19. Killed Off
If it were up to Carrey, The Cable Guy would’ve died at the end of The Cable Guy, getting impaled by the satellite dish instead of narrowly missing it. Judd Apatow even wrote a version of the script with that ending, but no one else involved in the production was on board.
20. Pulling Double Duty
Carrey should have been paid double for his work in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when you hear the lengths he went to while filming certain scenes. For one scene where the camera moves back and forth between two settings, rather than adding visual effects, going with a double, or filming them separately, Carrey just ran behind the camera, quickly changed wardrobes, and then hopped back into frame.
21. Fix It in Post
Carrey needed a basketball consultant for The Cable Guy because he was that bad at basketball. Apparently it didn’t help either, as director Ben Stiller decided to just have Carrey mimic dribbling a ball and digitally put one in later.
22. Spit Take
Carrey is known for completely becoming Andy Kaufman for Man on the Moon. He had people call him Andy and constantly took things a bit too far while filming. This got on the cast and crew's nerves, and at one point he got so caught up in the role that he spit in Jerry Lawler’s face, who then went after Carrey and tried to choke him.
23. Real Beef
This incident circulated as a rumor at that time, and was even confirmed by several people who worked on the film to help promote it. However, anyone who remained skeptical changed their tune when Lawler himself confirmed it happened. Apparently, Carrey wanted Lawler fired after, but cooled down and changed his mind.
24. Possessed by the Holy Kaufman
Carrey became so fixated on the role of Kaufman that he claims "Jim Carrey" didn’t exist during the filming of the movie and instead he was possessed by the spirit of Kaufman. It’s also worth noting that Carrey said he had a psychotic breakdown while filming Man on the Moon, which might contribute to the whole possession theory.
25. Eight in a Row
Man on the Moon could’ve been Carrey’s ninth film in a row to break $100 million dollars at the box office, but it came up short, ending the streak at eight.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto, Getty Images
26. Stick to the Script
Carrey is known for his comedic chops and improv skills, which is why it comes as a shock to find out he was told not to improvise at all in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Even more frustrating for Carrey must have been the fact that every one of his co-stars was routinely encouraged to improvise.
27. Costume Designer
Go ahead and add costume designer to the long list of talents Carrey possesses, as he helped design some of the costumes for his character The Riddler in Batman Forever.
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28. Can’t Have Nice Things
Whoever thought it was a good idea to give someone as animated as Carrey props to practice with had clearly never met him before. Apparently, Carrey wound up breaking multiple prop canes and destroying furniture in his trailer while he tried to teach himself how to twirl the cane The Riddler has in Batman Forever.
Warner Bros., Batman Forever (1995)
29. Oscar Nominated
Batman Forever was not well received critically, or even with the fans, but it was still nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Sound Effects Editing at the Oscars, eventually losing all three.
Valeriya Zankovych, Shutterstock
30. Dramatic Roles
On Rotten Tomatoes, The Number 23 is Carrey's worst reviewed movie at 8% and The Truman Show is his best reviewed at 94%, both dramatic turns for the actor.
Paramount, The Truman Show (1998)
31. Banned
Of all the movies Carrey has been in, it’s somewhat surprising that the one to get banned in a country is Bruce Almighty. Egypt decided to ban the film as they deemed it sacrilegious and offensive towards God.
Spyglass Entertainment, Bruce Almighty (2003)
32. Box Office
Even with the added crutch of being banned in a country, Bruce Almighty still remains Carrey’s highest grossing film worldwide of all-time with a $484.6 million gross.
33. I’ll Catch You on the Next One
For The Truman Show, Ed Harris and Carrey, who play the antagonist and protagonist, respectively, never met once during filming. Since the two characters never cross paths in the movie, Carrey wrapped up his portion of the film before Harris even began shooting his.
Paramount, The Truman Show (1998)
34. Malcolm in the Middle
In an earlier draft of The Truman Show, screenwriter Andrew Niccol called it The Malcolm Show, and wrote it in a much darker tone with Gary Oldman in mind for the lead.
Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images
35. Pay Cut
Wanting to show his dramatic side, Carrey decided to take a pay cut from his usual $20 million and only received $12 million to appear in The Truman Show.
SHOWTIME, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
36. Improv 101
This time, it was a gesture and not a line of dialogue that Carrey improvised on set. In The Truman Show, Carrey came up with the idea to draw the astronaut helmet on the mirror. There was also a take where he drew long, curly hair and a dress.
Paramount, The Truman Show (1998)
37. Scary Isn't Funny
Carrey’s portrayal of a psychotic stalker in The Cable Guy was a bit too real at some points for viewers. Test screenings of the film led to a few scenes being cut from the movie because Carrey looked legitimately evil and scared the audience rather than made them laugh. One scene in particular, which had Carrey on top of Matthew Broderick's car impersonating the Terminator, struck fear into the hearts' of audience members.
38. Riddle Me This
Carrey revealed on Norm MacDonald Live that Tommy Lee Jones hated working with him throughout the filming of Batman Forever. Carrey never found out why, but he speculates it had to do with the fact that he was the star and therefore more important than Jones.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
