(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Wed 14 January 2026 20:45, UK
So many comedic actors have been portrayed as tortured geniuses that it borders on parody at this point, but as one of his era’s biggest comedy stars, it seemed fitting that Jim Carrey was more tortured than most. Naturally, there were downsides, one of which left a director feeling like an idiot.
Whether it’s using the Bee Gees to get himself through the arduous process of getting into character for How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which also necessitated some help from a CIA veteran and the promise of a $20 million payday, or losing his shit on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Carrey has struggled.
Immersing himself so deeply into a character that it had a lasting effect on him isn’t required when making films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber, but when he clearly had his eyes on winning awards, the funnyman pushed himself to the physical, mental, and psychological brink.
Even Joel Schumacher’s The Number 23, an awful thriller that landed him on the ‘Worst Actor’ shortlist at the Razzies, was born from a lifelong obsession. Clearly, Carrey doesn’t do things by half, but he took things several steps too far when he ate, slept, lived, and breathed Andy Kaufman for Miloš Forman’s Man on the Moon.
There’s method acting, and then there’s whatever this was supposed to be. Carrey didn’t just spend every waking moment as the character he was playing, but he absorbed Kaufman’s many personalities, too. From the lounge singer Tony Clifton to Taxi’s foreign national, Latka Gravas, he went all-in.
Was it worth it? Not really, since the leading man didn’t get a sniff of any major prizes during awards season, the biopic flopped at the box office, and reviews were enthusiastic enough without being blow-away brilliant. It was a great performance, sure, but his method madness felt unncessary.
That made things especially difficult for the people around him, with the star once holding up shooting because ‘Andy Kaufman’ was holding Danny DeVito prisoner, with Forman admitting that he preferred some of Carrey’s multiple personalities to others.
“Tony Clifton was a nightmare,” he said. “He was abusive, undisciplined, arrogant; you had to flatter him all the time. I had to play this game. I felt like a fool, but then I noticed that the whole crew is enjoying watching our game. That it brings excitement on the set. That it really helped the movie. So, it was alright.”
He only wanted to make a movie, but instead, the Academy Award winner was forced to put up with Carrey-as-Kaufman-as-Clifton, whom he didn’t like, and that was also the persona that traumatised DeVito. Forman admitted that “Latka was a puppy dog,” but the actor’s profane and overbearing crooner pushed the filmmaker to his breaking point.
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