May 2003 Bruce Almighty : An Interview with Jim Carrey

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Interviewed by Wilson Morales Bruce Almighty: An Interview with Jim Carrey Jim Carrey is one of those few actors who hasn’t really had a bad streak when it comes to films. He and his handlers are smart enough to balance the types of films he makes so that a hit is ensured. After “Cable Guy”, he followed that with “Liar Liar”, and “Man on the Moon”, he did “Me, Myself and Irene”. For an actor who makes about $20M per picture, his films usually make the grade. At a recent press conference, Jim Carrey spoke about working on his latest movie “Bruce Almighty” and his feeling towards God. WM: Do you spend a lot of time challenging yourself? JC: I think it’s important never to look a gift horse in the mouth and never to overlook your talents, what you’re good at and so I really say it sounds like a great creative challenge to me. It doesn’t matter whether it’s dramatic or comedic. WM: What’s the message you think this film is bringing? JC: We all kind of like to face how we define ourselves. I don’t have that many limits on myself. Maybe other people will try to limit me but I don’t limit myself. I think this movie is more about somebody being grateful for what they have; sitting in front of a banquet table and saying ‘there’s no grapes, I can’t eat that without the grapes.’ I think it’s about appreciating what you have as well as exploring. My interpretation to the secret to life is don’t do anything or try not to do anything that makes you feel like you deserve to lose in life. And be grateful for what you have.And protect what you’ve got that’s beautiful too. If you’ve got a talent, protect it. WM: What are your feelings about God? JC: We always try to humanize him in some way. He’s probably just a shaft of life in a doorway. I think we’ve always tried to personalize him. I wanted God in this thing to be the guy who is absolutely dignified and has this austere quality and no nonsenseness to him but at the same time has a sense of humor because God made our sense of humor. We don’t get a lot of is God kind of messin’ with your head. All of us get to a certain point where we’re screaming at God in our own way saying, ‘why are you doing this to me?’ We always get to a point where we say, ‘oh that’s what I had to learn’ but it’s always such a long time coming. It was a nice chance to say that. I don’t think you can know God unless you’re passionate about him so you’re either screaming at him, enraptured with the idea of being around him or feeling him in your life. Either one of those two ways you’re gonna have some kind of contact; otherwise I don’t think he’s interested with people who are half interested. My values are spiritual. I’ve always been big about faith. Everything in my life has happened for a good reason. When I’m on the beam man the blessings just come one after another like rain. It’s unbelievable when I’m in the right place. I’ve gone multi-denominational and I’ve studied a lot of different things. Basically I don’t know what God is but I know he’s at least an energy that rules all, that walks the earth and I really think there are laws. Maybe they’re within ourselves, but I call that God too. I’d love to be Jesus for a day, just to see what that was like. That’d be cool man. WM: How would you assess your career at this point? JC: My career has been a weird kind of low flying under the radar kind of place. I never made it on Saturday Night Live and all my friends did. I was at the Comedy Store getting standing ovations but I couldn’t find my picture anywhere. This is how it’s always been for me. I’ve had incredible blessings, unbelievable fortitude and at the same time there’s always a balancing factor to my life and generally what it is, you pick up the book on comedians and I’m not in it. That’s OK. I think once that happens you’re completely defined and it’s all over. Then you’re just doing the same thing, people have figured you out and put you on the shelf that suits you. If I stay kind of obscure that’d be alright. You do the best work you can. I’ve always concentrated on the work and I don’t know what happens all around that stuff like who gets the picture on the wall, who puts you on the shelf that suits you. If I stay kind of obscure that’d be alright. You do the best work you can. I’ve been in this wonderful place. I’m not saying it’s a bad place to be under the radar. It’s a wonderful place actually not to be the person that everybody plays out until they get tired of them and don’t want ‘em anymore. I like to be something that you just like all the time. Whenever it comes out it’s kind of special. In ‘Living Color’ I was fortunate enough to have a vehicle where I didn’t play a character that was one thing all the time so that I became that character. At the Comedy Store I started to get known doing impressions and stopped doing that because I saw where it was leading and so because I did that I was able to excel to another level without being known as the comic impressionist. In Toronto that’s what I was when I started out I was gonna be the next Rich Little. I like the pocket I’m in; it’s a good place. It’s a place that feels like it’s not tired. WM: How was working with Jennifer Aniston? JC: Brad was constantly haranguing me. Did you kiss her, did you kiss her? No, he came around once or twice, very nice gentleman, really cool guy. They make a great couple, really sweet. She’s tremendous. We work well off each other because Jennifer is a completely different person than me. I’m a person who just throws myself out there and does wild stuff and she’s like the center of the wheel. She’s