This film, which shows Jim Carrey as you’ve never seen him, can be seen for free on a streaming platform without subscription.
Around the planet Hollywood, Jim Carrey gravitates like a real UFO. On screen, he is instantly recognizable. This Canadian-American actor, now 62 years old, is one of the rare contemporary actors to base a large part of his acting on the art of grimaces and gestures. But it would be misleading to reduce his talent to the hilarious escapades of his comedies. His forays into the dramatic register are certainly less known, but just as successful.
After his touching score in The Truman ShowJim Carrey got another role against the odds in Man on the Moon. Released in 1999, this film directed by Milos Forman won him the Golden Globe for best actor in a biographical drama the following year. The film also won the prize for best direction at the Berlin Film Festival.
In this biopic, he plays the American comedian Andy Kaufman. This eccentric and enigmatic artist achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s thanks to his appearances in the series Taxi and in the Saturday Night Live, but his face becomes darker, more tormented in the years that follow. The public and those close to him constantly believe that he is carrying out hoaxes and pranks. Even when he announces he has lung cancer, everyone thinks it’s a joke.
Man on the Moon is a biopic apart in the cinematographic landscape which avoids the pitfalls of the genre. The cast includes Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, and Paul Giamatti. On the set, Jim Carrey adopts a rigid and surprising method of acting: he remains permanently in the shoes of Andy Kaufman throughout the production of the film. He then adopted several of Kaufman’s tics, so much so that a documentary released in 2017, Jim & Andy : The Great Beyondrelates this metamorphosis carried out by the actor.
If Man on the Moon achieved very mixed critical success in the United States at the time of its release, it won over the press and spectators in France. Télérama hails a film that is “hair-raising without ever trying to be effective, joyful and morbid, transgressive and tranquil”, while Le Monde believes that it “deepens the filmmaker’s thinking”. For Le Parisien, Jim Carrey “turns out to be very good” in this film. Subsequently, the actor will continue to diversify, alternating comedies and dramas, before returning to youth productions and action films.
Man on the Moon can be seen for free on the France Télévision platform. Simply register for free on the site to watch this biopic in streaming.