Transcript of 70mm’s Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Episode.
SLIM Hey, it’s your old pal Slim and this is 70mm, a podcast for film lovers just like you. Every Monday, I chat about recently watched movies with my close friend and artist, Danny Haas.
DANNY [Danny wheeze/laughs]
SLIM And our spiritual advisor and movie insider, Protolexus.
PROTO Yeah, you can see that, you know, they’re still over at Disney+, they’re still writing the scripts in crayon.
SLIM Our featured discussion later in this episode is Proto’s pick for movies about movies month, and it’s the documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond from 2017 streaming on Netflix right now. If you want to get chilled up, we didn’t realize it at the time, but we recorded this episode on the fifth anniversary of its release! So feel free to skip ahead to that discussion using the chapters in your podcast app. Is Jim Carrey a comedic and spiritual genius for method acting on the set of Man on the Moon? Or did you want to knock him out the first day on set? Let’s find out… together.
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
SLIM Should we talk about the vote? The biiiig vote. Rock the Vote. The 70mm midterms.
DANNY We have to.
SLIM Huge success on Patreon last week. We put the power in thine hands for the next episode for movies about movies, it was between two of them: Singin’ in the Rain versus Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. And then for our supporters, we did an episode a pilot episode option between Buffy and Gilmore Girls. It was feverish, the votes came in feverish. We just cut off the votes this week. We have a special announcement to make about the TV episode. It was so close that Dale is in the back counting again. Within 0.4%, it was 50.4, one of them had so Dale is recounting, Proto. Do you have the confidence needed for Dale to continue counting?
PROTO I’ve seen Dale count before and he’s the best we have on staff. So I think he’s gonna get it right. We’re gonna get it right. Yu know, there’s been a lot of controversy in our in our our polls in the past our votes. This time, we are committed to getting it right. That’s why Dan, Dan, also known as Dale is in charge. [Danny & Slim laugh]
SLIM He’s asked us to be to refer to him as Dan during count, that’s how focused he is. The hanging chads are getting to Dan aka Dale, so we will not be announcing the winner on this episode as of recording. When this is out on Monday, that episode will have already been out. So you’ll find out when that episode hits your feed, whenever that may be. Hopefully it’s a nice surprise for everybody. But we have to maintain the sanctity of the American vote. If not us then who? [Danny & Slim laugh] Speaking of which, we should announce — should we announce the next episode right off the bat?
DANNY Just do it.
SLIM Singin in the Rain —
DANNY Clear winner.
SLIM Versus Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino, people are all up in arms. “Would QT win? And would this be his first movie on 70mm? Would it be a disgrace for this to be his first movie?” With 54.1% of the vote… Those people are about to be pissed because it’s Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.
DANNY Incredible.
SLIM That’s the movie next week.
PROTO The people have spoken.
DANNY Yeah. Half of them.
SLIM This is the voting process. This is how it works. If you don’t mobilize, you don’t knock on doors, you don’t send spammy texts…
PROTO Should’ve rocked the vote.
SLIM Did you work hard enough?
DANNY Did you donate enough money?
SLIM Paul just posted the masturbating Beetlejuice GIF in chat. No further comment needed. Yeah, their star ratings for Danny for that movie. You’re not going to point out what the star rating is. We don’t need to go there. We’ll find out more next week. Proto as you watch any movies this week?
PROTO I got to watch a movie I actually watched the movie yesterday. I watched David Cronenberg. So, back on the crown train some of the dead zone. Oh, The Dead Zone. You know why I was excited about this?
SLIM The hair.
PROTO The hair is incredible on Christopher Walken. But also, The Dead Zone came out the same year as his masterpiece, Videodrome. So you don’t you’re thinking, Cronenberg he’s firing on all cylinders at this point right now. He’s just gonna crank out another masterpiece. So I mean, he’s working with a Stephen King material. But unfortunately, it just didn’t pan out that way. I gave this one star.
SLIM I believe it. I couldn’t believe it was that low.
PROTO You know what? I wasn’t thinking but as it just kept going on, it’s like such made-for-TV quality throughout the whole thing. My other my other Letterboxd review that I was considering was, “The Paycheck Zone”. [Slim & Danny laugh] Because he was clearly collecting a paycheck from this movie. I mean, you know, he’s got he’s probably handed a script with this and he’s just he’s going through the motions David and I can’t blame the guy but he can’t blame me for given this one star either. And that’s just the way I see it. I mean, it has just some it’s some silly stuff. I was you know, I was borderline falling asleep. Martin Sheen’s character, like get get out of here with this movie. I liked the material. I liked the idea. It’s a great idea. It’s just so poorly.
SLIM Christopher Walken can see the future. Right?
PROTO Yeah, well, he can any can touch people and see if they like die or Yeah, and you can see the future. So it’s a very cool concept, but it the way it just like plays out, it’s just not good. So that’s where I’m at.
SLIM It did turn into a TV show. I gave it four stars to be perfectly frank and I gave it four stars on HBO Max. Isn’t what is it? Like 1% of Stephen King properties have turned into something good on like film or television? Is that the right percentage? I mean, he pumps out like four books a year. You do the math. He started right in the 60s.
PROTO I don’t know the math. I’m gonna say more than 1%. But I’m not gonna give a hard number. But it may surprise you to find this that I gave this movie one star but it is not the lowest movie on my Cronenberg ranked list.
SLIM What is?
PROTO The Brood is still holding that spot. [Slim laughs]
SLIM The Brood. Remember when that guy was overpowered by three year old kids. Like he couldn’t just keep his leg to get rid of those kids off. At a year old. There’s a list that just I’ll put that in the Episode Notes. Cronenberg Ranked. So how many more to go or you just kind of take a break and reassess for a little bit before you get in there?
