Martin Freeman isn’t a fan of the lengths Jim Carrey went to when making the film Man On The Moon.
Martin Freeman seems like a genuinely nice person. Perhaps it’s that, or maybe it’s professional pride, but for some reason, the star of The Hobbit trilogy and MCU films is particularly aggrieved by Jim Carrey’s performance as oddball comedian Andy Kaufman in 1999’s Man on the Moon.
Carrey famously went method for the production, ‘becoming’ Kaufman for the duration of the shoot and refusing to drop out of character. Much of this fascinating venture was captured and used in the Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, which showcases the extreme lengths Carrey went to in order to capture the anarchic spirit of Kaufman, whilst also examining the bewilderment, frustrations (and sometimes) displeasure of his collaborators.
One person who remains distinctly unimpressed is Freeman, who had this to say to The Off Menu Podcast. Beware, if you can translate asterisks, then there is some fruity language ahead:
For me, and I’m genuinely sure Jim Carrey is a lovely and smart person, but it was the most self-aggrandising, selfish, f**king narcissistic b*****ks I have ever seen. The idea anything in our culture would celebrate that or support it is deranged, literally deranged. I am a very lapsed Catholic but if you believe in transubstantiation, then you’re going somewhere along the line of “I became the character,” No, you didn’t, you’re not supposed to become the f***ing character because you’re supposed to be open to stuff that happens in real life because someone at some stage is going to say “Cut” and there’s no point going, “What does ‘cut’ mean because I’m Napoleon?” Shut up.
It’s an interesting take from Freeman, who, as well as being sorely vexed by Carrey’s antics, also seems to denounce method acting as a whole.
If you want to judge whether Carrey’s shenanigans resulted in a worthwhile performance, you can currently check out Man On The Moon on BBC iPlayer…
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