Jim Carrey Praises Cary Elwes

Q: You have to do parts with yourself. Sometimes there were three different characters you were playing on screen at the same time so how did that work?

Carrey: I will avoid the masturbation joke. I've had the most incredible help anyone could ever ask for in Cary Elwes. He really was there for me all the way. He played opposite me playing all the other characters to give me a reference and to give me someone wonderful to play with. He's genius. He was also very helpful as far as accents. I called him accent man because you can literally name any country on the planet and he knows the accent. He was absolutely invaluable to me. He's a brilliant actor and he's wonderful in some of the parts he does in the film as well. I owe him a huge debt of gratitude because he really supported me completely. Can I tell you a point of interest on Cary Elwes a little bit? I just want to say this because I think it's fascinating. Scrooge was actually based on one of his great, great, great uncles. I think it's John Elwes. I'll have to check on the name, but one of his relatives is actually for that character. He was a member of Parliament and he was so cheap that he would wear the same clothes all the time until they were tattered. He wore a wig that he found in the garbage and he wouldn't buy new game until all the meat that he had even if it was rancid - he would finish it. He was the character that Dickens based the story on so it's kind of great.

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