Jim Carrey is considered to be one of the best actors and comedians in Hollywood. He’s a perfectionist who knows how to give his absolute best. But during the filming of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) with Kate Winslet, the makers of the movie wanted him to do the opposite and shed that perfectionist persona so that he could deliver authentic emotions. To get that performance from Carrey, the makers went to extreme ends.

When Jim Carrey Was Pushed Out Of His Comfort Zone 

Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
On the Hollywood Gold podcast, producer Anthony Bergman of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind revealed that everyone wanted Jim Carrey to be out of his element on the set. He revealed that Carrey’s role in the movie was different from whatever he had done till then and the makers wanted to make sure that he couldn’t prepare for the role. Bergman revealed:
“Everything was so chaotic in that way. People were thrown into the scene in a way that didn’t allow them to compose. It’s a very different type of role that Jim had. He’s a real perfectionist. It was ‘how do we destabilize it so he can’t prepare, so he can’t do the Jim Carrey thing?’ Part of the camera set-up stuff was designed to do that.”
Anthony Bergman
Bergman revealed that director Michel Gondry also never said action or cut in the entire film. This made the entire shoot even more chaotic. As for what Carrey felt about it all, Bergman said that he hated all of it. As per the producer:

“Jim…he hated it. We knew he was going to hate it. He’s the biggest star in the world, in control of every set, and here we were, pulling that part away. And who the fuck were we to do that? Which he would have a good point about that. He would, like, storm out and scream at me. He called me all sorts of things and I would just be there to absorb it. He’s like, ‘This is like the worst set I’ve ever been on, I don’t know what the fuck is going on!’ And we’re like, ‘No, no, no, it’s all good. This is why we’re getting great stuff.’”
However, in the end, Bergman and Carrey were on the same page because he made the actor realize that both of them were on the set of that film to do one thing.

Why Did Jim Carrey Agree To The Chaotic Filming Manner?

Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
During the podcast, producer Anthony Bergman revealed that Jim Carrey was upset with the way the movie was getting filmed. He didn’t like how the makers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind were infringing on his performance method and that too after paying him only a fraction of what he got from other movies. However, ultimately he came on board the plan.

Bergman explained how that happened:
“Jim could get very loud and he was very powerful but I think in the end, he wasn’t doing…He was getting paid $20 million to do movies like ‘Bruce Almighty.’ We were paying him a tiny, tiny fraction of that. I had an early conversation with him basically saying, ‘Look, the only reason any of us are in it is because we want to make a good movie. You’re not in it for the money. We’re not in it for the money. We’re only in it because we think there’s a really great movie we can make here. At the end of the day, we’re all working for the movie.’”
The conversation seems to have worked because ultimately Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind grossed $74 million on a budget of just $20 million and became a cult classic. The film holds a 92% critic score and a 94% audience score.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is streaming on Amazon Prime

Source: Hollywood Gold