This is a tricky topic for sure because it involves the Sandy Hook massacre that took place last December. This incident was an unquestionably awful tragedy and spawned a new offshoot of the discussion of whether violence in film influences life. At the time, Quentin Tarantino answered “no” to that question while Jamie Foxx disagreed. There will never be a definitive answer to the debate of whether killers are driven by violent movies, music and video games, but even Madonna just gave her own opinion on the matter.
Now and in a strangely delayed reaction, actor Jim Carrey has entered the discussion of violence in film. Jim’s starring in the upcoming Kick-Ass 2, which is a sequel to the original adaptation of extremely violent comic books about a group of vigilantes who adopt superhero personas and beat the living hell out of really bad guys. The first movie was superviolent, to say the very least, and Jim chose to accept a role in the sequel.
Arguably, Jim is the biggest box office draw that the franchise has ever or will ever boast. I mean, Aaron Johnson and his lovely curls are returning from the first film, but Jim is more of a monetary booster than even Nic Cage was in the first movie. Cage and Carrey have both had their share of flops, but I think Jim is still considered an A-lister whereas Cage more often than not stars in some real stinkers. Anyway, Jim undoubtedly received millions for his role as Colonel Stars and Stripes, but now he’s trying to distance himself from this sequel, which is due to arrive in theaters on August 16. His rationale? Jim no longer supports gratuitous violence in movies:
I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to e
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
I meant to say my apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
Hmm. I have mixed feelings about this story because Jim is explaining his newfound perspective in light of the Sandy Hook tragedy. However, Sandy Hook is (sadly) not the first mass school shooting in history. Jim must have some familiarity with Columbine, right? And he still thought it was a good idea to star in an ultraviolent movie, which is based upon a very violent comic series, within which people get killed in very bloody ways. This all presumes that Carrey actually bothered to either watch the first movie or read the sequel’s script before signing on for his role. He’s not a dumb man by any stretch, so I’m wondering why this violent role bothers him so much now as opposed to, say, a year ago. Of course, I’d be willing to overlook his apparent gaps in logic if he donated his entire Kick-Ass 2 salary to the victims of Sandy Hook.
Your move, Mister Carrey.
Here’s the greenband trailer for Kick-Ass 2, which doesn’t show Carrey doing much except entering at the last moment to pull a gun on a baddie and laugh when a dog intercepts the fight and bites the bad guy’s balls.
Photos courtesy of WENN
I think anyone can have an epiphany at any time on a subject, so I’m not sure I can find fault with him for coming to the realization that he did and when he did. Something out of the blue hits you and you have the Oprah “Aha moment.” But I think the idea of donating his salary is a good suggestion.
I am 100% thinking the same as you and I will be surprised if he did. I would totally respect him more.
People are allowed to have an epiphany at any point in their lives, of course. But unless he follows this up with real action – including donating this apparently ill-gotten salary – it remains a hollow, empty gesture. He sent out a Tweet, he didn’t even give a measured, thoughtful reasoning on the subject, and whilehe may have made the movie before Sandy Hook it wasn’t before other events like Aurora or Columbine. We need to have substantive discussions about the role of violence in the media, but unless Carrey follows this up with something real it just remains a bunch of hot air.
im younger than him and i really dont trust an epiphany that takes place solely on twitter
follow it up with something or stop typing
I’m bipolarII (supposedly). We have a lot of epiphanies. I would not be surprised at all if he follows this with some type of philanthropy.
And I take a lot of lamotrigine…
Some people like a challenge, but, I don’t.
I agree. And Sandy Hook was such a powerful event…It is completely understandable that some people might be forever changed by it.
Have any of you seen the anti – NRA song he wrote and sang? Check it out on YouTube – it’s funny, and astute – he said the follow up was death threats against his family and being told to go back to Canada.
Oh no, not Canada!
Prince left but Conrad Black came back. That’s a problem.
while i dont think that violence in movies directly influences others to be violent, i think its definitely ‘desensitizes’ us to the violence we see.
i mean, of course there are some people who see xyz actor do something in a movie then copy in it real life and its tragic, but the chances are the mass audience of a violent film wont copy their actions. i absolutely think that constant exposure to such films makes us accept violence as a more ‘normal’ thing. how many times on the news have we seen violence such as police britality and not been deeply shocked. thats the power of film, and while I dont think it directly causes this behaviour, I think it sort of helps us ‘accept’ it. Which of course is completely wrong.
Completely agree. Movies desensitize violence, they do not CAUSE violence. Big, big, BIG difference.
Wow- nice cliched sexist comments , ” take your tampon out Dave”. Right, because being a girl makes you weak. Also, “act like a bitch get slapped like a bitch”? It isn’t even humorous and the delivery is flat and just seemingly excessive , poor acting / writting.
Always scratch my head when the vagina is referred to something as weak. Its actually one of the most powerful things on earth.
That loser’s lucky he’s not at an L7 concert.
