“In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.” This is one of the most classic lines in world film history.
Seeing this line, the sunny man who smiled like a child appeared in front of him.
That’s right, Jim Carrey. For younger audiences, this may be an unfamiliar name, but when it comes to the classic movie “The Truman Show” he starred in, it’s definitely not unfamiliar.
Jim Carrey recently turned 60, and I wanted to talk to you about the legendary actor.
What is the status of Jim Carrey in film history?
He is the undisputed king.
Although he has two Golden Globe trophies in his hand, Oscar, who has always hated comedians, has never favored him. Even Jim Carrey himself quipped that the old dream of winning an Oscar is no longer there.
However, his achievements in the film have long been generally recognized by audiences and critics.
Jim Carrey is a comedy king.
Britain’s Charlie Chaplin, America’s Buster Keaton, and China’s Stephen Chow, along with Jim Carrey, are globally recognized as the kings of comedy.
Interestingly, both Jim Carrey and Stephen Chow were born in 1962, and Jim Carrey’s exaggerated acting style is inherited from Charlie Chaplin’s silent film era and still affects actors around the world to this day.
Just say Hollywood. Jim Carrey, Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix have all played villains in the Batman system.
In my opinion, the madness of Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix as Joker, including the extreme facial ripping, was inspired by Jim Carrey’s version of Riddler (1995’s “Batman Forever”).
For a long time, among the dozens of films that Jim Carrey has acted in, there are very few bad ones and frequent good ones.
His stark comedy performance and the “off the beaten track” of his films have established himself as an actor of the era. In terms of market performance, Jim Carrey is the undisputed box office king.
The films he starred in have exceeded 100 million at the North American box office 11 times, and entered the top ten at the global box office 6 times.
Even in 1994, which is unparalleled for movies, he also set the box office opening record with two comedies “The Mask” and “Dumb and Dumber”.
Word of mouth, box office double excellence, so Jim Carrey won numerous awards outside the Oscars.
More importantly, when it comes to Hollywood comedians, many people think of him first.
Acting level
Now when we talk about Jim Carrey, we have to talk about a classic emoji – the threesome with the magic shaking his head.
This scene is not from the movie, but from a 1996 episode of NBC’s longevity variety show “Saturday Night Live” (the other two actors are Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan).
Jim Carrey’s talent for comedy is undeniable, and he has his own unique style. He is regarded as one of the most expressive actors in Hollywood history, with his face described as “the rubber face of a cartoon character”.
Relying on this face, he has created many magical characters. Pet Detective Ace Ventura in 1994’s “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective”, Stanley in “The Mask”, Bruce in 2003’s “Bruce Almighty”.
Jim Carrey often fiddles with his facial features and limbs unscrupulously. With his frantic expressions and movements, he breaks through the audience’s imagination of the limit of performance.
In “The Mask”, Stanley, who wears a mask and acquires superpowers, has comedic expressions such as popping eyes, sticking out his tongue, and dropping his jaw.
This is certainly due to the post-processing of special effects, but without Jim Carrey’s interpretation of the same frequency, it would not have such a prominent effect.
In “Bruce Almighty”, the male protagonist Bruce angered his opponent and leader on the TV station in front of a waterfall that was broadcast live on location. His expression gradually became hideous and deformed, but still had a strong comedy effect, which can be called a comedian expression management textbook.
In detail, all of Jim Carrey’s exaggerations have a sense of innocence, which is also an important reason why he has captured hundreds of millions of viewers.
The sci-fi romance “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” even arranged a rejuvenation scene directly for Jim Carrey.
In order to avoid amnestics, the male protagonist Joel Barish and his girlfriend hid to a childhood when the memory blueprint could not be found.
In the picture, Jim Carrey’s adult face is matched with children’s behavior, which is absurd, bizarre, but returns to the basics.
Watch “The Truman Show” again. In the film, Jim Carrey said the lines In case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night. in two situations.
One scenario is that Truman is still immersed in the world of reality TV, and the other scenario is the goodbye when Truman decides to step out of the virtual world at the end of the film.
The moods and thoughts of the two situations are quite different, but what unites the two situations is Truman’s kind, sincere, and truth-loving innocence.
In addition to the exaggeration of appearance and the innocence of nature, Jim Carrey’s performance also has a valuable quality – fusion.
Actors who play with Jim Carrey don’t act like him.
Kate Winslet in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Morgan Freeman in “Bruce Almighty,” and Ewan McGregor in “I Love You Phillip Morris,” whose performances are inherently more restrained.
Jim Carrey does not influence the styles of these actors with his own uniqueness, but maintains the boundaries of each other’s performance styles while maintaining his own characteristics, so that the whole film is always in harmony.
Jim Carrey still has a lot of extreme expressions in the same-sex biopic “I Love You Phillip Morris,” but when he and Ewan McGregor are filming the kiss scene, he will put his style away and keep quiet.
As a result, he can dedicate his little side to rival actors.
Jim Carrey status
In 2004, Jim Carrey not only revealed that he suffers from depression, but also said something amazing in an interview with the American CBS TV program “60 Minutes” – “My comedy talent comes from despair.”
Jim Carrey had an unhappy childhood. His mother has been sick all the time. In order to amuse the mother in the hospital bed, Jim Carrey imitates all kinds of animals and gradually trains his comedy talent.
At 15, his father’s unemployment led him to perform in comedy clubs.
Later, he entered Hollywood and starred in many hit comedies, amusing countless audiences.
However, failed marriages, tumultuous relationships, and the suicide of his girlfriend in 2015 have made depression even more deeply affecting the comedy master.
Therefore, in recent years, Jim Carrey not only has few works, but also rarely appears in the public.
However, in order to resist depression, he discovered another identity of himself, a painter.
In the documentary film “Jim Carrey: I Need Color” directed by David L. Booth, Jim Carrey can be seen splashing paint with images of giraffes, Jesus, etc., and the desire to repair broken hearts hidden in these images .
In addition to painting, Jim Carrey has also made a small foray into the music scene recently.
On the new album “Dawn FM” by Grammy Award-winning musician and Canadian post-90s singer The Weeknd, which will be released on January 7, 2022, Jim Carrey will be featured as a vocalist and radio DJ on the album.
This is not surprising, after all, Jim Carrey’s home and The Weeknd’s home are only two buildings apart.
In the comedy show, Jim Carrey’s most recent appearance was imitating Biden on “Saturday Night Live”. This is not difficult to rely on imitating Jim Carrey on the road to comedy.
The audience who watched this performance were all amazed by his expressive details, and some even commented that when he put on a mask, he was completely Biden himself.
As for movies, Jim Carrey has not only rarely acted, but also intends to transition beyond comedy. “True Crimes”, starring in 2016, is a crime thriller without any comedy elements.
At present, Jim Carrey has only three films on the agenda – the adventure film “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” (released in North America on April 8, 2022, with the participation of dubbing), the crime film “Deep Cover”, and the horror film “Aleister Arcane”.
In addition, there is a big “rumor”: Warners is developing a sequel to the 2019 hit “Joker”.
In the sequel, there will be a number of clowns, the older one, Warners may invite Jim Carrey to play (the news comes from the well-known film whistleblower Daniel Richtman).
For movie fans, “Jim Carrey as the Joker” is undoubtedly a long-awaited one. In fact, the role of Joker is most in line with the conclusion that “the essence of comedy is tragedy”.
I just hope that comedy guru Jim Carrey can soothe himself as he puts on a great show for the audience.
Finally, happy 60th birthday to Jim Carrey!
