Jim Carrey said in April 2022 that he was likely retiring from acting after reprising the evil Dr. Robotnik in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” which opened in theaters the same month. It was Carrey’s second time playing the video game villain. He first starred as Robotnik in 2020’s “Sonic the Hedgehog,” which marked Carrey first major role in a studio movie since the 2014 sequel “Dumb and Dumber To.”
“Well, I’m retiring. Yeah, probably. I’m being fairly serious,” Carrey told Access Hollywood on the “Sonic 2” press tour. “It depends. If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break.”
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Carrey added, “I really like my quiet life and I really like putting paint on canvas and I really love my spiritual life and I feel like — and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists — I have enough. I’ve done enough. I am enough.”
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The comedian’s retirement was fairly short-lived, however, as he’s back as Dr. Robotnik for a third time in this month’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.” Why does Carrey keep returning to the “Sonic” movie universe? Money, he recently quipped to AP Entertainment.
An AP reporter on the red carpet for “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” asked Carrey about his original retirement quote, saying: “You said in a past interview that you’d come back if you got a script written in gold ink written by angels.”
“That night’ve been hyperbole, yeah,” Carrey responded with a laugh. “I came back to this universe because I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch. And you know, I bought a lot of stuff and I need the money, frankly.”
While the first “Sonic” movie was Carrey’s first big studio film in six years, he did star in the indie movies “The Bad Batch” and “Dark Crimes” in the interim. He also headlined Showtime’s comedy series “Kidding,” which ran for 20 episodes across two seasons before being canceled. Carrey also guested on “Saturday Night Live” as Joe Biden for six episodes in 2020.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” opens in theaters Dec. 20 from Paramount Pictures
