Jim Carrey

A very different looking Jim Carrey was in town recently to promote the release of Disney's A Christmas Carol. The 3D spectacular is a faithful adaptation of Charles Dicken's most famous festive tale, and it's a very dark story to start off with. Here's what the star had to say about the film...

Q. I gather Cary Elwes, your co-star, has a link to the inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge?

Jim Carrey: Yeah, a distant relative was supposed to have been the source of inspiration for Scrooge. He was an MP. He wore tattered clothes, a wig that he found in the garbage… he didn’t order new game until he had finished all the game that he had, even if it was spoiled. He lived in the dark at night because candles he thought were too expensive. He was a wonderful character!

Q. You play eight different parts in this film. How did you maintain the energy for all the performances?
Jim Carrey: Well, there is an inner life and that was the real challenge for me… to make these characters real and to be coming from their source. Generally, what I think about most people is that we walk around believing a lie about ourselves from a very early age. Scrooge’s lie is that he wasn’t worth loving. And so he couldn’t afford to believe in love because he didn’t get it. So, that’s a wonderful place to start. I also wanted him to appear to be irredeemable, which is a difficult task after you’ve seen this story so many times. I think we got there. But playing all the different characters was such a huge challenge and it’s really important to me, personally, that people in the UK enjoy this beautiful story again, which is theirs.

Q. You’ve played a much-loved literary character before, but did this one bring any additional pressures? Did you feel you were putting a lot on the line given that it’s a story/performance that will be repeated every year?
Jim Carrey: Yeah, just the challenge of it having been done before. You’d love to some day be able to say that the version you were involved with was the best one ever. People will have different opinions about that but I think this is really good and I was in excellent hands, so I didn’t feel too frightened. I was also fascinated with the technology and the possibilities of that technology. Now that I’ve seen the film, in retrospect, I learned. I felt I kind of knew what I was doing [at the time] because Bob [Zemeckis] was directing me, but now that I’ve seen where it goes, I want to do it again because it’s a really wonderful art form.

Q. How did you decide on the different accents you were going to use for each of the spirits of Christmas?
Jim Carrey: Well, Scrooge I chose to bring out the pronunciation. It had a little bit of an exaggeration. I thought someone like Scrooge would be very careful to speak correctly. I wanted his words also to cut like a knife. So, it was a wonderful accent to play with. The ghost of Christmas future was a tribute to Marcel Marceau, Christmas Present was a Yorkshire accent – from Sheffield – because I felt he was really connected to the common man. And the need of the common man to party and to enjoy the Christmas season… really no one enjoys it like the common man, so I felt that was appropriate. As for the ghost of Christmas past and the accent from the garden of Ireland, which was a very gentle dreamy voice, was really a tribute to my Irish roots. I put a little bit of myself in there.


Q. How did you get those accents?
Jim Carrey: I used many different avenues, but they were all kind of shepherded by Barbara Berkery, who is a wonderful voice coach. She was invaluable help to me. I was also blessed with the help of Cary Elwes who stepped in and played whatever opposite character I needed to play both characters in the scene. So, he really made a sacrifice for me and I really appreciated that. He’s a hell of a guy.

Q. Which of the previous Scrooge adaptations rate among your favourites and did any of them help to inspire you?
Jim Carrey: Well definitely Alastair Sim. He was just born to play the part [of Scrooge]. There’s an old saying that goes by the time you’re 50 you have the face you deserve. I have no idea what Alastair Sim did to get that face! But it was perfect for the part. But the wonderful thing about this digital process is that I can be cast in films that I would never be cast in. If I have it in my soul to play the character it doesn’t matter what my face looks like, or my age. It’s really liberating.

Q. [Producer] Steve Starkey has said that Robert Zemeckis provides a challenge for everybody who works with him. What was yours?
Jim Carrey: The T-pose, which is a pose that you must do before they yell “action” [displays it by standing up and putting his arms out straight in either direction]. It’s how they log the data and the computer recognises all the data… or that’s what he tells us anyway! But personally I feel like I hit the lottery. As far as challenges go, the challenges of the technique are that you have to create the world in your head… everything. It really is a challenge in that regard because it’s an odd thing to stare at your acting partners and have these two prongs sticking out of your head with four HD cameras this close [gestures a small size] to your face. There are challenges but there are also amazing benefits because you can do a whole scene. You can do 20 scenes in a day. It’s crazy. It’s like doing a play. You have to know it. It’s the first time really that I’ve had to know a script before I started.

Q. Did you ever have any concerns about taking the character of Scrooge and making it your own?
Jim Carrey: It’s a huge responsibility because, frankly, it’s one of the greatest stories ever written. But I was quite sure that if I was true to myself and my understanding of the character and kind of grew the plant from there, everything would be original in its own way. One of the most important things that I wanted to kind of infuse in the character was this feeling of spiritual acid reflux that would play havoc with one’s mind, body and soul. So, that was kind of the beginning of it… to feel that. I just had a feeling that if I was true to my own thoughts of the character it would pop out as something different. Actually, not behaviourally, but the character looks exactly like my father! It is so spooky to me. My family will freak out when they see this thing. If you take away the pointed nose and chin it is my father, so I got a glimpse of what I’ll look like when I’m old.

Q. Does everyone deserve a second chance, like Scrooge?
Jim Carrey: Absolutely. I personally don’t think there’s anybody that is irredeemable given the right circumstances. I think everybody has that hope. I guess that’s why this story is so enduring… every year we go through the same thing – we’re challenged by economy, by personal circumstance, by hatred for certain people in our families and being intolerant! But this story always puts you in the right place. You cannot watch this story and not shift – and that’s the true magic of it. It gives us what we need to get us through the holidays and we end up having a pretty beautiful time.

Q. Do you have any Scrooge-like tendencies?
Jim Carrey: I’m generally a live and let live sort of person but I have to tell you I’m here to drive a stake through Robert Pattinson’s heart! He is the undead! Nosferatu! He joked!!!

Q. Which for you was more emotionally challenging? Playing Scrooge as a curmudgeonly old man or as a seven-year-old schoolboy? Which required the greatest stretch of imagination?
Jim Carrey: Scrooge is a complex character by the time he’s an old man. You know, we create these layers to protect ourselves… I always believe that lie I mentioned kind of sneaks into the oyster shell like a little speck of sand and you form your whole personality around that and try to figure out how to get past that. So, that becomes pretty complex when you get to Scrooge’s age. When it came to Scrooge as a young boy, I tried to stay in a place of still hoping. There was sadness and loneliness but he still hung on to hope. And then as he gets older, you see that hope fade. By the time he’s 35 there’s an edge in his voice and his being that reveals that he’s given up hope.

Interview: Roberto Carnevale

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