Twitter has become a bizarre and tricky terrain on the internet. It's a place where hashtags can quickly thrust you into the best and worst of human thought in 140 characters or less. It also provides a unique platform for filmmakers to tease their upcoming projects—as Bryan Singer has been doing often for X-Men: Days of Future Past. Likewise, it's a place where everyone can easily speak out about their personal beliefs and politics to a world's audience for better or worse. And less auspiciously, it's a unique platform for celebs to have a very public meltdown. It seems today, comedian Jim Carrey has indulged in a bit all three of these latter options in just two tweets, denouncing his forthcoming feature Kick-Ass 2 while sharing his politics in an incoherent double-whammy apology.
In the sequel to the R-rated superhero action-comedy Kick-Ass, Carrey plays a new addition to Dave 'Kick-Ass' Lizewski's crime-fighting team named Colonel Stars and Stripes. In the comic from which the movie was based, his character is described as an ex-mafia member who has grown a taste for vigilante justice. You can see him in action in the film's trailer below:
So, yeah, Colonel Stars and Stripes is a maniac with a deep and demented penchant for violence, just like Kick-Ass, Hit-Girl, and the rest of their pugnacious posse. But what brought about Carrey's seemingly sudden need to publicly apologize is unclear, and we have no clue what these "recent events" to which he refers are. We do know that Carrey signed on for the film in September of 2012. Production on Kick-Ass 2 ran from September to 7th to November 23rd. The horrendous murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School occurred on December 14th. So, with half a year gone by in between, it's strange that Carrey felt the need to speak out now. But maybe it's been a concern that's been brewing. Maybe the trailers have made him take stock. Maybe he has seen a final cut of the film, and that has made him feel uncomfortable.
He claims he's not "ashamed" of ,Kick-Ass 2, but "cannot support that level of violence," presumably in movies. Is Carrey suggesting that violent movies inspire people to violence? We're sure to hear more on these tweets, especially as the cast and crew gears up for their fast approaching press junket. But perhaps more importantly, does Carrey's concerns over this sure-to-be R-rated action comedy's extreme violence make you want to see it less? Weigh in below.
This poll is no longer available.
Kick-Ass 2 opens August 16th.
Update: Kick-Ass writer Mark Millar has responded to Carrey's comments on his website. He begins by speaking positively of Carrey's work, including his previous films and his performance in the Kick-Ass sequel. And then he gets down to his reaction to Carrey's comments on the film's violence. Here's part of his response:
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 eighteen 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. My books are very hardcore, but the movies are adapted for a more mainstream audience and if you loved the tone of the first picture you're going to eat this up with a big, giant spoon. Like Jim, I'm horrified by real-life violence (even though I'm Scottish), but Kick-Ass 2 isn't a documentary. No actors were harmed in the making of this production! This is fiction and like Tarantino and Peckinpah, Scorcese and Eastwood, John Boorman, Oliver Stone and Chan-Wook Park, 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.
Read this full post here.