PROTO I really want to watch eXistence. But that’s like never streaming. So I kind of I kind of just wait I keep an eye on Cronenberg to see when these movies are streaming. And go from there the only movie right now that is streaming I haven’t watched is Cosmopolis Yeah, excuse me. I actually tried to watch that once and turned it off. So I don’t know if I’ll ever actually watch that.
SLIM Oh yeah, you have to buy or rent it on YouTube, but you’ll be able to watch it. Not not not a freebie. Not a freebie.
PROTO And I’m a free man.
SLIM Live free or, you know. We should say a lot of some new patrons. I think I forgot to do it last week. They joined up at 70mm. Know what you are all that as they joined up at patreon.com/70mm. Michael, Liam Kirby, Ben and PP. Is the pronunciation correct me if I’m incorrect, all joined this past week and got access to that pilot episode. We haven’t said which it is. But it’s either Buffy or Gilmore Girls Dale is still in the back counting his little heart out the hanging chads. They get access to uncut apps discounts on Danny’s gorgeous prints, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Danny, did you watch anything?
DANNY You know, I didn’t. But I got the chills with proto talking because I had been doing something movie adjacent. This week. I something I had wanted to do back in October I didn’t get a chance to start. And I I wanted to start reading Stephen King novels. And I’m 28 chapters into The Shining and I’ve been really enjoying it and it It’s funny because I want to start with this one. Because I have a connection to the movie as much as I love it. And then anytime the movies talked about, I feel like it’s always brought up how much Stephen King hated the movie, et cetera. And of course, for me, it’s always been shut up nerd. It’s a perfect movie. But I’m changing my tune. Because the book is very good at expanding on things that kind of bugged me about the movie, which is a lot of the beginning relationships with Jack and Wendy, and Danny, their son, there’s a lot more, there’s just a lot more depth to the family dynamic that I can understand it not being in the movie being a big deal to Stephen. Because it just it it just lends itself to a lot more weight to Jack, you know, losing his mind. To, you know, a lot of the story itself. Now, I’m always still going to say that this movie is still a perfect movie. But I can understand why Stephen would be frustrated because it’s, it’s pretty impressive, actually. I mean, I’m 20 chapters in and we’re barely scratching the surface of what’s of what’s been shown in this movie, and it’s fascinating to me.
SLIM Are you listening or reading?
DANNY I am listening, for sure listening. Because I don’t know where to buy this book. It’s nowhere to be found. Just kidding.
SLIM Some kind of like down and out bookseller.
DANNY Fired up Libby, the Library app. Oh, my local library support your local library? Got the audio book and I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit. And it’s just you know, it is kind of making the movie a little bit not not better, but I don’t know a lot more backstory.
SLIM Appreciation. Isn’t there a TV version that came out that he liked a lot more that was more true the books?
DANNY There is. I used to remember who played Jack but I can’t remember now.
SLIM He was in Wings.
DANNY Yeah, yeah, that guy. But anyway, then enjoying this book a lot. Um, I’m starting my Stephen King journey.
SLIM Steven Weber. Thank you, Paul and Mike in chat.
DANNY And I’ll be going back to the beginning, Carrie is next and then I’m going to go to Salem’s Lot.
SLIM Whaaat?
DANNY Very excited about this year and I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. His books are long but —
SLIM Maybe when you…
DANNY Uh oh. [Slim laughs] Say it.
SLIM Maybe when you read Salem’s Lot, we should do Salem’s Lot.
DANNY Oh, okay.
SLIM As a bonus episode or something.
DANNY It’s funny because the new show is coming out for Salem’s Lot that they’re doing, it was supposed to be coming out this September but it got bumped to next year. And every time I look up Salem’s Lot or I see things written about Sam’s a lot people talk about how scary that book was. So I’m looking forward to reading it.
SLIM Hannah in chat: “movies we’re reading month”.
DANNY I think we have in our spreadsheet…
SLIM Spoilers. What about this Tales of the Jedi?
DANNY Oh, you want to go there?
SLIM When are we going to talk about Tales of the Jedi?
DANNY I mean yeah, I think I mean, we can log that in Letterboxd we can talk about it a great little six episode, mini arcs of you know Dooku and Ahsoka and I loved it. loved every second of it. I actually think I love the Dooku story more than I did the Ahsoka stuff. Yeah, just because I feel like the Ahsoka stuff was like just getting going before it ended, but it’s still pretty great. But the the Dooku ark with Count Dooku and Qui Gon and I really liked the weight of that. I liked I liked watching Dooku you know, ever so slowly slip into the dark side.
SLIM Proto, did you watch all of them or no? Or did you fall asleep during these? I can’t remember what your early opinions were.
PROTO I watched the first four. Yeah, you can see that they’re still, over at Disney+, they’re still writing the scripts in crayon. [Danny & Slim laugh] That’s okay. I’m sure kids love it.
SLIM Harsh. I continue to think that maze window is just the absolute worst character in the modern DC Universe. Just an absolute why why would I say Star Wars DC I meant Star Wars
DANNY DC.
SLIM He’s such a dork. I liked seeing the Dooku backstory. There was a moment later in the show where Dooku and Qui Gon are together. And it’s right after they encounter Darth Maul for the first time in the desert. And Dooku is talking to him about like Sith and Do they have a conversation and it’s referenced that Dooku has never met Obi Wan? Who’s patwon at that point? Yeah. Damn Dooku like what are you doing? How do you How have you not met collagens patwon By this point, can we wake up please? Also I was like thinking myself like oh yeah where the hell was Dooku in episode one now I think about it. You feel like he would have phoned him up? Like Hey pal I got some situation over here we think Central Florida so I’m gonna think about
DANNY I mean the one time Mace was great was getting these cartoon can get in these Clone Wars animated 2d was fantastic.
