Opinions change. Yours, mine, Jim Carrey’s… we’re all allowed to reassess our views when new information presents itself, but very few of us will see that new opinion cause anything resembling an uproar.
Carrey’s stance on gun-control has been pretty clear for months now thanks in part to his musical Charlton Heston dig on Funny or Die and multiple tweets on the subject via his official Twitter. Some people have badgered him to denounce the supposed hypocrisy of his upcoming Kick-Ass 2 seeing as it features gratuitous violence both gun-related and otherwise, but while he refused to do so then it appears he may have had a change of heart.
He took to Twitter earlier today with the following two thoughts.
It’s unclear if he said anything else that was subsequently deleted, but unless someone can point me towards a screen-grab I think it’s a minor leap to assume Carrey has disowned the film or decided not to participate in any publicity at all. It’s clear he’s not dogging the movie itself and is instead just having second thoughts on having participated in such a violent endeavor. His opinion is no more valid than anyone else’s, but it’s no less valid either.
It may be a wise decision at this point not to include him in interviews for the film as the opportunity to rail against gun violence could threaten to overshadow questions about the movie. He’s the film’s biggest star by a long shot, but his absence from press junkets and interviews may end up being just as notable as anything he may have ended up saying.
Some folks are arguing that his opinion is empty grandstanding unless he backs it up by donating his entire Kick-Ass 2 paycheck to anti-gun causes, but this isn’t an either/or situation. Would it be nice if he put his money where his mouth is? Sure, but it’s not required, and it’s also entirely possible he’s doing just that without feeling the need to advertise his altruism.
Mark Millar, the creator of the Kick-Ass comic, isn’t normally a very talkative fellow, but he posted a response to Carrey on his blog just a few hours after the tweets hit the fan. He praises Carrey’s performance in the film and acknowledges his passion towards gun control, but he questions why Carrey is taking this stance now.
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… 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 Peckenpah, 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.”
Millar’s whole post is worth a read as it’s a common sense response written with an even hand. It’s mostly free of Millar’s trademarked hyperbole too aside from claiming the film is “almost TOO EXCITING.”
Ultimately Carrey’s morally-fueled dissent will create more publicity for the movie which can only help raise its profile among the public. The first movie was a niche success, and the unexpected sequel was never going to be more than that. One actor’s reasonable and heartfelt opinion isn’t going to change that.
Kick-Ass 2 targets theaters starting August 16, 2013.
