Who would have an issue with Jim Carrey!?
When we think of celebrity feuds we tend to think about those that take place on The Real Housewives or ones that famous people like Jennifer Aniston have with Marvel. You don't, however, think about Jim Carrey. Martin Freeman, on the other hand, well, he does have a bit of a history when it comes to not being on the best of terms with other famous people, even his co-stars.
To be fair, the fact that Martin Freeman speaks his mind is precisely why so many adore the Sherlock, Hobbit, and Black Panther star. That and the fact that he is truly, truly, truly an outstanding actor. But so is Jim Carrey. Jim is responsible for both some of the best comedies and dramas of the last three decades. And yet, one performance in particular really irked Martin. So much so that he decided to publicly bash Jim. Now, we can't exactly say that this constitutes a 'feud', but it also kind of does... Regardless, here's the truth of the matter.
Martin Freeman REALLY Didn't Like Man On The Moon
Man On The Moon is almost definitely one of Jim Carrey's most overlooked performances. The 1999 biological comedy, which followed the creative pursuits of comedian and actor Andy Kaufman, was big with critics at the time of its release, but it's not a movie that Jim's fans tend to revisit. Still, it is largely seen as one of Jim's greatest performances of all time for those who are movie-buffs. But this excludes Martin Freeman.
During a recent interview on "Off Munu", a podcast, Martin went off on the method acting approach. This is something that Jared Leto recently made quite famous when he played The Joker in the DCEU. For those unaware, it's a style of acting where the performer really does everything not to break character even when the cameras have stopped rolling and he or she goes home for the day. Some actors, like Martin, think the approach is "pretentious", while others, like Daniel Day-Lewis, swear by it.
As Martin was discussing the reasons why he dislikes the approach to the craft, he decided to pick on Jim Carrey, for some reason. According to Indie Wire, Martin called the approach to acting "a highly impractical way of working, which is why I think it belongs more to the student and academic side than the practical ability side."
He went on to say, "To be honest, it’s quite a pain in the a** when someone 'loses themselves. It is a massive pain in the a** because it’s no longer a craft and a job."
This is when he went off on Jim Carrey's method performance as Andy Kaufman in Miloš Forman’s Man on the Moon. In Jim And Andy, a documentary on the making of Man On The Moon, the cast and crew of the film explained that Jim's approach to acting really affected them. This is because he insisted that everyone call him "Andy" between takes and Jim's take on Andy's odd personality spilled into personal interactions. Because of this, Martin, who had nothing to do with Man On The Moon, claims Jim should have been "fired".
It does seem as though Jim's approach to his job on Man On The Moon was, to say the least, unconventional ad pretty strange. According to NME, Jim even said that he was communicating with the late Andy Kaufman while playing the character.
"That’s the moment when Andy Kaufman showed up, tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Sit down, I’ll be doing my movie'," Jim Carrey said during the documentary on the making of Man On The Moon. "What happened afterwards was out of my control."
Does Martin Dislike Jim As A Person?
All of this is not to say that's not to say that Martin was attacking Jim as a person... Well, not necessarily...
"For me, and I’m genuinely sure Jim Carrey is a lovely and smart person, but it was the most self-aggrandizing, selfish, narcissistic f***ing bollocks I have ever seen," Martin said on the podcast in May 2021. "The idea that anything in our culture would celebrate or support it is deranged, literally deranged."
The Hobbit actor continued by saying, "You need to keep grounded in reality, and that’s not to say you don’t lose yourself in the time between 'action' and 'cut', but I think the rest of it is absolute pretentious nonsense and highly amateurish. It is not professional. Get the job done, do your work."
So, we're not exactly sure if Martin actually dislikes Jim or if they know each other at all. It seems as though he just really dislikes the way he worked on that one film. As for Jim, it seems a though he has bigger fish to fry than to publicly respond to these comments.