SLIM Remember how slow moving he was in that fight scene in the arena. So the drizzling craps what I want to talk about next, once you wash did I watch actually inspired by Danny, I’ll talk about something that I didn’t watch talk about some I listened to.
DANNY What’d you listen to?
SLIM Jordan Peele has executive produced a podcast for Spotify. It’s called Quiet part loud, but isn’t exclusive. And it’s a horror podcast following 12 parts 20 minute ups, falling like this rush, disgraced radio host like a rush limbaugh type, who around 2001 was like really amping up his rhetoric and lied about something and then got fired. So he’s like in the dumps for eight or so years. And he propped up this story about three Muslim kids in Staten Island that went missing. Oh, and it’s like haunted him for so many years. You’re still like kind of uncovering the story but he goes out one night with this woman who says that the three kids are back and it’s now time for you to you know reach your your status again. But there’s like a there’s almost like this demonic element to it where there’s some really crazy supernatural stuff happening which makes you think like, Has that ever happened with a 2001 911 story with Muslim characters like that sounds like really difficult to do but I’m completely enthralled it it really I listened to I think about what’s episode six or seven I love it. It’s great. I don’t think I’ve been this into a fiction podcasts since the Black Tapes maybe well are the Black Tapes.
PROTO Was that the only listened to on the drive?
SLIM The drive to vacation? Yeah. Oh god. Asleep it tried to throw himself out of the car. Got Gods so check it out. Jordan Peele executive produce, Monkeypaw jawn, if you’re into that sort of thing. But we have a movie to talk about. Documentary technically Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond from 2017 streaming on Netflix says pearls shocking pick from last week through the chains off once and for all, perhaps, and went different for this documentary about the filming of man on the moon and about Jim Carrey. So Proto, what’s this movie about?
PROTO The movie Man on the Moon began production in 1998 and it stars Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman and his alternate persona Tony Clifton. Andy Kaufman was a self-described song and dance man who would perform antics that audiences were often uncertain of whether they were a bit or not. Jim Carrey continued and his legacy during the production of the movie never leaving character on or off the set. What transpired was a series of events that mirrored Andy’s own life and left those around Jim also unsure of what was real and what was made up. And those who knew Andy, the real Andy, were struck by how well Jim imitated the past performer interspersed between the footage is Carrey interviewed 20 years later as he reflects on that time and what the role meant to him and who Andy Kaufman was to the world.
SLIM I have that Mon on the Moon track playing right now. REM. Do you believe?
PROTO You know I had REM.
SLIM Probably dual formats. Boy oh boy, Man on the Moon. All three of us watched it ahead of time, right? Proto, do you remember around this time? The man on the moon filming? Did you hear the stories or did it come to you later?
PROTO Yeah, it came to me later. I will. I watched the movie man on the moon. And I don’t remember hearing about any of like, the production shenanigans that went on. And then even I think after I watched the movie I had, I didn’t really hear of it. Like I didn’t look it up or you know, read anything about it was kind of like, Oh, it’s a Jim Carrey movie. I’ll watch it. And so it wasn’t until this doc appeared in 2017 on Netflix that I came to discover what went on.
SLIM A lot of REM love in chat tonight. They’re coming back. How about you Danny?
DANNY No, I think I only remember the VHS cover of this the poster of him in front of the red curtain. But no, I never never watched it never really heard much about it. I mean, we’re talking 99 Right. We’re talking Yeah. The year of Star Wars Episode One. So not watching this movie, not caring. You know, I was not caring about it at all. So yeah. I don’t really know who Andy Kaufman is, as well. That wasn’t on my radar.
SLIM Yeah, that’s point, which we’ll get to later was like one of my main thoughts while watching Man on the Moon and this, like in 2022, does anyone know who Andy Kaufman is? That was just kind of something that pops up in my head. So when I was a kid, you know, hardcore wrestling fan. So I had seen footage of the Andy Kaufman, Jerry Lawler thing for years. And I think I remember following them filming it again for the movie, and I thought that was like cool. I was like, Oh, great wrestling is going to get some great PR finally we’re gonna go mainstream. Which is like, there’s a whole other side street of like Jerry Lawler being the king of Memphis, which I think is completely fascinating to look at back then like he was a god in Memphis, around this time, like he could probably get away with murder and he get away he got away with many things. If you Google Jerry Lawler around this time pretty disturbing things. It’s, which is like washed away in the history of wrestling, unfortunately. But as a kid, I thought this was cool. That like we’re this is Jerry Lawler is in a big movie. And I’m able to like learn again about stuff that wasn’t around when I was a kid. So Proto, we’ll go around the room, three things from each host, and we’ll give our Letterboxd reading at the end. But what’s the first thing that you want to talk about with this doc?
PROTO The first thing and I had forgotten about this until rewatching. It was just how much the present day Jim Carrey is featured in this. So this came out in 2017. So I guess he was interviewed, you know, maybe the year before or rather, you can just tell that it’s more recent that he that was interviewed. And I guess I kind of I kind of forgot about that aspect. And to me, it’s kind of it was kind of like, I didn’t really love it. Like I don’t really love when Jim Carrey talks out. And one of our patrons thoroughbred, she just posted a review for it. He gave it three stars. And near the end of the review, he says so much of what Jim says come off comes off as trite and mildly embarrassing. I think maybe the problem is that the film tries to treat Jim like he’s an as interesting as he as who he is portraying, but that isn’t and never will be the case. And I think I can kind of like agree with that. Some of the things like Jim was saying, like when he’s just like, kind of going and like, you know, Jim has gotten very strange in the past 10 years, you know, just with like, coming out of movies. And some of the stuff it’s just like, oh, Jim, like so it kind of like that kind of like took me out of it because the stuff that I love about it is like him acting and him doing his thing. Like I don’t necessarily want to see Jim talking about life because I don’t think that’s like necessarily his strength.
