things got even worse and the (‘arrey family moved into a camper van and finally a tent.
lior Currey. the experiences of poverty made him more driven. more desperate. At fifteen. he hegan performing at Yuk Yuk's. a famous Toronto comedy cluh. and then at nineteen he went to chase the hig time in Los Angeles. If he was a risk taker then -— and he must have heen — he remains so today.
'If we want to have anything worthwhile. we have to at some point in our lives throw ourselves into the ahyss.‘ he insists. His comic persona is itself huilt on risk. (‘arrey is famously never satisfied to let a scene lie. pushing himself and those around him to the limits of their talent and endurance. ‘I am passionate.‘ he continues. ’I try to get the tnost out of everything I do. I get upset with myself if I don't feel I'm getting there. The key is taking the chance that you'll look like an idiot. That's where you have to go to get something really special.’
Desperation and madness haunt (‘arrey like demons. He does therapy. he has said. to release the more 'horrihle. heinous. dark‘ things his mind conjures. and his portrait of himself as a child certainly suggests someone dangerously close to getting swallowed hy them. But the well-groomed man here today is far from mad. His comic voices interrupt every so often. doing impressions and parodies in their strange accents. hut never is there any indication that they control him.
‘l'm a normal human heing. and l have sadness and anger and everything everyhody else has. I don‘t really feel pressured to he the hrilliantly funny guy. More so. I try to he connected to people H when I meet them. ""-3"i‘ri'i'i 'l‘hat it‘s a real person {Ping hourg talking to them. not just a . . . "l‘he noun is lost as (‘arrey interrupts himself. ‘Have you ever been in a room where people are having an interesting convers- ation. and there's one guy who just keeps chiming in with something funny. and he really isn‘t interested in anything anyhody has to say‘.’ I think that‘s sad. I don‘t want to he that guy. I feel that l have something inside me that is worthwhile other than that. I think people like me. on the hottom line. for my sottlf '
By l‘)‘)(i and alter four successive hits — Aw li’llllil'u.’ PU] l)('/('('lfl'(’. The limit. Dam/2 Aral Dumber and Barman l’orai‘ar — (‘arrey's soul was so well loved that he was ath to command a $20 million fee for his next film. Ironically. 'l'lia (‘a/r/e (iay became his first flop. What many ohservers noted ahout The Cali/v (iav was the way the manic Carrey persona dipped into something truly sinister — a wild. unhearahle character who disturbed everything in his path including the audience. It wasn‘t what (‘arrey‘s fans wanted from their funny guy. and had word of mouth kept the punters away.
This month‘s hit. Liar Liar — which re- teams the actor with .'\('(’ l’a/iriira: Per Detective director Tom Shatlyac — is a return to hox office form for (‘arrey But he wants us to know that he doesn't intend to pander to the
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‘Liar Liar was a chance for me to do both the craziness that I am known for. and to have relationships and he a little hit more reality hased.‘ he says. indicating his desire to broaden the range of what he does. 'I like people who can do it all. like Jimmy Stewart. who can make you laugh and cry.‘
Though he says that he ‘feels less restricted by the fans than by the media‘. (‘arrey‘s follow- up to Liar Liar may well put this to the test. The
Mr ' Truman Show. directed
by Peter Weir. is a surreal drama and a marked departure for him. ‘lt‘s ahout a kid who realises as he gets older that he‘s heen part of a television show since he was fresh from the womh. and he lives inside a studio.’ the actor explains. ‘I don't know how people will receive it. I hope they look at it as a separate piece of art and judge it on its
own merits. I want everyhody to like me..
That‘s the honest truth. But I don‘t expect it. I try to make things that are honest for me. and that‘s all I can do.‘
Jim Carrey is surely anyhody‘s definition of success. His films have earned their studios more than £1 hillion. He now has a wife — actress Lauren Holly. who starred with him in Dumb And Dam/2m“ — who knows how to negociate his wilder shores. and a daughter who he is very proud of. He‘s fantastically popular. called a genius by many. certainly a phenomenon. But is he satisfied? (‘arrey nods. ‘l have a lot of really incredible blessings in my life that I look at and go. okay. I’m doing okay.‘ Somehow the question still hangs.
Liar Liar goes on general release on Fri 2 May. See page 28 for review.
JIM GARREY
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Lauren Holly and Jim Carrey: from Dumb And Dumber to husband and wife
Smokin’: cartoonish humour in The Mask
2.1.5 May 1997THE usr 17