Martin Freeman has spoken out against Jim Carrey‘s method performance in Man On The Moon.
During an appearance on food podcast Off Menu, Freeman branded Carrey’s approach to the role “self-aggrandising, selfish and narcissistic”. Although The Hobbit star said that he believed Carrey to be “a lovely and smart person”, he added that he “should have been fired” for his behaviour on the film.
As shown in the 2017 Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, Carrey spent four months as the comedian Andy Kaufman without breaking character. He insisted on being called “Andy” even when the cameras stopped rolling.
Speaking in the documentary, Carrey described when Kaufman spoke to him “telepathically” when he heard the actor would be playing him.
“That’s the moment when Andy Kaufman showed up, tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Sit down, I’ll be doing my movie’,” Carrey said. “What happened afterwards was out of my control.””
Freeman’s criticism of Carrey came as part of his broader takedown on method acting in Hollywood. Speaking with podcast hosts Ed Gamble and James Acaster, the actor described the style of performing as “a highly impractical way of working”.
He went on to tell the presenters: “You need to keep grounded in reality and that’s not to say you don’t lose yourself in between action and cut but the rest of it is absolutely pretentious nonsense. It’s not a professional attitude. Get the job done man, fucking do your work.”
Freeman will be appearing in Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever alongside Angela Bassett and Lupita Nyong’o in 2022.
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