Jim Carrey is the Yes Man

Jim Carrey: That was incredible. That was wild. I loved it.

Crave Online: What made you want to do this?

Jim Carrey: You know, I'm always wanting to do crazy things in these movies and a lot of times they don't let me do it because of insurance things and all that stuff. Everybody's very careful about finishing productions. I kind of like finagled my way into it. I told them, last day, get all principal photography out of the way and then we'll do it. For me it's a metaphor. It's what the movie's about. It's about saying yes to life.

Crave Online: What went through your mind as you went down?

Jim Carrey: There was no mind really involved. It was just a total release, a total like, "Well, okay, I've had a good life." It's kind of that. I stopped, went okay, let's do this. Your mind kind of detaches. I don't know. It's just so intense you can't describe it.

Crave Online: How did you feel this morning?

Jim Carrey: You know what? The last two days I've seen this bridge on about 18 commercials, car commercials. They use his bridge all the time. I'm like, "There it is, there it is!" Me and Jenny are going, "Stop," just watching, looking at it. You know, I felt pretty calm about it this morning. Then when I got up and stood there, I don't know if any of you are going to get a chance, but that is when it all became real. Wow. It's really hard to look down there from that place.

Crave Online: What attracted you to the film?

Jim Carrey: Just the concept, just the idea. Just the idea that if you say yes to things, you're generally better off than if you say no. Most of the time. There are some things you shouldn't say yes to. There are some positions in yoga that I don't agree with at all, that I've regretted frankly when I'm in the middle of them.

Crave Online: What leads this guy to this plan?

Jim Carrey: Basically, the story is about a guy who says no to everything and avoids relationships and avoids getting involved in life. So he just comes upon this class, this seminar that's about saying yes to things so he decides to say yes to everything in his life no matter what it is, and finds out that's not such a good idea either.

Crave Online: You follow a lot of spiritual philosophies. Could any of them be comical carried to the extreme?

Jim Carrey: Yeah, I think not only comical, but dangerous. Definitely. Extremes are dangerous and kind of weird, so look at me talking about extremes are weird when I'm jumping off bridges. I'm so glad I got to do this though, honestly.

Crave Online: Would you do it again?

Jim Carrey: You know, I probably would. I would. It's pretty fun but today, no. Not today. I hope we didn't have any camera jams or anything like that.

Crave Online: What other crazy things have you done?

Jim Carrey: Gosh, well, geez, I can't really think right now. It's hard for me to pin those things down. A lot of motorcycle riding and things like that.

 
Crave Online: When you woke up this morning and realized you'd be jumping off a bridge, did you have any second thoughts?

 
Jim Carrey: It really was that moment when I stood up there. Of course, when I drove in on the freeway and I saw it for the first time, I went, "What am I doing? This is absolutely insane." Then I thought, "Well, what the hell?" To me, it's something that I'm going to do sooner or later anyway, like walking through a wall of fire. But I'm going to do it, so I might as well have it covered.

 
Crave Online: Is this the craziest thing you've done?

 
Jim Carrey: This is one of the crazier things. Life is pretty crazy anyway.

 
Crave Online: What were your final thoughts before you jumped?

 
Jim Carrey: Uh, honestly, water tower, camera, listening for the voice. That was about it. Everything else was, I really did think about I don't want to do this and just Lance, the stunt man said, told me last night, "Just listen to some heavy metal, man, when you're coming in. Heavy metal, man. Just get all ramped up and stuff like that." I thought, "No, I'll go the other way. I like it calm." You just go, "Oh well, okay, say goodbye to form and take off." It was great. I'm so glad you guys came over. This is what you've got to do to compete with Britney Spears.

 
Crave Online: Who did you call before you jumped?

 
Jim Carrey: I just basically talked to all the people in my life. They're all there anyway. They were all over there.

 
Crave Online: One call for everybody?

 
Jim Carrey: No, no, no. I didn't really call that many people. I just got up and started thinking about this and how crazy it is.

 
Crave Online: When you were struggling, were you saying yes to everything?

 
Jim Carrey: Yeah, basically. I mean, there were some things that I wouldn't do but until you kind of make it and have to start protecting yourself, you're okay to do anything you want.

 
Crave Online: When was the last time you said no?

 
Jim Carrey: Oh, many times. So many times. It's good to say it generally to spare ribs at four in the morning. Something like that.

 
Crave Online: Now that you've done this, are you worried other directors will ask you to do crazy stunts?

 
Jim Carrey: I like doing this stuff. I generally do a lot of physical stuff during the movies. I'm constantly bruised from head to foot. Comedy's a brutal kind of thing because I do physical stuff a lot. It's tough to double because people kind of recognize me from the back, a certain posture or whatever way I move. Obviously, I don't do the most dangerous things. This is about the most dangerous thing I've ever done as a stunt. Some motorcycle stuff we did in the movie and stuff, so there's a lot of stuff actually that'll give you some stuff to look at, but one of the most dangerous things in this movie is just getting attacked by this dog. He comes flying at the end of a chain and was trained to do that, but they said, "He really will eat your face off if he gets off that thing."

 
Crave Online: Will you say yes to everything your kids or stepkids ask for?

 
Jim Carrey: Nooo. That's a big no.

 
Crave Online: What does this role let you do creatively?

 
Jim Carrey: What was that question again? I was just in the jump there for a second again.

 

 
Jim Carrey: Well, to me, this is a movie about people living vicariously through this character and getting out of yourself basically. I've been that guy. I know a lot of people who are in that situation and just kind of avoided life. This is about joining life. A guy decides to not be afraid of the responsibility involved with things. It's just a really positive movie, really fun.

 
Crave Online: Where does this scene come in the movie?

Jim Carrey: This is when my girlfriend tells me to jump off a bridge. Somewhere about halfway in.

 

 
Jim Carrey: Oh yeah, oh yeah. I get it. It's something crazy. Most people wouldn't allow it to happen so yeah, we have to take care of principal photography to make sure that that happens.

Crave Online: Will you celebrate any special way now that you've survived?

Jim Carrey: Maybe we'll have a good cry.

Crave Online: What's next for you?

Jim Carrey: Oh gosh, we have Horton coming out in March, Horton Hears a Who which is really cool. I'm going to be doing A Christmas Carol with Bob Zemeckis, doing the motion capture thing which is fun, me and Gary Oldman. That's going to be a blast. I'm looking forward to that. It's like acting in space.