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The end of last week, Jim Carrey tweeted the following:
“I did Kickass a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to others involved with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart,”
Since then it has caused quite a stir in the media world after Carrey refused to do any marketing for the film. This escalated to even BBC Breakfast reporting on the story and clueless Suzanna Reid and Charlie Stait only embarrassing themselves furthermore.
What was interesting about the interview with the Guardians film critic was he raised a valid point, no-one was talking about Kick-Ass 2 until Carrey released this news. The fact Carrey isn’t marketing the film has in fact only gone and marketed the film in a way they probably wouldn’t have expected.
My question is: was this intentional?
Carrey says that he was upset with the level of violence in the film and the tragic real life events at Sandy Hook were what changed his mind. In my opinion, Carrey loved the original Kick-Ass – hence him being in the sequel – so he must have read the graphic novels. Even if he didn’t, he would have read the script. In the month before Sandy Hook, he would have known the levels of violence this film contained.
This is mentioned by writer and director Mark Millar on his website MillarWorld
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
It’s also noted in the graphic novels that Carreys character, Col. Stars and Stripes, actually refuses to use a gun.
The point being, Carrey knew what he was getting into. There, sadly, have been many other tragic events before Sandy Hook, the debate of silver screen violence and copy cat killings has been rife for years. I am finding it very hard to believe that Carrey has had a sudden change of heart.
Carrey loved the original Kick-Ass. The original Kick-Ass was a violent film. Carrey flirted with the chance to be in the sequel and now had it. He and the studio knew that they’d be banking on his name to draw more people to the cinema.
In our current world where viral marketing is the key, suddenly, seven weeks before the film is about to hit our screens Carrey can’t support it? Rubbish. This is a viral marketing campaign to bring awareness to the on screen violence, to set the tone, to set a precedence and generate a buzz about the film that wasn’t there before.
If this truly is Carreys honest beliefs then fair enough, but kudos to him and the studio for creating a marketing campaign the likes of which they couldn’t have imagined. Never would you have seen the BBC talking about Kick-Ass 2, now its one of their top stories.
Kick-Ass 2 opens in the UK on August 14th.
