The Role Jim Carrey Regretted
Jim Carrey is back as Dr. Robotnik, the “brilliant but power-hungry mad scientist” who's up to no good in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Paramount Pictures
Carrey’s turn as Robotnik is weird, you might think, especially if you remember Carrey’s regrets about playing another cartoon villain -- Colonel Stars and Stripes in 2013’s Kick-Ass 2. But it turns out Carrey’s second thoughts weren’t about comic villainy -- they were about gun violence.
Fans of either of the Kick-Ass films might remember that the films were more than a little gory. The MPAA slapped them with a R rating, primarily for “strong bloody violence throughout.”
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Carrey had been in movies with violence previously (hey, The Cable Guy had a battle-axe fight scene in a medieval-themed restaurant), but he hasn’t appeared in one since.
Columbia Pictures
The reason? Months before Kick-Ass 2 debuted in August 2013, there was a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The deadly shooting made Carrey reconsider his involvement in films that glorified any kind of realistic violence. (Carrey’s character carried an unloaded gun to intimidate his enemies, but the distinction didn’t seem to matter.)
"I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence," Carrey wrote on Twitter in June of 2013. "I meant to say my apologies to others involve (sic) with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart."
Carrey refused to do any publicity for Kick-Ass 2, a movie that underperformed the original. But he wasn’t done making a stand against gun laws that he considers to be way too permissive.
He partnered with Funny or Die on “Cold Dead Hand,” a music video parody that takes aim at people who aren’t willing to budge on gun legislation. And in case anyone missed what the video was about?
Fox News didn’t take kindly to the cowboy parody, pardner. Resident “funny man” Greg Gutfeld fired back, tweeting “Wow, @jimcarrey is desperate to please his masters. I wonder if he's fed a liver snap every time he trashes law abiding Americans.”
It didn’t take Carrey long to push back, releasing a statement that said (among other things): Fox News (well, he called it Fux News) is “a last resort for kinda-sorta-almost-journalists whose options have been severely limited by their extreme and intolerant views; a media colostomy bag that has begun to burst at the seams and should be emptied before it becomes a public health issue.”
Wow.
If that’s what Carrey had ready for Gutfeld, Sonic is in big trouble. Though if history serves, most of the violence will be on the dance floor.
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Top image: Paramount Pictures