SLIM Yeah, so there is a lot of Jim in this more than I was expecting. Like it. It’s almost like mainly a Jim Carrey documentary with some stuff, or I was expecting more Manaman stuff, I guess. There still is that like, stuff about his career in general about a lot about his life more than I was expecting. But yeah, he I think within the last 20 or so years, he has drifted into like trends, trends and sensualism it’s some kind of like spiritual way of thinking and you can kind of get some of the in his tangents like, I think he does say some pretty interesting things in this doc. But I also think he kind of goes off and I zone out a little bit like I don’t even know if I could hang out with Jim Carrey at a party here, drone on with that said, I thought I liked the insight into him and into his thinking about his like he he’s got these thoughts about how, at one point, he says, I saw a palm reader, you know, like four years or five years before I got a splinter. And she said, I’m going to film three movies. And it’s going to be impossible for me to get knocked off my perch, like, Did that really happen? I don’t, I don’t know. And he’s he also tells the stories about how like certain things happen, where he was woken out of bed by a thought. And that veered his decision into something. I don’t know. So I thought that stuff was fascinating whether or not I buy any of that is another story. What did you think Danny?
DANNY I actually was really happy with how much this was about Jim and his life, as opposed to the movie because of how much I disliked the movie. So I was like, Oh, good. This is more of like a Jim Carrey documentary than actually talking about, you know, every bit of ins and outs of filming man on the moon. But I agree there are moments where I’m like, does he hear himself saying the things that he’s saying? Or is is is he just above all that at this point. But there were there were some moments where I connected with him where I thought the things that he was saying are kind of profound. This week, I had like a moment. You know, I had a low moment, let’s just say a bit of bitterness moment, with just my stuff going on. And me and Casey talked last night, and she was so it was just we watched this movie the next day. And he’s talking about his father. And when he’s talking about how he’s an amazing saxophone player, but he, he compromised, and, you know, became something else for his family, and lost his job at 50. And was just just broken from it. And the quote that Jim said was, “when you compromise and fail, it hurts more than when you fail at what you love.”
[clip of Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond plays]
JIM CARREY I learned that you can fail at what you don’t love. So you might as well do what you love. There’s really no choice to be made.
DANNY And I just I really connected with that moment with Jim because I just, you know, it’s just it just something that I needed to hear. And it was it was good timing for me.
SLIM Yeah, that was a fantastic quote. My next note after that quote that I also wrote down was Jon Lovitz at the Playboy Mansion.
DANNY That Playboy mansion bit was so funny, I can’t believe it. I can’t believe they pulled it off.
SLIM Yeah, that quote, was awesome. I also thought it was interesting when they asked him about, would you want to be Tony Clifton again? Did you miss it? Do you miss thinking about that? And he said, I don’t miss anything, which I thought was very interesting comment to make. And that just gets me thinking about like, how he views things in life. That’s, that’s the kind of thing I would be drawn to at that made up party that I was talking about. And also his thinking on how every he says that every role for like a long period of time reflected how he was at a certain moment in life and how it was an extension of that, which I thought was pretty cool, too.
PROTO Yeah, it was interesting how it seems like The Truman Show really is the pinnacle for him in terms of his career and like what it meant for him as an actor, because he referenced that a couple times as if this was the most meaningful thing he made.
DANNY Every time they showed a clip of The Truman Show, I’m like, ‘we have to do this movie.’
SLIM God in heaven. Suffering is so valuable, which is another quote I wrote that down to it’s a great quote, you’ll read and probably just about any meditation or suffering book in general, but I agree with it. My number one, let’s see. I guess we can come back to my comment. Does anyone remember Andy Kaufman? I don’t know, he is such a strange character did so many strange things that were I don’t even know if there were ahead of its time. I don’t know if that’s the right way to say it, where they’re just done in such a weird way at that time that people like almost didn’t know how to act to his like type of humor and strangeness and I don’t know. There’s just no discussion about Andy Kaufman. I feel like there’s, you know, you hear people like retweet stuff about George Carlin or here’s like a clip of George Carlin that’ll change your outlook or whatever. And everyone loves George Carlin, but like, there’s no Andy Kaufman retweets happening. You know, that’s like kind of how some of that information is shared to new people. But I just don’t feel like it’s there.
DANNY I completely agree. And what I have found fascinating about the Andy Kaufman stuff, because I feel like for this movie to get made, it feels like he should have had at least in some sort of realm. A bigger presence in at least my knowledge of Andy. I don’t remember seeing anything about him besides knowing his name. But then after watching this doc watching the movie and the documentary, I feel like there’s more comedians or at least funny guys now, whose bid is a very is an extension of a what Andy was doing. And I was thinking of like Eric Andre, and even Nathan Fielder, and even Sacha Baron Cohen like his, his borax stuff, almost feels like this is that kind of comedy is inspired by what Andy was doing, then. I feel like there is a touchstone for him direct with comedians more than an audience member.
SLIM Yeah.
