Jim Carrey condemns violence in his own movie Kick-Ass 2
Actor, who filmed role one month before Newtown shootings, tweeted that 'now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence'
Jim Carrey has shocked producers of forthcoming comic-book sequel Kick-Ass 2, in which he stars as a baseball-bat-wielding masked crimefighter, after denouncing the "level of violence" that permeates the film in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings.
Carrey, who has been an outspoken proponent of increased gun control in the wake of the shootings by gunman Adam Lanza in December, tweeted on Sunday that he could no longer support the film. He wrote: "I did Kick-Ass 2 a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to others involve[d] with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart."
I don't know about you, but violence is generally an integral part of the films I watch; in the theaters or otherwise. Is film next? Is art no longer the province of art? How long until executives decide every movie will be non-offensive and about finger foods?
Jim Carrey condemns violence in his own movie Kick-Ass 2
Actor, who filmed role one month before Newtown shootings, tweeted that 'now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence'
Jim Carrey has shocked producers of forthcoming comic-book sequel Kick-Ass 2, in which he stars as a baseball-bat-wielding masked crimefighter, after denouncing the "level of violence" that permeates the film in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings.
Carrey, who has been an outspoken proponent of increased gun control in the wake of the shootings by gunman Adam Lanza in December, tweeted on Sunday that he could no longer support the film. He wrote: "I did Kick-Ass 2 a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to others involve[d] with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart."
I don't know about you, but violence is generally an integral part of the films I watch; in the theaters or otherwise. Is film next? Is art no longer the province of art? How long until executives decide every movie will be non-offensive and about finger foods?
Jim Carrey will be out of hollywood before movie execs stop pushing violence. unless violence stops turning a buck that is.
First off, I love Jim Carrey. When producer Matthew Vaughn and director Jeff Wadlow called me up and suggested we do a conference call with him to talk about the sequel to the 2010 original I was genuinely excited. Like you, I love Eternal Sunshine, Man on the Moon and The Truman Show. Carrey is an actor like no other, an unpredictable force of nature who brings a layered warmth and humanity to his work as well as that unstoppable energy he's always been renowned for. He had lunch with Matthew around the time of the first movie and dug it so much he appeared that night on Conan O'Brien DRESSED as Kick-Ass, singing a duet with Conan dressed as Superman. Vaughn and I made a mental note to work with this guy as soon as possible as we're both huge admirers.
Cut to almost three years later and I'm sitting in a screening room in London watching what I think is one of Carrey's best-ever performances. I'd seen Kick-Ass 2 in many forms, but this was the absolute final cut complete with opening titles, music and a terrific post-credit sequence you're all going to love. I couldn't be happier with this picture. It's as good as the original and in many ways BIGGER as it expands upon the universe and really takes things to the next level. There are a lot of stand-outs in the sequel, every actor really firing on full cylinders and an amazing script that moves like a rocket. But Carrey in particular is magnificent. He's never done anything like this before and even from the trailer, with his masked dog sidekick specially trained to munch criminal balls, you can see that something really fun and special is happening here. Colonel Stars and Stripes is so charismatic and all his scenes are up there with Nic Cage's amazing turn as Big Daddy in the original... which made it all the more surprising when Jim announced tonight that the gun-violence in Kick-Ass 2 has made him withdraw his support from the picture.
As you may know, Jim is a passionate advocate of gun-control and I respect both his politics and his opinion, but I'm baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn't in the screenplay eighteen months ago. Yes, the body-count is very high, but a movie called Kick-Ass 2 really has to do what it says on the tin. A sequel to the picture that gave us HIT-GIRL was always going to have some blood on the floor and this should have been no shock to a guy who enjoyed the first movie so much. My books are very hardcore, but the movies are adapted for a more mainstream audience and if you loved the tone of the first picture you're going to eat this up with a big, giant spoon. Like Jim, I'm horrified by real-life violence (even though I'm Scottish), but Kick-Ass 2 isn't a documentary. No actors were harmed in the making of this production! This is fiction and like Tarantino and Peckinpah, Scorcese and Eastwood, John Boorman, Oliver Stone and Chan-Wook Park, Kick-Ass avoids the usual bloodless body-count of most big summer pictures and focuses instead of the CONSEQUENCES of violence, whether it's the ramifications for friends and family or, as we saw in the first movie, Kick-Ass spending six months in hospital after his first street altercation. Ironically, Jim's character in Kick-Ass 2 is a Born-Again Christian and the big deal we made of the fact that he refuses to fire a gun is something he told us attracted him to the role in the first place.
