When faced with an improviser, it is not always easy for an actor to be responsive. But when it comes to Jim Carrey, the master of them all, it’s totally impossible!
In June 1995during the announcement of the filming of the comedy Cable Guy – which later became Disjoncté for its French release, we learned that Jim Carrey was going to be the first actor to receive 20 million dollars for a role.
Just two years earlier, thanks to Ace Ventura, Cat and Dog Detective, The Mask and Dumb & Dumber, Carrey found himself catapulted within a year of stand-up king and member of a television comedy troupe (in the show In Living Color) to movie star. He continues to perform well at the box office, and his presence as a supervillain in Batman Forever was no stranger to the good receipts for Joel Schumacher’s film.
Carrey’s estimated salaries (and US release dates):
- Ace Ventura, dog and cat detective: $350,000 or $450,000 depending on sources (February 94).
- The Mask (summer 94): $540,000 (end of July 94).
- Dumb & Dumber: $7 million (December 94).
- Batman Forever: $7 million (June 95).
- Ace Ventura in Africa: 15 million dollars (November 95).
- Disconnected: 20 million and 15% on profits (June 96).
Matthew Broderick lost to Carrey
Columbia Pictures
Suffice it to say that in two years, Carrey has multiplied his salary for playing in a film by 57! Also, we expect him to make people laugh and massively attract people in theaters. Except that on the set of Disjoncté, the actor never stops improvising, to the detriment of the actor opposite him, Matthew Broderick.
Invited to the Tribeca Film Festival with Broderick, Judd Apatow, producer of the film, remembered this era at the microphone of Deadline :
Jim picked on you every day. I remember one day, he was so on you with every prose that you came to me between takes: ‘I don’t know how to react anymore! I’ve exhausted all my ways of reacting [à ses improvisations !’
Broderick n’en tient cependant pas rancune à Jim Carrey :
Columbia Pictures
“Même si c’était bien [pour lui] to try all this”recalls the actor, “It put a lot of pressure on his shoulders. He had only recently come out of anonymity and suddenly he was the highest paid actor; he had to be a genius all the time, every minute, so I “I was sympathetic to the pressure he had to put on his shoulders.”
When you have this kind of success, it’s a double-edged sword, I was compassionate.
When Jim Carrey moved us for the first time, it was in this film!
Jim Carrey continued to film comedies until 2000, before seeking to broaden his acting to more dramatic roles such as The Majestic or Man on the Moon. Severe depression will keep him away from the plateaus and will lead to a complete review of his lifestyle. He has since enjoyed other successes like Bruce Almighty or Sonic, and has been able to try more complex roles, such as in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the Kidding series or I Love You Phillip Morris.
As for Disjoncté, directed by Ben Stiller, it will exceed 100 million dollars at the box office.
