While Jim Carrey is busy promoting his latest movie, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, he’s also working hard on his next project, A Christmas Carol, the performance capture/Disney digital 3-D animated film from writer/director Robert Zemeckis (Beowulf, The Polar Express). At the press conference for the new Fox animated film, Carrey talked about that upcoming film and more.
When asked what it was like the play Ebenezer Scrooge, he gave a lengthy answer as to why he likes all the characters he is doing as well as the shooting process for A Christmas Carol.
“Ebenezer is such a great thing for me because, again, I get to play all kinds of different roles in the film. First of all, the process is so fascinating. You are literally in an empty warehouse with cameras around you. You have maybe a frame of a fireplace, or something like that, and then you rehearse. Then they go ‘Can we take this away?’ and you are sitting on a chair. You have to create the entire world in your head. Not only that, but you are working with other actors and you are in this ridiculous cap suit with balls all over it, and a hat with pinchers that come down with cameras in your face right here. The real work of it is transcending the lack of stimuli, and this stimulus that is right in your face. You have to transcend all of it and create the reality of the piece. Also, it’s kind of a classical version of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ it is very much, so I’m playing Ebenezer Scrooge at four different ages. There are a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things, I have to do. Not to mention doing the accents properly, the English, Irish accents. I’m also playing past, present, and future ghosts. There is a lot of really wonderful work in it, and challenge. I want it to fly in the UK. I want it to be good and I want them to go, ‘Yeah, that’s for real.’ We were very true to the book. It’s beautiful. It’s an incredible film. If you are lucky at some point in your life to have that kind of ‘Christmas Carol’ moment, I certainly have. Things were going south and I had the opportunity to see how horrible things could have gotten without them actually going there. I can’t get into specifics but I had my Ghost of Christmas Future at a certain point in my life. I went ‘Oh wow. Okay, I have to really start caring about the right things here.’ It’s just a fantastic story. It’s beautiful literature.”
The film won’t be out until Nov. 6, 2009, but the prolific comedy actor is already set to star in another pic after this project. “After ‘A Christmas Carol,’ I’m doing a film called ‘I Love You Phillip Morris,’ about a gentleman who fell in love with his cell mate and escaped from prison four times to try and find ways to get his lover out prison.”
As far as the Tim Burton-directed Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, he’s not sure what’s happening with that movie. “I don’t know. I think its still in the works. It’s maybe a little ways off. They are still talking about it,” Carrey said.
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who hits theaters on March 14.
