Veteran actor Jim Carrey has done his fair share of comedies over the decades that he spent in Hollywood. From films like Dumb and Dumber to The Mask, Carrey has done a lot.
However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Jim Carrey. A stunt that went horribly wrong on the sets of his 1999 film Man on the Moon, put Jim Carrey on the red list for insurance companies. As always, there are two sides to this story.
Jim Carrey Was Completely In Character
Man on the Moon is a biographical film about the life of real-life comedian Andy Kaufman. Depicting the struggles, joy, survival, and, everything that Kaufman faced throughout his life, the film had Jim Carrey portraying the lead role.
During the final scene, a fight between Carrey and professional wrestler Jerry Lawler is set. As per a report by CBS, Jim Carrey spat on the face of Lawler, which was all part of the script.
However, things turned sour when Lawler allegedly got very angry at this act and started choking Carrey! The actor’s manager Eric Gold recalled the incident:
Jim was immersed in the role as Andy, played it as Andy would have. Mr. Lawler acted unprofessionally, and he attacked him. He attacked him, and he injured his neck.
The report further continued that the Ace Ventura actor was transported to a hospital and treated there. In the real story of Andy Kaufman, the comedian was hospitalized when Jerry Lawler performed a piledriver move on him during a fight.
Although people sympathized with Jim Carrey, another side of the story emerged. This conspiracy theory dealt with the insurance companies and allegedly became a reason why Hollywood stopped casting Jim Carrey for a while.
There Are Two Sides To This Story!
Despite the fact that Jim Carrey got himself a serious injury on his neck, rumors started to fly around that this was done on purpose. Allegations about insurance fraud started spreading.
As per another report by Looper, wrestler Jerry Lawler had another side of the story. The wrestler alleged that Jim Carrey forced him to injure the actor so that they could cash out on the insurance money!
The report states that Carrey tried to have Lawler make a piledriver move on him instead of the stuntman. When Lawler told the director instead of helping Carrey, the comedian was not happy.
The report alleges that in his anger, he spat on Lawler’s face which led to a confrontation on the set of Man on the Moon. The wrestler put Jim Carrey in a front face lock while the bodyguard tried to help by pulling Carrey from the legs. This caused some serious damage to his throat and the rest, as we know, is history.
Man on the Moon received a rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB and an average of 64% on Rotten Tomatoes. The 1999 film is available to rent on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
