Jim Carrey Says He Worries About Paul Dano’s Dark Portrayal of The Riddler
Jim Carrey may be mulling retirement, but he seems to be considering a new career as a cultural critic. Case in point: Matt Reeves’ The Batman has widely been praised for its grounded portrayal of Gotham City, but Carrey isn’t too thrilled about the film’s darkness. The actor — who’s had his own turn as Caped Crusader foe The Riddler — said he had mixed emotions about the movie, and especially about Paul Dano’s interpretation of the character.
“I’ve not seen it. It’s a very dark version. I have mixed emotions about it,” Carrey told Unilad. “To each his own and all that. I love [Dano] as an actor, he’s a tremendous actor.”
Carrey played The Riddler in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 film Batman Forever, which starred Val Kilmer as the superhero. But where Dano’s villain draws on the all-too-real incel internet culture of the 21st century, Carrey’s Riddler was, like the actor himself, flamboyantly charming. Carrey expressed concern over Dano’s interpretation of the mastermind, wondering aloud if the film could inspire viewers to model his behavior.
“I do worry. There’s a spot of worry in me over gaffer-taping people’s faces and encouraging people to do the same,” Carrey said. “Some sickos out there that might adopt that method… I do have a conscience about the things I choose… I know there’s a place for it, and I don’t want to criticize it, but it’s not my kind of thing…i t’s very well done, those movies are very well done.” To be fair, Dano did say playing the character was pretty rough on him.
Carrey is clearly not one for violence. He’s set to reprise his role as the villainous Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but he made clear in the interview that the character has “cartoon bombs and no-one gets hurt.” To that end, Carrey recently denounced Will Smith’s recent Oscars altercation with Chris Rock, and called Hollywood “spineless” for giving Smith a standing ovation after he slapped Rock for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.