“What the Hell Have I Done to Myself?” Jim Carrey on His “Physical Commitment” to ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’

Summary

• Jim Carrey returns as Dr. Robotnik in
  Sonic The Hedgehog 3
  , portraying both the villain and his grandfather.
• The film follows Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails as they face a new rival, Shadow the Hedgehog, forming an unexpected alliance with Dr. Robotnik.
• Carrey praises director Jeff Fowler’s vision and the talented VFX team working on Sonic 3, emphasizing the film’s big screen experience.

Jim Carrey is the living comedy legend. A superstar with hardly a need for much introduction. Bringing joy and inexhaustible laughter to audiences worldwide for decades, Carrey is back as the infamous Dr. Robotnik in the upcoming installment to the adventure, Sonic The Hedgehog 3. This time around, he’s pulling double duty as both our favorite Dr. Ivo Robotik and the debut of his long-lost grandfather, Gerald.

In director Jeff Fowler’s latest installment of the classic Sega adaptation, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 follows our heroes Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba), as they face a dark, mysterious new rival, Shadow the Hedgehog (Keanu Reeves). In hopes of stopping Shadow to protect the planet, the iconic trio form an unexpected alliance with Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik. The story takes a left turn when the Doctor’s grandfather enters the picture with insidious plans of his own.

In this interview, Carrey sits down with Collider’s Steve Weintraub to discuss Sonic the Hedgehog 3, why he “came out of retirement” to revisit his fan-favorite villain, his admiration for Fowler’s vision, and the astounding work produced by Sonic’s extremely talented VFX team.

Actually, Jim Carrey Isn’t Retired After All

“I settled for power napping and power resting.”

COLLIDER: How are you doing today, sir?

JIM CARREY: I’m excellent. How are you?

Sir, and I really mean this, I have been a fan of yours for such a long time. It is always thrilling to sit across from you.

CARREY: Oh, thank you.

We spoke for Sonic 1 and 2 , and after each of those, you said “I don’t know if I’m coming back. This could be it.” What was it about Sonic 3 ? Because you mentioned retirement or not wanting to act and just focusing on your work?

CARREY: There were so many things being offered, situations like this where I really love the people involved. I liked the idea they had about him suddenly discovering part of his family, the rock he crawled out from under. That appealed to me. I settled for power napping and power resting. You know what I mean? Rather than retiring. I think I’m retired between every project, basically. I literally go off the planet in my mind. I go to a place of wholeness and less concern for myself.

Jim Carrey Expands the Robotnik Family

“I wanted them to be real, and I wanted them to be their own people.”

The thing I admire so much about you is how much of yourself you put into every role. You’ve talked about how you give everything to a role. If you don’t mind me asking, for a performance like this where you’re doing double the work, what is it like for you in those weeks leading up to the first day of filming? Could you talk a little about your process?

CARREY: First of all, I start in a room with Paul Greenberg, a person that I write with — he’s wonderful. I sit in a room and think intellectually of all the amazing things I could do. Then, when I get on the set, now I’m in the practical truth of it, and I’m going, “What the hell have I done to myself?” [Laughs] Most of the time, I’m going, “Oh my god, I didn’t think of the physical commitment this is going to be.” But somehow, I’m able to do it, and I’m lucky to be doing it.

As far as the characters go, I figured Robotnik’s been the hard-baked character in this piece, but it’s really nice, the idea of him seeing that he has family, that his heart opens up a little bit, and he becomes like a little puppy dog trying to impress his grandpa. And, of course, like most generational progression, the grandpa is a lot tougher than he is. But I wanted to delineate between the characters, and I wanted them to be real and their own people.

100%. I thought this was the best one yet.

CARREY: That’s good.

It’s because, I believe, there’s a lot of emotion with your character, with Keanu’s character. Have you seen the finished film?

CARREY: I have not. I’ve seen I saw a rough version when we did notes and things like that, but I’m looking forward to seeing it in Los Angeles for the first time completely finished. What happens to me on this journey with this movie is when you see a movie that’s full of special effects and full of really special little things in the animations, it’s very difficult to see the finished product in your head when you’re looking for flaws in your performance or whatever. I’m generally pretty hard on myself and on the project right out of the gate. But Jeff Fowler has this way of completely blowing me away. When I when I get to the finished product, I go, “Oh, damn, he really had a vision of it.” He’s seeing things I don’t see.

Why ‘Sonic 3’ Is Perfect for the Big Screen

“You can dream big.”

Also, with something like this, you need to see the finished VFX.

CARREY: For sure. For sure, because these artists are absolutely staggering. What they do blows my mind. Especially in a movie that could be so simple and small, but it’s grown into this incredible adventure. I am always impressed with the special effects artists because they do it for the big screen so you can dream big. They do it in such detail that it’s meant to be on a big canvas. It’s great. The home theater thing is fantastic, but you want to see it on a big screen.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 arrives in theaters on December 20.

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