When two actors work together on a particular film, it’s naturally assumed that they must enjoy each other’s company or at least would be good acquaintances if not great friends. But turns out Tommy Lee Jones held nothing but a vehement resentment for his co-star. The Oscar-winning actor used to absolutely loathe Jim Carrey who starred as the supervillain Riddler opposite Val Kilmer’s Batman in Batman Forever (1995).
Although Jim Carrey merely played the character of a villain in the Joel Schumacher-directed movie, he might as well have been Tommy Lee’s real-life adversary off the screen. That’s how much the latter disliked The Mask star.
See also: Batman Forever – Why it’s Better than You Remember
Tommy Lee Detested Jim Carrey During Batman Forever
While Jim Carrey played the character of Gotham City’s criminal mastermind Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones depicted Harvey Dent, aka Two Face who is yet another enemy of the Dark Knight. Given how the two are supervillains fighting against a common rival, they should ideally prove to be a valuable alliance. Ironically enough though, Jones couldn’t even stand his co-star during Batman Forever. Looks like the enemy of his enemy wasn’t his friend after all.
In an old interview on Norm Macdonald Live, Carrey even attested to the fact that the Men in Black star hated his guts. Apparently, the former bumped into Jones at a restaurant while they were still filming Batman Forever. But to Carrey’s dismay, however, his presence turned out to be an unpleasant surprise for Jones.
See also: Jim Carrey Movies That Are Everyone’s Secret Guilty Pleasure
“The maitre said, ‘Oh, I hear you’re working with Tommy Lee Jones. He’s over in the corner having dinner.’ I went over and I said, ‘Hey Tommy, how are you doing?’ and the blood just drained from his face. And he got up shaking—he must have been in a mid-kill-me fantasy or something like that.”
What’s more, the U.S. Marshals star himself told Carrey that he “hated” him because of his incessant “buffoonery.” But the former seemed to think that there was some other reason behind Jones’ intense dislike towards him, one which was more professional than general.
Jim Carrey’s Take on Tommy Lee Jones’s Hatred of Him
When Carrey stumbled across Jones at dinner, the 76-year-old actor and director very clearly told him that he held no affection for the Bruce Almighty star whatsoever. Not to mention, he said it out loud to Carrey’s face.
“He went to hug me and he said, ‘I hate you. I really don’t like you.’ And I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ and pulled up a chair, which probably wasn’t smart. And he said, ‘I cannot sanction your buffoonery.'”
But the Canadian-American actor was of the belief that the real reason Jones resented him so much was that he got to play a more important role in Batman Forever than The Hunted actor did.
“I was the star and that was the problem. He’s a phenomenal actor, though. I still love him.”
So that’s how the long-time feud between the two sparked up, on the set of the DC film. And ever since then, both of them have been maintaining a safe distance from each other lest their rivalry gets any uglier.
Batman Forever is available for streaming on HBO Max.
Source: Esquire