Yeah Jim violence didn’t exist before Sandy Hook GMAB.I would have more respect if he mentioned becoming a grandfather had changed his view on violence in film
I agree about Carrey donating his salary but that doesn’t further the discussion as much as it makes Carrey look good and helps the victims to a certain degree. I want to see our country move forward- I want to see legislation passed. I want to see mental health laws put into practice.
While I very much enjoyed the first Kick Ass film, I think the topic of excessive violence in film is a tricky tightrope to walk. Carrey has been pretty outspoken about his feelings re: gun violence before he made this public statement, so I’m curious to see if he will even attend the premiere/press junkets. Either way, I can’t say I entirely disagree with his rationale. I just don’t know if boycotting his film (if that is what he ends up doing), is the right way to go about it.
The fact that you don’t have gun control in the US is mind blowing.
I think the debate has been a bit misleading for our international friends– there is gun control, but many people (rightfully) believe there should be more (and stricter) gun control laws. No one needs a semi-automatic weapon to defend themselves or go hunting, for one, and we should close the loophole that allows people to buy guns at gun shows without a criminal background check.
My heart and everyone’s heart goes out to Sandy Hook/victims.
I will say that I really like Kick Ass and will see Kick Ass 2. The violence didn’t make me crazy I guess because I looked at it as a live action comic book. I am bothered more about Slasher movies or movies with people being butchered in cabins at summer camp.
it is a tricky topic as you say. But I think Carrey is being unprofessional. If he was so sensitive he should have done his research and not done the film. He is a grown man. And by making this statement this late months before the film release is a slap in the face of all those involved in this film.
I think if this kind of film bothers you then make the choice we all have as consumers Don’t give it your money. Easy. Kick Ass the first was not huge at the BO.. but make a load of money in Dvd sales.
It would have been a stronger message if he said he donated his money earned from the movie to victims of violence. Like Kaiser pointed out, Columbine happened way before Sandy Hook and yet Jim carried on on this project.
Mark Millar already responded here:
http://forums.millarworld.tv/index.php?/topic/103196-jim-carrey-condemns-kick-ass-2-violence/
He’s not talking about boycotting the film he just doesn’t want to do the normal press junket for it which will not be too good marketing wise. I think he actually watched some kind of rough cut of the movie and probably got disturbed. What you read and what you film is an entirely different experience of what you watch. He’s apparently an advocate about gun control and if I’m not mistaken he’s never done this type of violent movie before.
Jim should give his pay check to victims since he’s so turned off by working on this movie.
ITA bedhead, he needs to now put his money where his mouth is.
I get what he’s saying to a certain extent, and kick-ass was a real violent movie, but the violence doesn’t exist in a vacuum in these movies, right? There are consequences for violent behavior in them, at least from what I remember.
He’s using the victims of Sandy Hook to sell his movie. That makes him an opportunist and a d*ck, not a hero.
Wow really?? Cause what is gonna make people really flock to this movie is a reminder of the sickest tragedy in recent years and how we want to watch a 15/16 year old girl swear and shoot up a storm. Get real
Do you not understand how marketing works? His statement served only one purpose: To get people to talk about him & his movie, which is exactly what we’re doing. Would you have ever heard about this movie if he HADN’T posted that on Twitter? No.
“Do you not understand how marketing works? His statement served only one purpose”
How can you say it serves one purpose? It could also make people think twice before getting a ticket to this movie.
Was he in a coma when the first one came out? He didn’t have to take the role to begin with. If he felt so strongly in the past about gun violence, then he should have declined the role. That’s living by your principles.
As someone else pointed out, it happens sometimes where you don’t come to a realization until much later. It is not impossible that after the fact he decided it was not a good idea. I don’t think he is doing it to sell a movie, or that he is being disingenuous. We have all had an epiphany of sorts at some point in our lives, maybe his just hit him. I don’t have any issue with that. If from now on he decides not to do violent movies, good on him, that is his decision. He is allowed to change his opinion.
Day late dollar short whining.. but you can donate all the money you made on this movie to victims of violence as an contrite example..?
I’m calling BULLSH¡T and a poorly-executed PR move. Unless incontrovertible proof surfaces that shows Carrey being in a coma during filming, it’s blatantly obvious how violent KA2 is going to be!
ETA: Ninja’d by TheOriginalKitten about the coma part. GMTA! LOL
What a prince. If he’s truly and genuinely disturbed by what he sees as the possible link between ‘art’ and life, then there’s evidence every single day on the news of violent massacres of innocent people all over the globe. Don’t those people matter? Is the violence perpetuated against them different than the violence perpetuated against the Sandy Hook victims? Or is it just that it has to happen in his own backyard for his conscience to kick in?
This reeks of self-serving, image conscious grandstanding.
Donate the check, or means nothing.
Ummm… did Jim Carrey even bother to read the script or watch the original before he agreed to do it or did he just roll some Dungeons and Dragons dice or use a Magic Meatball a la Sheldon Cooper and Spencer Shay?
