If Jim and Andy are really spoofing “Jim and the Grinch: Beyond Whoville” it’s got tobe one of the calmest spoofs ever. It’s more interesting learning what it was really like for Jim Carrey to become the Grinch than anything else. To hear him admit that he got so into his part isn’t too surprising since he’s done it before, but to hear that who he was took a back seat to who he had to become was just a little bit disturbing. A lot of artists have this quality. That’s it, plain and simple. Artists have this ability to step out of themselves so to speak and become the figure they’re trying to emulate, become, create, paint, write about, etc. It’s hard to explain without going into that persona but overall it means that you essentially take a back seat to this new person that’s taken over your body and assumes control.
Sometimes it’s a conscious effort and other times it’s beyond the control of the artist as Jim seems to allude to. In the cases of the former it happens to a lot of actors that they delve so deeply into the role they’ve been given that they tend to lose focus of who they were going in and concentrate so completely on the character they’re trying to be that their sense of self gets blurred and almost taken away for a few moments. Those that do so purposefully however have given themselves a lifeline to cling to by diving deep but not so deep that they can’t pull themselves out. Those that dive without a safety line however run a dangerous risk of not coming back since everything they are and know will eventually be consumed by the persona they’re attempting to become or in some way create.
It is a heady experience as many artists can tell you. Imagine dropping into a bottomless pool and seeking something you see shining at the bottom. That mild distraction is all it takes for the presence that’s already in the pool to come forward and take over for a while. So long as your core persona is distracted that alter ego is able to grab the reigns and go full steam ahead while doing whatever it is that they do. You might want to pull back and assume control again but at some point you begin to figure that it’s better to just let that presence have its way because going back means losing whatever verve that the presence has going.
It’s a dangerous practice however since it takes a good deal of effort to come back, either on the part of the artist or on the part of those around them. Sometimes it’s tempting to stay immersed and let the other person just take over for a while, but deep down most people know this isn’t acceptable. So when Jim Carrey says that he became the Grinch and that the Grinch told Jim just to take a step back then it’s very understandable how such a thing could happen.
Sometimes you’ve got to be someone else to do something else.
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