PROTO Yeah, I feel like it’s almost maybe like he grew a personality that people like wanted to see kind of like what would he do next? The actor who doesn’t really act like his his his his performance isn’t the same but I kind of thought of like Will Ferrell how like Will Ferrell will just like in Saturday Night Live, he’ll just come on stage and people will start laughing just because of like the way he looks and like the faces he makes and I feel like that was maybe kind of similar with Andy Kaufman. I think with the Andy Kaufman stuff I wonder if it’s like what he did was like too contextual to the time it was of all Comedians maybe it was like a thing were like you had to be there to really get it otherwise like it just because his bits are so you had to be there to get it to begin with. So like to step out of time and to like look back of course you can understand it if you watch a movie about it, but I think a lot of people might struggle to connect with with something like this if you just like sat down sat down was like, hey, watch this guy. Not do anything and just listen to a record.
DANNY Yeah, if you were to just show me Andy putting on a record and then lip syncing here I come to save the day the Mighty Mouse stuff. I would be like, what are you showing me this isn’t funny at all. Like I don’t get this. It’s It was wild, but then I feel like I’ve seen so much that you know other comedy but then to sit down and see that just on TV felt like it could have blown my mind.
SLIM Like Dane Cook, Dane Cook blowing your mind.
DANNY No, no, no.
PROTO That’s so funny that you said, because I was trying to think of like who’s an equivalent to Andy Kaufman and I thought of Dane Cook for some reason.
SLIM My group of friends and everybody were rabid for Dane Cook and I was the outlier.
DANNY You can say it.
SLIM I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t take it.
DANNY Really?
SLIM It was like a fever pitch. It felt like I was the only one that wasn’t brainwashed. Man, he was big. Like he can’t even you can’t even say he wasn’t big.
DANNY Untouchable.
SLIM Danny, what’s your first note?
DANNY We have to talk about the method acting. We got to talk about what Jim was doing, what he did to people. And so much of whenever I hear method acting, I think of it as just a straight negative. I don’t know, just this can’t be good for the people around this person. I’ve never heard a good story method acting. I mean, I honestly I mean, I really can’t. I think maybe Daniel Day Lewis was method if I don’t know if that’s correct, but I don’t hear about him any crazy stories with him. But watching the behind the scenes stuff of what Jim was doing, it’s really weird. Because him explaining his process and filming this. I get like I get it like I get trying to become Andy. But when I see clips of Andy and then I see what Jim did, I don’t feel like he ever actually became Andy to a degree where it was almost not Jim Carrey. You know what I mean? Like I felt like when I’m watching Man on the Moon, I’m still watching Jim Carrey. I think he made Andy to be too much of a like caricature of Andy Yeah, like it didn’t it didn’t feel like Andy after I saw clips of him and it really was like, was it all worth it like was what you did method worth the in product that we got? Right? And I felt like it wasn’t. And I felt like even going through the documentary of Jim explaining it, there are moments where I’m like, oh, like, I get it. And then I think about the past cast that worked with Andy, on like, how this could be some sort of, you know, therapeutic kind of thing to go through again, but then it didn’t feel like that because it felt like Jim was just treating everyone like an asshole. Like I don’t like it’s almost didn’t feel like it was worth and then when like Andy’s actual parents came around, or moments with his sister. It just it was very odd. Like I didn’t understand it. And it it just felt like none of it was worth it. Especially with what we got up hips performances, Sandy, one of
SLIM One of my first notes is, “30 seconds in and I’m already mentally exhausted.” from seeing him on set. And like Danny DeVito, and Paul Giamatti, like reacting, like, if I were them, I’d be like, Oh, my God, no, six months of this, like, I gotta deal with this? Yeah, I think it does fit with the, like the person or the public of Andy Kaufman to like, do something like that. And to keep up that persona on set, I feel like it totally fits. It was a comment in chat about how I think Mike points out how disappointed he was with how he treated Jerry Lawler. And that was one of my points because, you know, they were in on the bid together, they planned all that stuff. And he was like, antagonizing a wall or on set. But if you like, try to make sense of it, you’re like, what? And he actually do that? Because they were buddies. And they planned the whole thing. It was all staged.
DANNY I think even Jerry says it. He said, Yeah, he treated me.
SLIM So that one actually like threw me for a loop when he said that I was like, Oh, wow, yeah, you’re right. That doesn’t make any sense. But I one of my that was this is one of my top three like, how long would it take you to knock out Jim Carrey on set?
DANNY Oh my god.
SLIM How long could you go? How long?
PROTO Yeah, well, yeah, the thing. I agree with Danny like, it feels like a cartoon version. Kind of like everything. Jim Carrey writes, right? Like, he turns everything into a cartoon, just because he has that ability. Everything is like over expressed just his his body language the way he speaks. Even just like the fate like the the foreign man face that he did with the eyes. It’s just like, it’s, it’s like, it’s like double what Andy Kaufman was doing. But I wonder if like, you know, I wonder if like, that was just Jim’s approach to that, like, you know, he’s not going to be able to perfectly replicate it. And he could do a better job of he just makes this version of Andy, kind of in his own image, you know, like, he’s still going to do his Jim Carrey thing. Regardless, you know, that’s why they hired him, right? So he’s, he’s just gonna go with it. The stuff with like, the onset stuff, the thing that I love the most, is how people just start referring to him as Andy Oh, my God and Tony. Like, because you think about it. Like, if you have a friend who’s like doing a joke or like doing an impersonation, and you’re like, alright, alright, that’s enough, but they keep going. And like, there’s no stopping them. Ultimately, all you can do is just like, either just completely ignore them or play along. Right. And like, here, you have Jim Carrey, who’s probably like one of the strongest personalities that you could meet. And he’s like, not going to stop and you have to work with this guy every day. And I wonder like, what the mental effects that that had on people that like when you would see him as Andy or Tony. And you may be just like, disconnected. I love to see where him. He’s He’s Tony and he’s talking with Danny DeVito outside in the parking lot. And he’s like, oh, yeah, that’s Jim Carrey trailer, by the way that we’re paying for every gym. Karen has not been the workout gym never comes to work isn’t done very, very little work on this project. And yeah, he won’t get a lot of the glory.
