Jim Carrey was recently onNorm MacDonald Livewhere he revealed that Tommy Lee Jones hated him when they were makingBatman Forevertogether. Carrey was playing the Riddler while Jones was playing Two-Face in theJoel Schumacher directedmovie. The movie was seen as divisive after the Tim Burton movies withMichael Keaton starring as Batman, though it was not universally hated like the next installment in the franchise, which has definitely not aged well, so don’t bother going back for a nostalgic viewing. Anyway, while Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones were getting ready to do a scene together, Jones decided to tell Carrey about his true feelings.
Jim Carreyhas talked about the subject before in the past, but the subject came up again when Norm MacDonald asked him about it. Carrey maintains that he still has nothing but the utmost respect forTommy Lee Jones, but went on to tell the tale again. Carrey explains.
“The maître said, ‘Oh, I hear you’re working with Tommy Lee Jones. He’s over in the corner having dinner.’ I went over and I said, ‘Hey Tommy, how are you doing?’ and the blood just drained from his face. And he got up shaking-he must have been in mid-kill me fantasy or something like that. And he went to hug me and he said, ‘I hate you. I really don’t like you.’ And I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ and pulled up a chair, which probably wasn’t smart. And he said, ‘I cannot sanction your buffoonery.'”
That’s pretty harsh, but Carrey went on to say that it was more than likely that the whole reasoning behind it was that Carrey was the star of the movie and that possibly Jones was not entirely comfortable with the comic book material. Carrey had this to say.
“I was the star and that was the problem. He’s a phenomenal actor, though. I still love him. He might have been uncomfortable doing that work, too. That’s not really his style of stuff.”
When Jim Carrey nonchalantly tells Norm MacDonald that he was the star ofBatman Forever, he was not kidding. Carrey was on a roll after leaving the hit comedy sketch showIn Living Colorand becoming a bonafide movie star after the success ofAce Ventura: Pet Detective,The Mask, andDumb and Dumber. All three of the aforementioned movies were released in 1994 and they launched Jim Carrey into the stratosphere and into a household name. Tommy Lee Jones, a serious actor, could have still been feeling the crushing defeat ofDumb and Dumbersquashing hisCobbmovie in 1994.
In an interview with Howard Stern in 2014, Jim Carrey told the same story, but with a bit more detail about the wholeCobbvs.Dumb and Dumberbox office fight. Carrey had this to say.
“I think he was just a little freaked out becauseDumb and Dumbercame out on the same weekend asCobb, andCobbwas his big swing for the fences and that didn’t work out and that freaked him out a bit.”
On lighter note, at the end of the interview, Stern joked that Jones gaveDumb And Dumber To"zero stars and said “f$%k you.” To which Carrey replied, “I hope Cobb 2 isn’t coming out.” It seems as if jealousy might have been the root of the problems on the set ofBatman Forever, or it could just be that Tommy Lee Jones really just hates Jim Carrey and is pretty blunt about it.
The rest of the Norm MacDonald YouTube interview with Jim Carrey continues the actor’s WTF tour that he’s been on lately and is a pretty interesting watch. Fans of the Carrey should definitely watch it as it’s also pretty funny as well and a bit more lighthearted than some of the more recentJim Carrey interviews. You can check out the full interview below, with theBatman Forevertalk coming at the 1:08:30 mark.
