Jim Carrey gave up retirement because ‘I need the money, frankly’

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Just two years after he proclaimed he was walking away from his life as an actor Jim Carrey is back for another Sonic the Hedgehog film for one simple reason: He needs the money.

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While promoting his villainous role of Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in April 2022, Carrey, 62, said he would be stepping away from acting.

“Well, I’m retiring. Yeah, probably. I’m being fairly serious,” Carrey told Access Hollywood while promoting Sonic 2. “It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break.”

Carrey, who originated the video game villain on the big screen in 2020’s first Sonic the Hedgehog, said he was enjoying his “quiet life” away from the spotlight.

“I really like putting paint on canvas and I really love my spiritual life and I feel like — and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists — I have enough. I’ve done enough. I am enough,” he said.

But with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hitting theatres this weekend, Carrey was asked at the film’s U.K. premiere by the Associated Press why he keeps coming back to the Sonic movie franchise.

“You said in a past interview that you’d come back if you got a script written in gold ink written by angels,” a reporter asked Carrey on the red carpet this week.

“That might’ve been hyperbole, yeah,” Carrey replied, chuckling. “I came back to this universe because I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch. And you know, I bought a lot of stuff and I need the money, frankly.”

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After reprising his role as Lloyd Christmas in 2014’s Dumb and Dumber To, Carrey kept a low profile in front of the camera, booking just two big screen appearances in the 2016 indie films Dark Crimes and The Bad Batch. He also played against type by taking on a role as a famous children’s television star who struggled to retain his sanity as his family came apart in Showtime’s Kidding for two seasons from 2018 to 2020.

But with his admission, Carrey isn’t the first actor to concede to taking on a role to score a payday.

In his recently published memoir Sonny Boy, Al Pacino said that he “had $50 million, and then I had nothing,” which led to him accepting a part in Adam Sandler’s 2011 comedy Jack and Jill.

“The kind of money I was spending and where it was going was just a crazy montage of loss…. And I thought, It’s simple. It’s clear. I just know this. Time stopped. I am f—ed,” Pacino wrote (per The Hollywood Reporter).

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“Jack and Jill was the first film I made after I lost my money. To be honest, I did it because I didn’t have anything else,” Pacino added. “Adam Sandler wanted me, and they paid me a lot for it. So I went out and did it, and it helped. I love Adam, he was wonderful to work with and has become a dear friend. He also just happens to be a great actor and a hell of a guy.”

Harrison Ford also said that he agreed to participate in motion-capture acting as Red Hulk in next year’s Captain America: Brave New World because he was getting paid a nice chunk of change.

“What did it take? It took not caring. It took being an idiot for money, which I’ve done before,” Ford wisecracked to Variety when he was asked about the upcoming superhero film.

Ford was quick to add that he wasn’t trying to “disparage” the Marvel movie.

“I’m just saying you have to do certain things that normally your mother would not want you to do — or your acting coach, if you had one. But it’s fun, and I enjoyed it. I had a great time, and I’m delighted at the response that we got with the trailer,” Ford said.

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