When Jim Carrey appeared on the final episode of Norm Macdonald Live back in 2017, he shared an interesting story about one of his former co-stars, who, to put it mildly, didn’t care much for him. As you may remember, Carrey famously played the Riddler in 1995’s Batman Forever, who teams up with one of the Caped Crusader’s other infamous rivals: Two-Face, as portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones. By most accounts, Jones didn’t seem too thrilled to be involved with the project. In fact, according to producer Peter MacGregor-Scott, Jones called him after reading the script and straight-up told him, “I don’t get it.”
And although Jones and Carrey ended up working well together, their interactions with one another behind the scenes were anything but pleasant. As Carrey explained to Macdonald, the two had a particularly memorable encounter at a restaurant just prior to filming one of their biggest scenes in the movie. Carrey happened to show up at the same place Jones was having dinner one night, and the maître d’ informed him that Jones was sitting in the corner. The comedian decided to go over and say hello, but wasn’t greeted as warmly as he had expected.
From Carrey’s recollection, the blood instantly drained from Jones’s face the moment he laid eyes on him. Jones then stood up, shaking, and went over to hug Carrey, revealing how much he hated him in the process. This prompted Carrey to pull up a chair, against his better judgment, and try to figure out what the issue was. And that’s when the veteran actor laid it on the line for his comedic co-star, telling him bluntly, “I cannot sanction your buffoonery.”
As for the underlying cause of Jones’s hatred, Carrey speculated that it might have had something to do with him being uncomfortable with the role he was playing. Director Joel Schumacher has also suggested that since Jones was known for being a scene-stealer, he’d been caught off guard being paired up with Carrey. “He definitely met his match here and many times was surprised by it,” Schumacher told Rolling Stone in a 1995 profile of Carrey.
But that same profile includes another little tidbit that offers up some additional insight on things: At one point, Jones is quoted as saying that Carrey accidentally hit him “right in the family jewels” while twirling his question mark-shaped cane around during production. It’s unclear whether the incident occurred before or after their restaurant exchange, but anyone who’s ever suffered the same fate will tell you it’s known to inspire hatred.
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