This is a documentary about Jim Carrey's 1999 film, "Man on the Moon", a film I love but for some reason haven't watched for a long time. It's common knowledge that he's a method actor who completely immerses himself into his roles. Many also know that his method acting for "Man on the Moon" was so extreme that the press accused him of having a mental breakdown and being unable to distinguish himself from Andy Kaufman. Even I didn't know just how far he went until I saw this documentary today.
It was a dream role for Jim Carrey. He had always admired Andy Kaufman. He had no trouble copying Andy's voice and mannerisms after hours of watching his videos. For the role, Jim didn't just play Andy Kaufman, he became Andy Kaufman. On set he was only addressed as Andy or Tony (Tony Clifton was Andy Kaufman's alter-ego). He didn't react to the name Jim, and he went into periodic rants about how bad Jim Carrey was. This led to amusing scenes like him constantly annoying Jerry Lawler on set, trying to provoke a fight. He was also thrown out of the Playboy Mansion. Possibly the creepiest thing that happened was when Andy Kaufman's daughter, Maria Colonna, visited the film set. She was born out of wedlock and never met her father. When she met Jim he acted like her father, comforting her and telling her how much he loved her. Looking back 20 years later, Jim says that this meeting helped her and gave her closure. To me this is where he went too far. But he couldn't help it. The Jim personality was buried and he was only capable of being Andy.
I admit that the documentary overwhelmed me. There's so much packed into 90 minutes. I need to watch it again, preferably back-to-back with "Man on the Moon".
The documentary is only available on Netflix.
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