The movie Jim Carrey regrets making: “In all good conscience, I cannot support that”
When thinking of the enigmatic actor that is Jim Carrey, we usually consider the man with the elastic face who gave us some of Hollywood’s favourite zany characters such as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask. It was around the release of these movies that Carrey became widely considered one of the most influential actors in Hollywood, performing in the likes of Dumb and Dumber, Batman Forever, Liar Liar, before going on to hits Me, Myself & Irene, and Bruce Almighty.
However, like so many comedic actors, Carrey grew a little tired of his schtick. Following the success of The Truman Show, and with a new century beckoning, he turned his attention to a variety of different roles. Man on the Moon, starring as his hero Andy Kaufman, would provide his most controversial role to date, rarely coming out of character and creating an extremely hostile working environment in the meantime. However, looking back, Carrey doesn’t rank this as a moment of his career he’d like to erase.
Some of Carrey’s most potent performances have come as the villain of the piece. Taking on the iconic role of The Riddler in Batman Forever is ingrained in the minds of a generation of children, while his unnerving performance in The Cable Guy was a whole new kind of eerie.
It is his ability to flirt between good and evil in all his roles, whether it be in the aforementioned comic or in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. No better is this summed up than when he became Colonel Stars and Stripes in Kick-Ass 2, an insanely violent criminal who has cast himself as an unnerving vigilante.
Based on the Image Comics graphic novel of the same name, the Kick-Ass films, although considered comedies, are also known for their brutal violence. Therefore, when it was announced that Carrey would be joining the cast for the 2013 sequel, few knew what to expect. Carrey was known for his rapid-fire quips, but how would he handle wielding a flag-covered mallet and a loaded submachine gun in such a context?
Although the second instalment failed to match the success of the first, it has still attained cult-classic status, with one of its standout aspects being Jim Carrey’s portrayal of the unhinged Colonel Stars and Stripes. However, shortly after filming wrapped up, Carrey expressed deep regret over his involvement in the project. This was prompted by a tragedy that struck the US, leaving the actor feeling unable to reconcile his feelings with his professional life.
In the year before Kick-Ass 2 hit cinemas in August 2013, America was rocked by one of its worst tragedies in living memory. On December 14th, 2012, Adam Lanza killed 26 people at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before turning the firearm on himself. Understandably, the shooting paralysed the country, but no gun control legislation was ever introduced, and this saddened Carrey, whose relationship with Kick-Ass 2 was now soured beyond repair.
“I did Kickass a month before Sandy Hook, and now, in all good conscience, I cannot support that level of violence,” he wrote on Twitter in June 2013 before the film was due to be released, “I meant to say my apologies to others involve [sic] with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
Carrey then disclosed that the Sandy Hook tragedy opened his eyes. Around the time of the film’s premiere, he stopped himself from promoting the project, and since then, he has been a prominent advocate of gun control. Perhaps more significantly for his career, after Kick-Ass 2, he has never worked in another movie that uses excessive violence.