PROTO Danny’s just like nodding almost as if you think like, he’s like forgetting that he’s actually talking to Jim in that moment.
SLIM The other scene to Paul points out, which I wrote down was when the actor playing Andy’s dad gets the arc. Jim is Andy in the makeup car. And they’re getting into and then they stop and then the makeup artist starts crying. She’s like, Oh my God, that reminds me so much of my dad. Yeah. Like that is one of the most surreal things I’ve ever seen. Like, even he I think even breaks character at that point. He’s like talking normally as Jim Carrey is like, oh my god, I’m terrible. Like what a string and then the actor seconds later goes on to say like how weird everything is. And I think Jim elaborates about how like, he was right like you’re gonna get weird different stuff when this happens and that was like a prime example, it was very strange.
DANNY When he storms Amblin to find Steven Spielberg to see the shark. I was like, how are they not locking this man up?
SLIM Different time.
DANNY It was wild.
PROTO Yeah time shot on imagined to him
DANNY right that has nothing to do with what they’re doing on set he drove off of the lot where they’re filming the show and drove into ambulance offices to find they were
SLIM filming around then that night was NDI. When did AI come out? I don’t know. Wonder where he was that time.
DANNY Steven doesn’t go in those offices. He’s probably
SLIM never been in that office one day of his life. I think we are up to Peru toes number two.
PROTO Yeah, so we got to talk about my boy Tony Clifton. I just I just I just love this character. And what like the in the movie it’s I love it. Like I watched man on the moon and all I was just looking forward to seeing like Tony Clifton again. But when Jim shows up as Tony driving the convertible, and he drives the car, like into the building, like just scrapes it up against the side it’s I just I’m like I’m just like on the floor like dying watching this. I love everything about this bit. And the way Jim the way Jim can like the things he can do to his body and his face. I don’t understand it that I took up his neck is unbelievable. I took a shot where that same scene where he’s talking to Danny DeVito you get like the side profile of him as Tony His neck is like a footlong it’s just not make any sense.
SLIM Yeah, I thought that was a chilling shot seeing Jim Carrey’s neck elongated like it made my mind to hurt this is I think the first like long form this in the movie were my first like long form Tony Clifton stuff and I agree is pretty funny but I don’t even know if I could spend 12 hours a day on set with Tony Clifton. It reminded me of Greg Turkington character Neil hamburger stand up if anyone just posted the screenshot of his neck map looks like it’s a Photoshop that is a shocked look at it oh my god, I we could get like a Photoshop version look real. But yeah, the Tony Clifton was cracking me up and I think my favorite Clifton’s I mean there’s so many I mean, he goes to the Playboy Mansion, but it’s not Tony. It’s not Jim it’s Zmuda crazy and they go to the Playboy Mansion that’s when we see John love it’s just in the background for like one second in the strangest cameo imaginable. And then he’s like partying and people were like tricked into thinking that’s Jim Carrey as Tony Clifton and then Jim Carrey shows up and oh my god just so brilliant bizarre bizarre stuff.
PROTO Oh yeah, like Andy Dix there and he’s like, That’s Jim Carrey I hate him if that’s if that’s if that’s Jim Carrey I hate him
DANNY I think the the Tony Clifton bit itself from Andy I think is genius. I couldn’t get over how the bait and switch of him and zoom muda you know going being back and forth with those characters and then for Andy to show up that one time that was funny. I mean that’s that’s that’s just genius stuff.
SLIM It’s like in the Batman The Animated Series where Bruce Wayne shows up stand next to Batman but it’s a project as a Tim Drake in like, Oh, that one? Yeah, stilts memory. It’s like him in disguise. Um, my number two Oh, shoot. I do have to give props that this footage exists. Like, why aren’t every major motion picture? Why don’t they have a documentary team onset? I don’t care if you don’t release it for 20 years, but you need to document it. Like this. This stuff is a treasure trove of Jim Carrey at what was like the height of his career. And it’s insane to see him walking around Courtney, Courtney Love you know you get the that’s that scene of me like catering in the morning dancer. Yeah, just doing that like thing like it’s incredible footage. And of course get the drink when slim brings up the last Jedi documentary director. No Jedi. I mean, maybe the greatest documentary of all time. Seeing the behind the scenes of that filming of that movie, I agree My God, Mark Hamill, coming to grips with what’s going on with Luke with Rian Johnson, Brian Johnson coming to grips with his idol, hating what he’s doing to Luke Skywalker. Like that’s all documented in the in the footage to me it’s crazy. I don’t watch that.
DANNY You know, it makes sense. It makes sense on why? Because Jim Jim lets it slip, not slip. But he says in the documentary that Universal didn’t really want this released. They didn’t want this footage released. They didn’t want people thinking Jim Carrey was an asshole. Like, it’s fascinating to me that he set up to have this filmed by Andy’s old girlfriend, she was the documentarian, like that was crazy. But then to try and like, you know, put in the archives for years. I mean, we’re talking years before they even put this documentary together, which is also crazy. But I would love for every movie that comes out to have this level of footage from behind the scenes. But I get like, not every actor wants their process shown or wants what goes behind the scenes shown. Like it makes sense.