Tricky topic, indeed. Also, his whole career and fortune is based in an industry that likes to glorifies gun violence. Just saying.
Lol at the pitforking and torch lighting that’s happening. So quick to have an opinion where someone’s paycheck goes…but if you yourself was so taken aback by the sandy hook massacre I wonder how many of your own paychecks and salaries were donated to the victims. There’s a word for that.
Truly spoken like someone that doesn’t want to have to donate money. There’s a reason why the expression is ”put your money where your mouth is” because otherwise its just a bunch of hot air.
He said recent events have caused a changed in his heart not specifically Hooks.Maybe something else happened to him personally that changed his mind.
Seven months after the fact that only sounds like a very lame excuse to shirk promotion duties.
I call BS on Jim his next movies are “Dumb and Dumber 2”, “Loomis Fargo” were he plays a bank robber ,”Ricky Stanicky” and “Anchorman: The Legend Continues” all of which have some level of violence in it.
So is he saying that he ok with violence like on the “Jackass” level which all of the movies above seem to be but not ok with action movie level.
People are more to prone to act out the “Jackass” level of violence they see on TV and movies then they are to act out on the action movie level.
I don’t have any objection to someone that has a new outlook on life after a horrifying event, that’s every person’s prerogative. We will never reach a consensus on the role of media in violence, so there will always be dissenting opinions. I do think trashing a movie after accepting a paycheck is kind of crappy though, but he’s a big boy and can handle the blow back.
It’s awful and sad to acknowledge that there were many mass shootings before Sandy Hook, like Colombine and Virginia Tech. I think, though, that Sandy Hook was especially horrific to many people because it was the first time such young, innocent children were the victims. I believe it was the first time there has been a shooting at an elementary school, at least one of that magnitude. And I think that because of that, many people were so affected at their cores and forever changed that something so awful could happen to so many little children. I want to make it clear that in no way am I saying that the previous shootings were not awful beyond belief, because they were and how can anything like that not be? They all make you question your belief in the goodness of mankind and how it is that such crazy, awful things could happen. But for me at least, I felt before Sandy Hook that there couldn’t possibly be someone crazy enough to kill so many innocent children at school like that, it just didn’t seem possible. And when it actually did happen, I felt like the world was standing still.
Maybe it’s because I’m a mother myself to a young child around the same age, but I was so devastated that I cried for days afterward and couldn’t stop thinking about it and just being so terribly, terribly sad and heartbroken over it. So I can see how it might have struck a sensitive nerve in Jim and caused him to have such an epiphany.
Also, there have been just way too many incidents like this ever since Columbine happened. It’s reaching a level now where I think people are thinking that it’s got to stop, somehow it has to stop because how can it get much worse? How much more can we take? It’s so sad to think that in today’s day and age, we can’t send our kids to school without being scared something might happen to them, we can’t go to a movie theater without worrying, or to a shopping mall or really, most public places. We can’t even go to the finish line of a marathon now without worrying. What’s next? Are we going to have to worry about taking our kids to Disneyland? Somehow, it has to stop but sadly I don’t think it will.
I’m sorry but I’m not going to see Kick Ass 2 for Jim Carrey, I am going to see it for hit-girl.
I could care less that he was in or not after seeing the first movie, hit-girl was and is the attraction (not in a sexual way btw).
I cant speak for everyone but if you saw the movie, she was more interesting then the main character.
Then he needs to give back his pay cut. It would send more of a message versus him opening his mouth.
The movie was filmed months ago, which means he’s already spent the money he made with it. I call BS on this as well, he’s looking for attention, his career is going down hill, they’ve abandoned Dumber and Dumberer etc. They will have to pry his career out of his cold dead hands before he had another hit.
As someone who has actually seen and sort of read these comics (I stare at comics all day long for a living and fell into this industry completely by accident so I am learning all the time what is considered violent in comic book content), I would say these comics are pretty violent and bloody. And I am pretty sure I am one of the only ones here who has sat down and read them… it’s about a bunch of very young kids (not very much older than kids at Sandy Hook) running around like vigilantes and sometimes getting gruesomely beat up by adult thugs. Just look up Hit Girl (part of Kick Ass)–you will see what I mean! I was shocked when I was reviewing the content and definitely would not let young kids read that material!
So I can see where Jim Carrey is coming from.
So if this stuff isn’t for kids then who’s it for? Adults who need to grow up?
The comics are actually geared toward adults and I was mistaken about the number of children in the plot. The first film received an R rating as it should. However they do feature a young 11 year old girl beating up adult men and using strong language but that is the nature of the that type of comic. They are definitely NOT marketed towards children.
So the fact that Carrey is uncomfortable about certain young characters and the level of violence they are exposed to makes perfect sense to me.
Certainly, he can have a change of heart. But he needs to remember what happened to the guy in 2 1/2 Men – and he needs to know that he won’t get any violent roles from now on without being a hypocrite.