Jim Carrey told the Associated Press he came out of acting retirement because he needed money.
He stars in “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” two years after he announced his retirement.
Al Pacino, Hugh Grant, Nicolas Cage, and Harrison Ford have also said they’ve taken roles for money.
Jim Carrey claimed he returned from retirement because he needed the money.
Carrey announced in 2022 that he would retire following the release of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” in which he portrayed the villain Dr. Robotnik.
In an interview with Access Hollywood in April 2022, Carey said, “If the angels bring me some sort of script that is written in gold ink that says it is going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I am taking a break.”
That break was short-lived. Less than two years later, Variety confirmed in February that Carrey was returning from retirement to star in “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”
Carrey stars as Dr. Robotnik and his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, in the film, which hits theaters on December 20.
Speaking to the Associated Press at the London premiere of “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” on Tuesday, Carrey said, “I came back to this universe because, first and foremost, I get to play a genius, which is a stretch. And I just bought a lot of stuff, and I really need the money.”
No one knows how much Carrey made in the first two movies, but “Sonic the Hedgehog” and its sequel were big surprises at the box office, which does not happen very often for movies based on video games. The first movie brought in $319 million, and the second one brought in $405 million.
He also put up for sale in February 2023 a house in Los Angeles that he had lived in for 30 years. The mansion was first put on the market for $29 million, but the price has been lowered to $19.75 million after being on the market for almost two years.
A-list stars like Hugh Grant, Nicolas Cage, Amanda Seyfried, and Harrison Ford have all said they took on roles to make money.
Al Pacino wrote in his October memoir “Sonny Boy” that he quit acting in movies in the mid-1980s because he was “creatively drained,” but he went back to it when he ran out of money.
Paisano wrote, “I looked up and I had no money.” “I had about ninety grand in the back, and that was it.”
Dia Keaton, who played his co-star in “The Godfather” and was then his girlfriend, pushed Pacino to get a part in the 1989 movie “Sea of Love.”
Pacino wrote later in the memoir that he lost all of his money again in 2011 because he spent too much.
“There is almost nothing worse for a famous person — there is being dead, and then there is being broke,” he wrote.
This time, Pacino sold his house, did commercials, and agreed to play a part in Adam Sandler’s 2011 movie “Jack and Jill” in order to put money back into his account.