Why Jim Carrey Accepted His Role In The Truman Show Faster Than Any Other In His Career
Jim Carrey may be known for his famous comedy roles like "Ace Ventura Pet Detective," "The Mask," and "Dumb and Dumber," but some of his dramatic works were equally iconic. His first big dramatic role came in the 1998 film "The Truman Show" where he played Truman Burbank, a man who was unknowingly living in a manufactured world where his life was being broadcast on television.
In a 2011 interview with "Inside the Actors Studio," Carrey talked about the risks he had to take to start doing dramatic roles and how it mirrored the plot of "The Truman Show." "I didn't really live 'Truman Show' until later when I started deciding I was making these decisions of going out and doing things that aren't expected of me," Carrey told the host, James Lipton. "I have had to risk losing popularity, risk losing people's acceptance, in order to do something that's close to my heart and that I think is meaningful."
"The Truman Show" was a turning point in Carrey's career as it started to open him up to dramatic roles like "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Man on the Moon," and "The Number 23," but it didn't end his comedic career as he still did comedic films like "Bruce Almighty," and "Dumb and Dumber To." But the actor has since revealed why he made the decision to star in "The Truman Show" faster than any other film he's starred
He knew he wanted to do it after reading 10 pages of the script
In a 2022 interview with Screen Rant, Jim Carrey was asked what movie role he said yes to the fastest, and Carrey answered "The Truman Show," saying he decided he wanted to do it after reading only 10 pages of the script. He added that "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was a close second. He said that a big part of the reason that he decided so fast was that these movies weren't comedies. "Comedies are generally things that you have to consider," Carrey explained. "You don't generally get a very well-formed comedy; at least I don't. It's like making a silk purse out of a sow's ear a little bit. You've really got to work a comedy to keep it fresh; to make it something special. But those two scripts, more than any other, were just an immediate yes."
In a 2020 interview with Collider, Carrey was asked which of his movies he'd most like to see remade or rebooted, and Carrey said that he thought "The Truman Show" deserved to be revisited because it's more relevant today than it was when it was made in 1998. "I think 'The Truman Show' is something that exists on a micro level now," he explained. "It was kind of a story about that on a macro level. But now everybody has a subscriber channel. Everybody has their own little 'Truman Show' world. There's something to be had there." However, in a 2022 interview with Access Hollywood, the "Ace Ventura" actor announced his retirement, saying he would only return to acting if he was handed a script that he really felt needed to be told, making the possibility of a "Truman Show" sequel starring Carrey fairly slim.