Pulling into Leicester Square in an open-top double decker YES bus, Jim Carrey and co-star Zooey Deschanel, plus director Peyton Reed and writer Danny Wallace brought the Yes Man World Premiere to London.
Jim Carrey stopped to chat, although he didn’t answer every question with “Yes.” He noted the reason they had picked London for the World Premiere was because “It’s a good place to be- it has good energy.” Equally he picked the film because, “it was a good feeling film, a good feeling story and I thought it was really a funny concept. It is really about embracing life.” When asked what was the craziest thing he had ever said yes to, he told us: “I’ve been married twice!”
Next up, Jim starts work on A Christmas Carol for 2009's festive season. “I’ll be working with Gary Oldman and Bob Hoskins- it’s a phenomenal cast. It’s a classic version of A Christmas Carol. I think that because of motion capture, we’re able to do what Dickens wrote- we’ve never seen that before.”
Deschanel managed to keep her laughter under wraps whilst shooting with Carrey, saying: “Well I am paid to do a job, so I try. Jim is a great actor, so it is easy for me to work with him. We laughed, but it was always in the reality of the moment.”
She did tell us that Jim “is a great kisser!” But at first the kissing scenes were a hurdle for her: “I was so nervous I barely remember. The first time I had to kiss him was on the second day of shooting. I grew up watching Jim Carrey- so I was like, ‘I can’t do this - he’s Jim Carrey!’”
Director Peyton Reed said that despite Carrey’s impromptu stunts, he always kept to the dialogue: “ Jim really sticks to the script. He is very particular about the script and we will do a whole bunch of takes where he gets the script exactly. And then, ‘cos he’s Jim, you let him go off and do his own thing, because quite often he will do something you never thought possible, and he makes it even funnier. His mind is sort of tireless. He has this really fertile mind, its always going. I think what’s good about Jim is that he keeps it fresh.”
Writer Danny Wallace admitted that he had taken the bus to Leicester Square before, but not in such surreal circumstances: “Suddenly I’m in Leicester Square with Jim Carrey. I keep thinking what would have happened if I had called the book something else?” On his book, which inspired the film, he said: “I decided that the best way was to grab life and start saying yes a bit more. I did some weird things. I said yes to all my spam email, which is a dangerous thing to do. I bought a car from a man at a party and I ended up in a gay leather bar in Amsterdam. I’ve done a few weird things. “ He also admitted that he currently has two books being developed for screen (one being Friends Like These, about catching up with school friends). He also noted that one has “a star buzzing around,” so watch this space for that.
Having a hero play him in a movie is a strange experience: “ I grew up with Jim Carrey, in The Truman Show and In Living Colour. So to go on set and see him on the little screen and for him to step out of the frame and to be standing beside you, you’re having to try and play it cool. Then suddenly a part of you says ‘It’s Jim Carrey!’ - he must think that everyone has a weird face, cos you do that kind of ‘woah’ thing.”
Throughout the proceedings Jim’s legendary stunts came up. Despite admitting, “ I had a couple of stuntmen. I can’t hold the motorcycle wheelie for more than a few seconds- most of my wheelies are done by accident,” there was one moment which was on everyone’s lips: “I broke a few ribs during the bar scene- I changed the plan in my head. This pratfall was ready to go, and then I thought, ‘what if I get all limbs into the frame at the same time- it’ll be great, just like a Bugs Bunny cartoon’. Suddenly I came down, I hit the ground and I was in agony- but all I cared about was if it looked cool.”
Deschanel wondered at his ability to do the mad physical comedy: “Jim can throw himself around in ways I have never seen anyone throw themselves around. He cracked three ribs- he should have broken his whole body! He can just fall and not hurt himself. On purpose. There are no pads!”
Wallace was on set when the incident happened: “He’d done the take about 4 or 5 times really well. But he wanted more. All he had to do was turn around and knock some glasses over. Then on the sixth take, there was this real Jim Carrey moment, where he just threw himself in the air, and it was a great take, but he landed really badly. I didn’t hear the crack, but you probably will in the film. When I saw it, I thought, ‘that’ll be in the trailer’, and of course when I saw it, there it was.”
And so they went in to check out the spoils of Jim’s tomfoolery and see whether that rib-crackin’ moment really was audible in the final cut.