Jim Carrey Reflects on His Hesitant Return to Hollywood

Actor opens up about his decision to take time away from the spotlight

By Jess Cohen Aug 15, 2018 5:15 PMTags
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Jim Carrey is opening up about his decision to return to the entertainment industry.

The 56-year-old actor has taken some time away from the acting world in recent years, but he'll soon return to the spotlight when his new HBO show Kidding premieres at the end of August. In his cover story for The Hollywood Reporter, Carrey gets candid about wanting to leave Hollywood, explaining, "I just didn't want to be in the business anymore."

"I didn't like what was happening, the corporations taking over and all that," he continues. "And maybe it's because I felt pulled toward a different type of creative outlet and 
I really liked the control of painting — of not having a committee in the way telling me what the idea must be to appeal to a four-quadrant whatever."

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Even though he's making his Hollywood return with Kidding, Carrey says that he's not completely back in the game.

"I'm not back in the same way," he explains. "I don't feel I'm little Jim trying to hang on to a place in the stratosphere anymore — I don't feel like I'm trying to hold on to anything."

Reflecting on his role in 1994's Ace Ventura and how he wanted to poke fun at Hollywood's leading men, Carrey tells THR, "My plan was not to join Hollywood, it was to destroy it. Like, take a 
gigantic sledgehammer to the leading man and to all the serious­ness."

After the film's successful release, Carrey became a movie star, but he didn't enjoy the fame that came along with that title. "There's a weightlessness to it," Carrey shares. "You can dream about it all you want, but until you get it, you don't realize that it's really not a place that's very comfortable for very long."

Talking about his return to the spotlight in Kidding, Carrey says, "You're always waiting for that thing that you recognize as some part of yourself. And the life experience here matched up."

"I've gone through great loss, and somehow I ended up on the other side in a place where I can look anybody in the eye and feel like I'm 
on the same page," he continues. "I understand how the river of grief can grab you at some point in your life and just throttle you."

To read more from Carrey's interview, head on over to THR.