Ultimately, this is his decision, but I've never quite bought the notion that violence in fiction leads to violence in real-life any more than Harry Potter casting a spell creates more Boy Wizards in real-life. Our job as storytellers is to entertain and our toolbox can't be sabotaged by curtailing the use of guns in an action-movie. Imagine a John Wayne picture where he wasn't packing or a Rocky movie where Stallone wasn't punching someone repeatedly in the face. Our audience is smart enough to know they're all pretending and we should instead just sit back and enjoy the serotonin release of seeing bad guys meeting bad ends as much as we enjoyed seeing the Death Star exploding. The action in Kick-Ass 2 is like nothing you've ever seen before. The humour, the characters, the heart and the set-pieces are all things we're very proud of and the only warning I'd really include is that it's almost TOO EXCITING. Kick-Ass 2 is fictional fun so let's focus our ire instead of the real-life violence going on in the world like the war in Afghanistan, the alarming tension in Syria right now and the fact that Superman just snapped a guy's fucking neck.
Jim, I love ya and I hope you reconsider for all the above points. You're amazing in this insanely fun picture and I'm very proud of what Jeff, Matthew and all the team have done here.
Went to the pub last week with my neighbor. He told me he watched The Raid and hated it. Described it as too violent. Won't be going for a drink with him ever again.
Spartan wrote:Went to the pub last week with my neighbor. He told me he watched The Raid and hated it. Described it as too violent. Won't be going for a drink with him ever again.
Hope he didn't watch Judge Dredd. His brain probably exploded.
He's an anti-science, politically-motivated freak who espouses harmful propaganda when what he should be doing is making stupid faces for the camera and cashing checks (that he doesn't apologize for (even though he didn't apologize for cashing the check and insisting on not promoting the movie thus jeopardizing its success as well as the success of his friends and other people who invested in this film)).
This actually brought a newfound respect to Jim Carrey
Wait what?!?
Well I guess if you like injecting your kids with Mercury go right ahead, my last bm seen a dr that took a naturalistic approach to child birth and recommended against most vaccines even as a practicing medical dr.
nobody wants to watch nonviolent movies (those are boring). violence in movies is pretend. it is not hypocritical to promote real life gun control while continuing to act in violent movies.
Tweak Da Leak wrote:my last bm seen a dr that took a naturalistic approach to child birth and recommended against most vaccines even as a practicing medical dr.
This actually brought a newfound respect to Jim Carrey
Wait what?!?
Well I guess if you like injecting your kids with Mercury go right ahead, my last bm seen a dr that took a naturalistic approach to child birth and recommended against most vaccines even as a practicing medical dr.
That's only one doctor's opinion, despite insurmountable medical evidence to the contrary. I wouldn't trust him.
Check out my FREE album featuring MAC LETHAL, ALASKA from HANGAR 18, HOMEBOY SANDMAN and J57 of the BROWN BAG ALL STARS - http://chazkangas.bandcamp.com
bm's prefer to deliver in a bathtub, filled half full, touched with 2T Burts Bees The Most Naturallest Bubble Bath In The World, 1/2 a dab of sage & a tiny thimble of almond milk. one wood wick candle burning in a glass container on the back of the commode, no matter it's placement in the b room. i have asked. they have told. sure fire. shot fire
Tweak Da Leak wrote:my last bm seen a dr that took a naturalistic approach to child birth and recommended against most vaccines even as a practicing medical dr.
This actually brought a newfound respect to Jim Carrey[/quote]
Wait what?!?[/quote]
Well I guess if you like injecting your kids with Mercury go right ahead, my last bm seen a dr that took a naturalistic approach to child birth and recommended against most vaccines even as a practicing medical dr.[/quote]
That's only one doctor's opinion, despite insurmountable medical evidence to the contrary. I wouldn't trust him.[/quote]
The UN just had a panel discussion on whether or not to remove the mercury preservative from their vaccines, most vaccines in the US/UK(1st world) already have had it removed from the majority of vaccines.
So you really and truly think it's in any way safer for children to not be vaccinated?
Check out my FREE album featuring MAC LETHAL, ALASKA from HANGAR 18, HOMEBOY SANDMAN and J57 of the BROWN BAG ALL STARS - http://chazkangas.bandcamp.com
