The ‘Yes Man’ scene that gave Jim Carrey PTSD: “It was insane, it was unbelievable”
When Jim Carrey signed up for one of the biggest hits of his career, he had no idea the production would see him break three ribs, learn basic Korean, and perform a stunt so daring that the movie’s producers had sleepless nights.
Carrey has never been an actor who gives anything less than 100 per cent, so when he decided to commit the death-defying act, he was never going to back out. At the end of the day, he was a man of his word, and he executed the stunt – although when he experienced very real PTSD symptoms in the aftermath, he may have wished he hadn’t been quite so gung-ho.
In 2005, BBC radio producer Danny Wallace released Yes Man, a memoir about a unique year in his life. A stranger on a bus implored him to “say yes more”, so he decided to conduct an experiment to see if agreeing to anything he was asked would actually lead to transformative experiences in his personal and professional life. The book was soon optioned by Hollywood, and Carrey signed up to star in a 2009 big-screen adaptation helmed by director Peyton Reed.
While the script was being developed, Carrey and Reed came up with the perfect idea for the lead character, Carl Allen, that wasn’t included in Wallace’s book. They figured someone should dare him to jump off a bridge, and because he had vowed to say “yes” to everything, he would soon find himself bungee jumping off the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, California. Carrey immediately loved the idea, but to Reed and the producers’ surprise, he insisted that he wanted to execute the jump himself.
Reed told The Northern Echo, “The first thing Jim said was, ‘I’m doing that. Talk to whoever you need to talk to. I don’t want a stuntman. I’m doing that.” He chuckled, “There was no talking Jim into it – he was going to do it whether we showed up to film it or not. It was something he wanted to do in real life; a box he wanted to check off.”
Naturally, the film’s insurers weren’t too fond of the idea of the A-list comedic genius risking his life by plummeting from a bridge with only an elastic cord between him and certain doom. They also weren’t happy when Carrey broke three ribs doing a pratfall in a bar scene midway through production, though, even if Carrey copped the blame for that one. He explained that he changed his mind in the middle of the stunt and decided to put all four limbs in the air as that would get a bigger laugh, but it meant he hit the ground much harder than he anticipated.
Either way, any insurance issues were soon ironed out, and Carrey’s jump was pencilled in for the final day of shooting. However, when the iconic star finally found himself standing at the edge of the bridge, looking 130 feet down, he couldn’t stop some dark thoughts from flashing into his brain. He admitted to MTV News, “Death, death, a lot of thoughts of death. You know, thoughts of crossing over were actually going through my mind. It was very strange.”
The Ace Ventura: Pet Detective star confessed that he had played the stunt down in his head for weeks, telling himself that it was no big deal because people bungee jump all the time and talk about how exhilarating it is. But as soon as he got to that bridge, he panicked and thought, “Oh my god, what have I done? What am I doing here?”
Carrey pushed through the crippling fear and thoughts of his impending demise, though, and leapt into oblivion. It made for an incredible moment in the film, as the camera got so close as to leave no doubt that Carrey himself had truly performed the stunt – but he paid for it afterwards.
With a laugh that can only come after experiencing something deeply frightening and living to tell the tale, he admitted, “It was insane. It was unbelievable. I actually had post-traumatic stress after it. For about a week after it, I dreamed of hitting the ground.”
