flick. That’s completely fair, since it’s one of the bestselling and most iconic soundtracks of all time, rocketing the group’s career to another level and winning them five Grammys, including ‘Album of the Year’.
At the time, Carrey was still a teenager, albeit one who made their stand-up comedy debut at the tender age of 15 in the same year Saturday Night Fever was released. By the time Barry, Robin, and Maurice came to his rescue, he was one of the most famous, successful, and highest-paid names in Hollywood.
The money didn’t mean a thing when he was strapped into the makeup chair for hours on end for Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, though. Initially, the studio had suggested a less exhaustive process for getting him into character, but the rubber-faced comic wanted to go the extra mile.
“It was something that I asked for that I can’t blame on anyone but myself,” he told Vulture. “You’ve got to be careful what you ask for. You don’t think about it when you see an actor do a part that is about excruciating pain or whatever. But that actor has to live that feeling. They don’t just go home and suddenly stop feeling it.”
Howard noted that “he was miserable” every time he was consumed by his green alter-ego, and the director’s producing partner, Brian Grazer, recalled when he reached breaking point. “He was ready to give his $20 million back,” he recalled. “I mean, he was sincere.”
Carrey concurred, sharing how he marched into the makeup trailer to tell the duo “that I won’t be able to do the movie and I was quitting.”
“I will give all of my money back,” he told them. “I’ll pay interest, but I quit.” It’s become part of How the Grinch Stole Christmas‘ folklore that Carrey was talked down from the ledge and convinced to stay the course when he was trained by Richard Marcinko, who specialised in teaching CIA officials how to withstand and endure torture. However, what’s lesser known is the unsung impact of the Bee Gees.
Most people would assume that the intensive training was the driving force behind Carrey’s decision to remain on board. While it was definitely a huge factor, he placed the credit elsewhere: “What really helped me through the makeup process, which they eventually pulled down to about three hours, was the Bee Gees.”
To whittle away the time, the star “listened through the makeup process to the entire Bee Gees catalogue.” Without them, he wouldn’t have made the film, he’d have been $20 million worse off, and the entire production would have been plunged into disarray. “Their music is so joyful,” Carrey said. “I’ve never met Barry Gibb, but I want to thank him.”
