Some people say that Jim Carrey is a wacko, while others call him a misunderstood genius.
There’s one thing that no one can argue with though: the guy is a screen legend. He’s
one of the funniest and most popular movie stars who has ever lived and he’s led the
way starring in some of the most hilarious movies ever made. He has so much energy and
he manages to make the typically tiresome and lazy form of slapstick comedy feel fresh
and fun and engaging. He’s also a rather interesting guy, too. So, here are 10 facts
that you (probably) didn’t know about Jim Carrey!
Jim Carrey sent his resume to Carol Burnett at age 10
When Jim Carrey was just ten years old, he sent his résumé into Carol Burnett, because
he wanted to be featured as a regular on the show, like Tim Conway and Harvey Korman. He
knew he was destined to be a great showman and he simply wanted to skip all those years
of high school and college that get in the way of a burgeoning career in comedy. He revealed
the whole story during a TV special that celebrated the show’s 50th anniversary: “Carol and
I actually go way back,” he said. “I was ten years old, and I really wanted to be on
The Carol Burnett Show, because I was a young, aspiring comedian, and I did about 150 voices.”
So, he wrote almost exactly that in a letter and sent it to Burnett herself. He even got
a (supposedly) personal response from her that read, “Unfortunately, at this time
we aren’t hiring children – just grown-ups. But stay in school, study hard, and keep watching
our show. Yours truly, Carol Burnett.” As it turns out, he just ignored her advice and
ended up dropping out of high school when he was sixteen – but it doesn’t seem like
it hurt his career too much. So if you’re a once in a lifetime comedy legend, go ahead
and drop out of school. But if you’re not, maybe stick around.
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Jerry Lewis was one of his biggest influences growing up
Every great comic can tell you exactly who influenced them to get into comedy, and for
Jim Carrey, Jerry Lewis was a huge part of it. He even wrote a whole piece for Time magazine
about Lewis’ influence on him. He wrote, “I’ve always had this psychic connection
with Jerry Lewis. When I was six or seven years old, I’d be sitting in my house with
my family and have this really palpable feeling that one of his movies was on. I’d turn
on the television, and, sure enough, Money From Home or Living It Up would be playing.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the total sense of freedom in Jerry’s
work. I’ve never been particularly grounded in the real world myself, and I love the idea
of rebellion against reality. And through his comedy, Jerry would stretch the boundaries
of reality so far that it was an act of anarchy; he was completely free of this contrivance
that we walk through life with, and I found that extremely liberating. Every artist is
fed by the people who came before them. In the same way that Jimi Hendrix learned from
Chuck Berry, I learned from Jerry. He is part of my makeup. I don’t do exactly what he
did, but his freedom and his disrespect for the norm is there in my work”.
Those rumors of a feud between Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, those are false
There are a lot of comparisons to be drawn between Jim Carrey and Robin Williams. They
are both comedy legends of the stage and screen who got their start at the Comedy Store in
Los Angeles and have starred in some of the most popular comedies ever made and are both
able to portray a huge variety of hilarious characters (be they Ace Ventura or Mrs. Doubtfire
or Lloyd Christmas or Mork or whoever). And they also both had their heyday in the 1990s.
The decade was big enough for the both of them, but the media, just to keep things exciting,
decided to report that there was an intense feud going on between the two. These rumors
have resurfaced lately, thanks to Dave Itzkoff’s new Robin Williams biography. Carrey cleared
the air: “RadarOnline is completely off base and creating a feud that didn’t exist.
Robin may have expressed insecurity about me and my rise to success, but I have never
had anything but the greatest respect for him and his genius. He was also always respectful
to me in person. He called me ‘Maestro’ and I called him ‘Billy the Kid.’ Let’s
get it straight. There’s no feud if one side isn’t aware of it.”
Jim Carrey would be open to playing another comic book role
Jim Carrey’s best known comic book role was the Riddler in Batman Forever, and he
has also played Colonel Stars and Stripes in Kick-Ass 2. Not to mention the Mask in
you know, The Mask. But those aren’t the only comic book roles that he has been considered
for – he was reportedly even in the running for the role of Brainiac in Tim Burton’s
Superman movie. You know, that one that never even got made. Plus, it was once reported
that Marvel were trying to cast Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler as Rocket Raccoon and Groot,
the voice roles that would eventually go to Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, respectively.
The actor himself has said that he would be open to other comic book roles in movies too.
He’s even said that he might even reprise his role as the Riddler in the DC Extended
Universe. When the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight movies were coming out he once said
in an interview. I don’t know about reprising the role, I don’t know if Chris Nolan would
go for that. I’d love to work with him.” He doesn’t usually like to play the same
character twice, but he did note that this would be a different version of the character
since the DCEU movies are a fair bit darker than the Joel Schumacher train wreck that
he appeared in.
Carrey was rejected by Saturday Night Live
Jim Carrey auditioned to join the cast of Saturday Night Live in the year that some
of the greats like Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, and Jan Hooks were also auditioning. While
the latter three were cast and went on to become SNL legends, Carrey was unfortunately
left behind. According to SNL overlord Lorne Michaels, Jim Carrey never auditioned for
him personally. Of course, the hugely energetic and always fresh and hilarious Jim Carrey
would’ve made for a fantastic addition to the cast of SNL, but hey, no one will be able
to identify comic genius every time they see it. It’s amazing that Lorne Michaels and
his team have discovered so many comedy greats over the years as it is: Mike Myers, Will
Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, the list goes on and on and on. Makes
sense that in all that talent a few are gonna slip through the cracks.