the type of person that can sit there and allow things to come to her. I seek them out and destroy them. It’s a wonderful kind of mix. She’s very solid and very centered. You look at all magazines you see her in and you just think it’s amazing. Before you know her you wonder why are people so interested in this person. They just never seem to get enough of her and then you meet her and you go there’s a reason. She’s just a very cool centered person. Sometimes when you meet people like that you’re disappointed at the reality of them. The idea is always better. Sometimes they’re playing an idea and she’s just being herself. WM: Any truth to the rumor that you’re a control freak? JC: I get upset about control about the littlest things; huge things I let go of control. My career it’s like whatever, whenever, if it comes it comes, if it doesn’t it doesn’t. I don’t sweat it. It’s the little things like the cap on the toothpaste. If that doesn’t go my way, man look out! That’s where my angst comes out. The little stupid things like the stereo’s not working. The huge life things I’m completely cool about. WM: What would you do if you were given God’s power? JC: First of all I’d send anybody who didn’t like ‘The Majestic’ to the fiery pit of hell. Then I’d start a new Utopian society made of people made out of nerf material so I could cave the critics’ heads in and they would pop right out again. No one would be hurt and I’d get my rocks off. That is of course if there was anybody left to start a new society. WM: What stories inspire you? I love stories about teachers. I just can’t get enough of those kinds of stories. I love that idea of an adult influence on kids. I had a great teacher and she never really gets credit. In the seventh grade who taught us Beatle lyrics and today’s lesson is ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and whatever it means and breaking it down with all the double meanings that were possible. She also kind of harnessed my delinquency into a show at the end of each day. She said if I was good and didn’t bother the other students when I finished my work I would be able to do fifteen minutes at the end of the day. I would write material and think about how I would skew the teachers. She confiscated a couple of caricatures I did at the back of the classroom of her and she sent them back to me years later when I was known. If I could teach it would be have to be art. WM: What’s this story about you being a hero on the set? JC: It was a windy day and the trees blew over on the back lot at Universal. I did turn and go, ‘hey look out!’ I was right on that. Somehow that turned into I saved everyone’s life on the set. I’ve saved so many and yet that’s what gets printed. WM: Do you recall your communication with God? JC: My faith came from a substitute teacher who came to my classroom in Catholic school in grade two for a day. She was an Irish gal who prayed to the Virgin Mary whenever she wanted anything in her life to happen, if she wanted something material she’d pray to the Virgin Mary to ask God to give it to her and she’d promise her something. I sat at the back of the classroom and thought that sounded cool so I went home and I prayed to the Virgin Mary at night because my father couldn’t afford a bike and all my friends had these mustang bikes and I wanted one with a banana seat. Two weeks later I walked home from school, walked through my living room into my bedroom and my brother came in and said didn’t you see what was in the living room. I walked out in the living room and the whole family was standing around a lime green mustang bike with a banana seat. I had won it in a raffle that I didn’t enter. A friend of mine had gone into a sporting good store that had this raffle and entered my name separately two weeks before. That just went poing! Basically I don’t necessarily ask for material things anymore and it may not be through the Virgin Mary; it may be straight to God or whatever. I have done that my whole life. I just did ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ and I did a scene where I had to be a 8-10 year old in a memory and it was being erased and I had to jump on my bike and take off and I showed up on the set and it was a green mustang bike with a banana seat. I hadn’t told anybody anything but this is how my life has always been. You would not believe how amazing my life has been from the check that I wrote for myself and everything has had something to do with that power in faith. I’m not a bible thumper but I do believe that the force is with us. WM: Is there anything that didn’t make the cut that will be on the DVD? JC: There is a shot that we did of me falling out of this airplane, doing a free fall. I’m falling and we had this special effect with a pipe that shot air at a fierce rate into my mouth. My mouth looks like you can see my whole skeleton while I’m speaking. It’s really frightening and when they said cut and all the stuff went off and the fans shut down I couldn’t see anybody because they were on the floor below the equipment just losing their minds. But it didn’t fit in the movie so it’s gotta go on the DVD. In ‘Ace Ventura’ one guy came after me in a bar and I take out a contac lens and swipe him, ‘you wanna play with glass huh?’ I fight him with my contact lens. WM: Have you seen the sequel to Dumb & Dumber, Dumb & Dumberer? JC: I’ve never seen it; I have no idea what it’s like. I wish ‘em luck with it. I have a lot of people coming up to me thinking I’m in it. I guess they had a little sin of omission there. They did a lot of campaigning without saying who was in it or whatever so I don’t know if they kind of misled people in that way.