PROTO Yeah, yeah. And it’s it’s like, to us it’s like golden watching this. Like, it’s amazing, especially a movie like this where you have this actor who’s doing this insane method acting for months on end, driving everyone crazy. And it’s like, yeah, this is awesome. But I do think of like, you were saying at the beginning of this, like, how many people who are they’re just like trying to get a paycheck? Like just normal people and you have this multimillionaire they’re making everyone’s life like a literal hell on certain days. Yeah, like could you imagine like this Tony clip like they’re trying to shoot like they didn’t, they showed some of it. But he was disruptive for just like shooting a scene that he was in like, he’s in character, if the cameras are rolling or not, like like, I wonder like, there could have been a day I thought there was a whole days where like, they didn’t get any shot because because you know, gyms just carrying on, and like how crazy would that drive someone like your key grip? You know, just they’re like, trying to work like, Oh, God, Jim’s gonna keep us here late again.
DANNY When he shows up as Tony and to the, to the hair and makeup and he brings the boombox and the other actor from taxes there puts his hand over his ears like, here we go. And he’s just blaring music in that small trailer. I just couldn’t believe it. This was torture.
SLIM Danny, what’s your number two.
DANNY I couldn’t get over how much patience Danny DeVito has. I feel like he was the closest to Jim in this whole process. And he looked like a saint. Just standing there taking it all in stride and like having to deal not only with having an actual job to do, but off camera having to deal with Jim not turning it off and having to continue. And every time I saw DeVito like he looked stressed. Like he looked stressed like he shouldn’t be stressed on working on it on a roll that he had. He didn’t have like Shakespeare to to perform everyday like he’s he’s just playing a manager someone but like, I was fascinated and watching how DeVito responded to Jim offset. Like there was just so many times where I mean, I know he’s not a big guy, but it just felt like he was Arthur meaning his fist was just clenched. Like just waiting. But it was it was fascinating how just people, especially DeVito had to handle Jim.
SLIM Is Danny DeVito our new Betty White? Like protect at all costs America’s sweetheart? I feel like he’s getting up there.
DANNY I think so. Yeah.
PROTO Yeah, it’s an N man on the moon. I mean, he’s so great. He really axes I feel like now he’s kind of like a caricature of himself after like the sunny stuff. He’s just like beamed out you know to the moon
SLIM is nude body coming out of that couch.
PROTO But like he’s he’s a great actor in man on the moon like he has gives a great performance.
DANNY Yeah. When when they have to do the bit of not believing Andy that he has cancer like, Oh my God, that’s wild that that would come to that where his closest friends and in manager would have to be like, Are you lying to me about cancer? Like that’s insane to me.
SLIM I did love that ending in man on the moon to where he like goes overseas and catches what was going on? Yeah, he caught the battery. pretty perfect. And spoilers who pronoun number three?
PROTO I thought it was it’s kind of surreal the way the things that happen happen around the set mirror the things that happened in Andy’s life. And I wonder how much of like that was, you know, kind of planned? Or well, I guess it kind of it fits in naturally because they’re doing these things in the movie. You know, there’s the beef with Jerry law Lawler where, I mean, Jim Carrey is spitting on him throwing stuff at him, antagonizing him, like relentlessly to the point where I mean, if Jerry wasn’t actually in on it, like secretly, like when the cameras weren’t rolling. Like he gets pissed off enough to like Chase gym down the hall and slap them. And then he gets in like they do the wrestling wrestling scene, and they make it look like Jim actually gets injured, you know? And then everyone’s like, is he really injured or not? You know, and that’s the same thing that happened with Andy. But then also the bit like, the one part where I thought he might have taken it too far, where they get to the part where they’re shooting the scenes where Andy has cancer and Jim is in a wheelchair, being like, escorted to like all the sets, acting like Andy did, like he’s on his deathbed. Doing the scenes. It’s like for Jim to have like that. Like, I don’t know what he has to be to do that to everybody around him. He has something that man, it takes some serious balls balls to do that. Balls. The ball
SLIM levels were very high. Jim Carrey I agree. Yeah, I couldn’t tell. Eat like as a wrestling fan. I feel like I’m always skeptical of like, even the real life stuff with Lawler filming that stuff. I was like this could this could be this could be getting the call that getting worked in the wrestling business might get worked right now worked. Let’s see. Let’s see. My number three actually went through all really my points. Maybe I’ll just call out some stats on Jim Carrey. His career. It’s my number 390 94 was when Ace Ventura came out. And then he did the Mask and Dumb and Dumber might be transposing those two, but he’s the first actor we paid $20 million for a movie and it was for the Cable Guy two years later in 1996 Oh my gosh. 20 mil. Wow. Are they a little guy? 20 mil? Cable Guy be interested in doing cable guy at some point in the future. Really? Yeah.
DANNY Do you have a favorite Jim Carrey movie?
SLIM Dumb and Dumber? I mean, that diarrhoea scene changed. That scene changed my life.
PROTO Are you kidding?
SLIM Absolutely. Absolutely changed my life. I actually have some fondness for Liar liar, but I have now just about
DANNY to say that time I love liar. Liar.
SLIM Carrie, let’s look up at So Mark. I mean, as Fincher was, was obviously pretty formative for my age, but the mask I don’t really have any recollection of
DANNY meaning or no fondness of the mask.