Jim Carrey hates doing sequels
Jim Carrey isn’t really that much of a sequel guy. He doesn’t like playing the same character
twice. In fact, that’s what made Count Olaf the ideal role for him – this was a guy
who plays different characters every half an hour or so within the same movie. Of course,
he has done some sequels. He did Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and finally came around
to the idea of a Dumb and Dumber sequel twenty years after the fact. But he doesn’t really
do them in general. It’s not that the studios don’t want to do sequels to his movies.
The box office grosses that his movies have (You know, Bruce Almighty grossed over $400
million worldwide!) those are unheard of for comedies. In fact, sometimes they’re so
desperate for a sequel to his films that they’ll do something absurd like Evan Almighty or
Son of the Mask without realizing that the appeal of Jim Carrey’s movies isn’t the
title or the franchise – it’s Jim Carrey! Duh! He explained why he doesn’t really
like to do sequels in more detail recently saying. At least the two I’ve done, they
were characters I enjoyed doing, but I did find myself almost parroting myself at that
point. When you put ten years between you and the last time you did it, suddenly you’re
going, ‘How did I do that again?’...So, you’re imitating your original inspiration.
It was super fun with Jeff for the Dumb and Dumber sequel, but I’m not a crazy sequel
guy.”
Jim Carrey (apparently) saw a ghost in the hotel from The Shining
The Stanley Hotel in Colorado is where Stephen King stayed when he came up with the idea
for The Shining. So, in a way, it’s the closest thing that the real world has to the
haunted Overlook Hotel, and the Stanley has been making a fortune out of this connection
for years. The book was a best seller, and fans come from far and wide to stay there
and get inside King’s head. The infamous Room 217 is still the hotel’s most requested
room to this day, purely for its connection to the ghosts from the book. Dumb and Dumber
was filming near the hotel, and while they were in the area, Jim Carrey spent a night
at the Stanley. Like many guests before and after him, Carrey asked specifically to stay
in Room 217. In the middle of the night, about three hours after he went to sleep, Carrey
came running out of the room, screaming, left the hotel, and refused to go back. Even to
this day, he has stuck to the vow that he made that day that he would never ever step
foot inside that hotel again, and he still refuses to tell anyone why. One rumor has
it that he saw the ghost of his grandfather, but that could just be hearsay. Or maybe it
was all just a big prank!
He celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Comedy Store wearing nothing but a sock on
his junk
The Comedy Store is a standup comedy club in LA where countless legendary comedians
got their start. It’s where Jerry Seinfeld and Garry Shandling and Robin Williams honed
their acts and became superstars. Another one of those comics was Jim Carrey. Mitzi
Shore, the owner of the club who gave all these comedians their first shots, passed
away recently, and Carrey couldn’t have spoken more highly of her. Mourning her passing,
Carrey said, “The great Mitzi Shore, owner of the famous Comedy Store, has passed away.
No words can express the gratitude I have for her. We met in 1979. She opened the door
to my dreams! If she loved you, you did well. If she didn’t, you did something else. I
will love her forever.” Carrey made a reappearance at the Store to celebrate the 20th anniversary
since it opened its doors. A ton of comics who got their start there appeared for the
celebrations, including Richard Pryor, who struggled onto the stage as he battled multiple
sclerosis. When Carrey took the stage to celebrate the anniversary of the club that made him
a comedy legend, he was wearing nothing but a sock on his junk. That must’ve taken some
– pardon the pun – balls.
Carrey predicted his own $10 million payday
If that unusual red carpet interview from the fashion event where he attacked media
personalities that went viral taught us anything, it’s that Jim Carrey has stayed grounded,
no matter how famous and rich and successful he’s gotten. He’s not the kind of guy
to go all Hollywood and become a vapid, disconnected airhead. In 1997, when he was the biggest
movie star in the world, he told Oprah Winfrey a story from the days when he was a struggling
actor who couldn’t get any work. He said that he wrote himself a $10 million check
and dated it three years in the future. Three years later, he earned $10 million. As he
explains the story himself and dated it Thanksgiving 1995. I put it in my wallet and it deteriorated.
And then, just before Thanksgiving 1995, I found out I was going to make ten million
dollars for Dumb and Dumber. I put that check in the casket with my father, because it was
our dream together.” Isn’t that sweet? He’s made it and all he wanted to do was
share the moment with his dad.
Jim Carrey was considered for the lead role in almost every movie since 1994
After Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber, and The Mask were all released to
huge box office success and critical acclaim in 1994, Jim Carrey was the biggest movie
star in the world. So, every producer with a movie in the pipeline wanted to get him
in the lead role in their project. And after those three hits, he could have his pick.
He was considered to play Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story opposite Paul Newman, who the filmmakers
originally wanted to play Woody (the idea being that the two actors represented New
Hollywood and Old Hollywood, respectively). Mike Myers considered Carrey for the role
of Dr. Evil before deciding to play it himself. The producers of Meet the Parents originally
intended the role of Greg Focker to be played by Carrey. Carrey has been considered for
everything: they was considered to play Shaggy in the live action Scooby Doo movie and Buddy
in Elf and Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s gloomy, gothic Roald Dahl adaptation. Jim Carrey was
even considered for the role of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean! It’s hard to
consider most of these movies without the actors that made them great but if anyone
could have pulled it off, it’s definitely Carrey.
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