The comedy actor Jim Carrey called a “genius” and why they got cut out of his movie
He’s a star who tends to soak up all the spotlight in any given room, but Jim Carrey has a surprising amount of affinity for his fellow comedians.
Although there’s a familiar trajectory that many comedians follow in order to position themselves into being movie stars, Carrey didn’t take any standard routes to success.
Despite failing to become a cast member on Saturday Night Live, he developed a stand-up routine that was so bizarre and unique that people had to pay attention to it, which quickly led him to success on the big screen and one of the most impressive years that any actor has ever had, seeing him star in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb & Dumber, and The Mask in 1994.
Carrey’s career wasn’t perfect, as his obsessive, immersive techniques of getting into character would occasionally bother his co-stars, but even then, it was evident that he aspired to be taken seriously and desperately wanted to be in the conversation to receive an Academy Award, and despite winning two back-to-back ‘Best Actor’ Golden Globes for The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, in the drama and comedy/musical categories, respectively, he was handily snubbed both times when the Oscar nominations rolled out.
It may have been a mix of these disappointing omissions and the growing toxicity around his work ethic that Carrey took a swing at making his most ambitious film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, directed by the legendary arthouse filmmaker Michel Gondry, featuring a script by the incomparable genius Charlie Kaufman, wherein he was tasked with playing a lonely, depressed man in a film that took issues like mental health and isolation seriously.
It allowed him to prove that he could be a dynamic screen partner and that he didn’t have to dominate the screen in a way that overshadowed his co-stars; infact his chemistry with Kate Winslet was spectacular, as the two actors seemed to only make each other better, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was such a singular project that it wasn’t able to accommodate its entire extended cast.
Tracy Morgan, a comedy icon whom Carrey called a “genius”, was originally cast in the film in the role of a neighbour, who Gondry felt was ultimately too famous, and might have been distracting, and hence had to be left on the editing floor.
Alongside, the film does feature a pretty impressive extended cast that included Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, and Elijah Wood, but Morgan had a very unique persona that might have given the wrong vibes for such a serious story. Although he and Carrey are both actors who have shown that they have the ability to do dramatic work, seeing them both take on a more serious moment together may have broken the concentration of the viewers.
Nonetheless, Carrey only rarely discusses other comic stars that he admires, but Morgan must have been too significant a talent for him to ignore, and ironically, may have actually benefited from the situation more, as it was shortly thereafter that he earned the role of his career on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. While Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was hailed as a modern masterpiece, most of the praises were handed to Gondry and Kaufman, as Carrey ultimately did not end up being recognised by the Academy Awards once again.