SLIM I want to do I mean, they played a clip from that movie and I had no my Yeah, yeah, we don’t need to say anything else. Leave it there. I will say also, I thought Jim looked great. Like would that be modern day? Oh, yeah. And this documentary, he looks amazing. So whatever, no toxins in that body? Maybe he’s on a 20 billion movie we’ll do free basically, what kind of like insane regimen, diet food diet you can get yourself into? Yes, that’s my number three Pro. Final Thoughts writing
PROTO a final thoughts. Let’s see. Was there anything else that I wanted to mention? Danny earlier said like, was it all worth it? I don’t know if it was like worth it. But I think personally, I think like some of the interactions he had with certain Are we even mentioned the interactions with the director, which was like, yeah, like, I think at one point like Mila says like, or maybe Jim is paraphrasing that Mueller said he’s like he’s never been intimidated by a man ever. But he was intimidated by Tony Clifton. And just like the way that like he talked to Jim during that was just so fascinating. And that but the stuff with like Andy’s parents is really fascinating. And the thing about like, Andy Kaufman had his daughter that never got to meet her dad. So and then she came to the set and talked with Jim as Andy And I mean, what a strange experience that must have been but I wonder if it was in some way like, I don’t know like meaningful for her to have like this person who has been trying to embody her dad Yeah, for you know, and doing the like if you’re gonna have a chance this is it so who knows how she felt but I mean that’s it’s just like an interesting thing like I don’t know I can’t think of another thing that like related to but i i Just like I love I’m so fascinated by this I think Jim Carrey is like what he was able to do like he’s like an incredible performer he’s a G I think he’s actually very funny in some of his improvisation like some of his lines as the character were extremely funny just like off the cuff. Now of course this is like the cream of the crop of everything that was filmed so I wonder what like everything looked like you know, you can see all the footage but I just had like a new respect for Jim regardless of what you think of like if he was like an asshole to everyone around him. So you know, this is my second time watching it and I loved watching it again. I laughed a ton summit four stars for this door.
SLIM Ground control to Major Tom stones came on the move.
DANNY I know got the chills. You just gave me the chills too. So
SLIM double chills from that impression. The rare double chill was that Carl l was in one shot talking to Jim Carrey Did you see him at that like picnic table like picnic table outside of Winnebago he was talking to somebody late in the movie it looked like him like visiting the set or something. Oh the makeup artists were going through my honorable mentions them getting on the local news for the fake real whatever it was insane. Everyone had a bag on their head and last day of filming I thought his speech was pretty cool. Yeah. Man on the Moon is great song sorry, good. Sorry. Triple chills right now
DANNY in his his regret for not saying yes to being in the RAF video. Yeah, he didn’t want to come back to play Andy again. He regrets not doing that. I thought that was fascinating. Can’t blame them. You can say three and half stars.
SLIM Three and a half stars from me. For Manaman thought was really an interesting insight into this period of time, especially from Jim himself. Who is an interesting character to say the least over the years also thought was fascinating how they pronounced Andy Kaufman to catch some people pronouncing his name and some of the archival footage. Andy Kaufman Kaufman
PROTO is producer ears catching.
SLIM You hear everything. Danny, final thoughts.
DANNY Final thoughts? As much as I dislike the original movie The Man of the Moon movie. I loved this documentary I love documentaries about movies anyway, I love behind the scenes stuff. I feel like this is more of a Jim Carrey documentary then. It really is like the the stuff about man. The man is fine. Like it’s fascinating to see that but to hear Jim talk about his life to hear where he’s at. Even if it is a little wonky. I enjoy it. I like Jim as I don’t know. I like 2017 Jim, I don’t know where he’s at these days. But it was fun to listen to him talk. I’m at four stars as well for those with the big heart. I really loved this documentary. It was really well done. I’m glad they had that footage.
SLIM big juicy heart. Yeah, I will save space. I was Googling Jim Carrey before this because I had. I had like a memory of him being together with what’s her name from this TV show singled out. Jennifer Pamela Anderson. Now I’m going to chat remember her name Jenny McCarthy. They were both like it’s crazy to look back 20 years ago and call someone an anti Vaxxer because they were like the forefront of like, saying no to force government vaccinations back then. And then I just like literally just googled like Jim Carrey COVID I was like, What the hell did he think of COVID then? So it seems like he’s changed his tune, but I’m not sure if he’s ever like gone back to apologize for previous thoughts. I haven’t done enough research but worth everyone doing a little Google search of your own if you’re curious. Curious. What what a conversation Jim? Once Jim coming back. And what will it be for a man? Is he gone came
back.
DANNY Is he retired? Did I did he do the stick? Do
SLIM you remember the majestic? The movie theater movie
PROTO Oh yeah. For I heard he wasn’t doing Sonic three. Why, but that’s what I heard.
SLIM All right, so that wraps up this episode. Next week we announced earlier the voting results with a 54.1% of the vote once upon a time in Hollywood is our next movie. Quentin finally on the show, because it’s the right move this being the first one time will tell.
DANNY Some people think so time will tell.
SLIM Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Margot Robbie’s feet, Emile Hirsch, Timothy, All of fant, Austin Butler Dakota Fanning, Al Pacino.
PROTO Oh gosh.
DANNY Talk about cinema.
SLIM And then the week after that we’re on The Fabelmans. Oh my god. The Oscar buzz for this movie is off the charts. It’s off the charts are already in the master saying it’s in the bag.
PROTO In the back. It’s in the back. Congrats Steven.
DANNY He finally did it.
SLIM Finally the recognition after all these years. The underdog getting the praise. Proto, any closing thoughts this week?
PROTO Closing thoughts is, Danny, you’re right. It’s great watching documentaries about movies. I want to watch more of these. You know, someone said, I think it was Haitch, he said that he thought I was gonna pick Heart of Darkness, which is about Apocalypse Now. And I’ve never seen that I meant the watch that when we did that. And you guys were talking about the director and the Jedi you know? I’d love to watch that too. So I’m gonna start to seek out, seek out more docs, you know? Just get my stuff more well rounded, behind the scenes action. I need it. Is this a journey?
SLIM Is the journey back?
PROTO Is the journey back?
SLIM Is the journey back? Find out in our Discord.
[70mm theme song ramps up, plays alone, fades out]
