"I am not ashamed of it, but recent events have caused a change in my heart."
Canadian-American actor and comedian Jim Carrey is a household name when it comes to Hollywood.
Over the past 30 years, he has starred in such modern classics as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
However, the 61-year-old has said there is one movie in his back catalogue that he has had second thoughts about.
Jim Carrey regrets Kick-Ass role
That’s right…it’s Kick-Ass 2, the 2013 sequel to Mark Millar’s tale about a group of amateur superheroes.
Based on the comic-book of the same name, the Kick-Ass franchise follows teenager Dave Lizewski (potential new 007 Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and his quest to become the a real life superhero.
The sequel, while not nearly as critically or commercially successful as the first instalment, actually stands up pretty well ten years on.
In the follow-up, Jim Carrey plays Colonel Stars and Stripes, a textbook over-the-top loud-mouth character that he performs brilliantly.
Real life events change Carrey’s perspective
A successful franchise and a top notch performance from Carrey, so why the regret?
The answer is the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, a national tragedy in America which saw a lone gunman kill 26 people.
Sandy Hook sparked a global debate on violence in movies and video games, causing Carrey to rethink his role in the film.
“I did Kick-Ass a month before Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” he wrote on Twitter back in June 2013.
He went on to say that he was “not ashamed" of the movie but added: "Recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
Scottish comic book writer Mark Millar, the mind behind the Kick-Ass series, had this to say about Carrey’s comments:
“[I’m] baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn’t in the screenplay 18 months ago…
"Yes, the body count is very high, but a movie called Kick-Ass 2 really has to do what it says on the tin. A sequel to the picture that gave us Hit Girl was always going to have some blood on the floor and this should have been no shock to a guy who enjoyed the first movie so much…
"Like Jim, I’m horrified by real-life violence (even though I’m Scottish), but Kick-Ass 2 isn’t a documentary. No actors were harmed in the making of this production!”
