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Jim Carrey 'Cannot Support The Level Of Violence' In His Own Movie, 'Kick-Ass 2'
Jim Carrey plays Colonel Stars and Stripes in the upcoming 'Kick-Ass 2.' (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures)
Jim Carrey is condemning his own upcoming movie, Kick-Ass 2, saying, "I cannot support that level of violence."
Carrey tweeted his "change of heart" about the movie on Sunday:
I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to e
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
I meant to say my apologies to others involve with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) June 23, 2013
He recently released a parody video, "Cold Dead Hand," on Funny or Die mocking gun owners, including late NRA president Charlton Heston.
Kick-Ass drew plenty of criticism in 2010 for having a young girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) committing much of the violence. That movie was rated R, as is the sequel, which opens August 16.
It's based on the comic by Mark Millar, who also produced the film. He responded on his own site, calling Carrey's performance "magnificent" and that he's "baffled" by his about face, especially since Carrey's character is a born-again Christian who never fires a gun. He urged Carrey to reconsider his stance, signing off, "Jim, I love ya."
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I couldn’t be happier with this picture... There are a lot of stand-outs in the sequel, every actor really firing on full cylinders and an amazing script that moves like a rocket. But Carrey in particular is magnificent. He’s never done anything like this before and even from the trailer, with his masked dog sidekick specially trained to munch criminal balls, you can see that something really fun and special is happening here. Colonel Stars and Stripes is so charismatic and all his scenes are up there with Nic Cage’s amazing turn as Big Daddy in the original… which made it all the more surprising when Jim announced tonight that the gun-violence in Kick-Ass 2 has made him withdraw his support from the picture. As you may know, Jim is a passionate advocate of gun-control and I respect both his politics and his opinion, but I’m baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn’t in the screenplay 18 months ago. Yes, the body-count is very high, but a movie called Kick-Ass 2 really has to do what it says on the tin. 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... 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.
Ultimately, this is his decision, but I’ve never quite bought the notion that violence in fiction leads to violence in real-life any more than Harry Potter casting a spell creates more Boy Wizards in real-life... Our audience is smart enough to know they’re all pretending and we should instead just sit back and enjoy the serotonin release of seeing bad guys meeting bad ends as much as we enjoyed seeing the Death Star exploding…
Jim, I love ya and I hope you reconsider for all the above points. You’re amazing in this insanely fun picture and I’m very proud of what Jeff, Matthew and all the team have done here.”
Related:
'Dumb & Dumber' Sequel Dies As Jim Carrey Bows Out
Creepy or Comedy? Jim Carrey's Video Love Note to Emma Stone
DVD Tuesday: Kick-Ass Kicked Ass!
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