6:11PM, May 21, 2009
We took time out to have an affirmative chat with Yes Man stars Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. They talked about bunjee-jumping, pratfalls and making out at the Hollywood Bowl...
Sky Movies: What attracted you to Yes Man?
Jim Carrey: The way this spoke to me is that I’ve been a ‘shut-in’ during my life. I’m the guy you call up sometimes and it’s, you know, ‘the answering service is full’ and it stays that way for a good month and a half while I take a rest and pee in a bottle. With this movie I wanted to put something good out into the world, something that made people feel good. I feel its time for a shift in the paradigm – from cynicism to faith and belief in a good future. Maybe I want to say yes a little bit more. We thought wouldn’t it be wonderful that everybody who sees this movie in the world says yes at least twice more than they would have otherwise. Would it knock the globe off its axis? Maybe delusions of grandeur but these things do have an effect.
Sky Movies: Thinking back over your life, what was the worst case of you saying yes?
JC: Well, there was a short time In the military. I didn’t pass the exam but it was humiliating. I did sea cadets when I was eleven. It’s like boy scouts military-style. They shaved my head and they cursed me out. I don’t regret it though – now I know that I’m a useless maggot.
Zooey Deschanel: With all this yes stuff we’re talking about it’s really fun to say no sometimes. I don’t want to discount how important it is to exercise your right to say no. As a girl it’s important to know how to say no – because no means no.
Sky Movies: What was the experience of the bungee jump like?
JC: My sphincter was so tight I could have made a diamond. There were several things on the this movie that demanded a reckoning – am I going to die today? What do I say to Jesus and how do I explain those nights in Amsterdam. I broke three ribs just doing the “fall in the bar” scene so I was in great shape going into the really rough stuff. I was half-way through a pratfall – and I’ve done pratfalls all my life – when I changed my plan. I decide it would be a good idea to get all four limbs up into the frame at the same time. I came down really hard but the ex-gamer, stand-up comedian in me just got up, finished the scene and sat down with an ice pack. All I really cared about was did it look cool? It’s the shot that’s in the movie – real pain.
ZD: I was not tempted to go a bungee jump. No sir. I’m not quite as brave as that. I’m brave in different ways.
Sky Movies: Did you enjoy the chance to show your musical talents?
ZD: Having a musical background, it was a relief to know there was something I could do. Pretty much everything else was pretty new to me, especially the body-blading, the scooter. Writing music, totally fine, singing songs, totally fine, playing the guitar – never played it…but totally fine. Everything else – that was crazy. I don’t know if you’ve ever stood on a vertical hill wearing roller blades. People would come up with new ideas every day about how to add more danger to the movie.
Sky Movies: After serious roles, what attracted you back to a comedy?
JC: It’s an illusion that I left them behind. I just do whatever I’m attracted to. Scripts find you when you’re emotionally in the right place to do them. With Eternal Sunshine I was brokenhearted and (director) Michel Gondry came to me and said: ‘You are beautiful like this’. I said we’re not shooting for another year and he replied ‘Don’t get well.” I said I’m going to at least try to have a good time and I’ll reopen the wound later. I’m never going to leave any particular style of acting behind.
Sky Movies: What was it like standing on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl?
ZD: That was my favourite night of shooting. It was so exciting and I just wanted my picture taken on every part of the Hollywood Bowl stage so I had something for my parents. I’ve seen so many amazing shows there – everything from the Philharmonic to Brian Wilson.
JC: I found myself standing in the place on the West Coast where John Lennon premiered. So you gotta sing a Beatles song and Zooey joined right in and it’s a great moment. That’s just us loving where we are. I did have a rendezvous there. I was about 21 years old and at that time the Bowl had a chain fence in front of it. I didn’t know what I was thinking but I had met this girl and had this wild thought about just driving in. She held the chain and I drove under and onto the stage and shone the lights of the car across the stage and we went and made out. And we got kicked out.
Sky Movies: Have you ever regretted saying no?
JC: Scarlett Johansson asked me to have sex with her. And then I woke up and screamed noooooooo…it’s only a dream.
Sky Movies: What was it like working with Terence Stamp?
JC: We did talk about gluten-free diets. He gave me a loaf of his bread – it was quite good actually. We talked about Brigitte Bardot, he gave me the inside scoop on that. Or some of it. He’s lived a life. He has tasted the fruit of the vine. He’s a great guy, he’s an amazing actor and I’ve always wanted to work with him, I’ve been fascinated by him. He’s pretty solid – it’s hard to crack him. He’s committed but has got a really nutty inside quality to him, he’s got madness in his eyes. It’s all that time with Fellini – it drove him over the edge.
Sky Movies: Do you miss live performance?
JC: Anything is possible – I don’t know where the muse is going to take me. I think of a lot of things I might want to say to an audience so that might happen at some point. One of the things I’ve thought about doing is a self-help seminar…in my own way. Those things occur to me all the time…and also to do plays. I don’t want to always stick myself in one category. But I do really love making the movies.
Sky Movies: What was it like working with Clint Eastwood?
JC: I loved getting to know CE – he is such an amazing man and such an amazing artist. There were times after that when I thought nothing was happening. The first thing I ever did was the Dead Pool. I auditioned for Clint and they would sent the tapes up to Carmel where he would look at them. All I did was a thing I called post-nuclear Elvis where I would do this odd Elvis mutation with short hands and flipper arms and all the Elvis moves. Clint just went out of his mind and said he showed it to everyone who comes into his house. I really breaks the ice. And we were friends ever since.
Yes, Man is currently playing on Sky Box Office.
Tim Evans
