Well for everyone that saw the extra casting call for Jim Carrey and Milos Foreman's MAN ON THE MOON, here's a report about what happened. So check it on out, if you were there too, share your experience in Talk Back.
I just came back from the Olympic Coliseum where Milos Forman was shooting scenes requiring a crowd for the Andy Kaufman biopic "Man On the Moon", starring Jim Carrey.
The scene is a crucial one in the fantastic story of Kaufman's fame. It's the fight with professional wrester Jerry "The King" Lawlor, who seriously injured Kaufman in one of Andy's most attention-grabbing antics. If memory serves, Kaufman at this point had battled several women wrestlers when he was challenged by Lawlor on the David Letterman show to fight him. The fight took place in Memphis after Andy had spent the days leading up to it alienating just about every Southern man, woman and child. It was certainly one of Andy's shining moments.
As we arrived on the set, I noticed many people had ignored the request on the confirmation letter to wear '70s clothes or thought that meant to dress as you would for an Austin Powers party.
If anyone wants to know how the scene looks, just catch the special that runs periodically on Comedy Central, because the actual match is there. Jim Carrey was magnificent in duplicating the speech pattern and movements of Andy Kaufman. Carrey is a bit smaller in build but looks accurate enought that I can't imagine it will be a distraction. He's also not very semetic looking, but, hey, it's the movies.
In between scenes, Carrey would entertain the crowd, but only as Andy. As a result, we spent most of the time booing him. Jerry Lawlor, who plays himself, seemed to have quite a bit of fun staying in "character" while Carrey was engaging in his wacky shenanigans. Even when Carrey was off to the side going over lines or reviewing the footage he just shot, he maintained Kaufman's posture and head and neck movements.
Although we were there from 11:30am until after 7:00pm, there were few extended periods of inactivity. The set ups were quick and they were usually rehearsing or shooting. Just about everyone had a good time and those of us who saw the actual event on television agreed it couldn't have been re-created better.
I'm a little sleepy now and may have forgotten a few details. If I think of more, I shall write again.
Call me Captain Haddock.
