What People Are Misunderstanding This Week: Is Jim Carrey a Clone?
Clones are everywhere . Last week, I talked about rumors that actress Selena Gomez is a clone or a doppelganger (she’s not). This week, it’s Jim Carrey. Many online are wondering if this comedian/actor with the flexible face is who he claims to be. Maybe he’s a clone. Maybe he has a doppelganger. Maybe it’s a hoax.
This is all obviously silly, but unlike the Selena Gomez story, there’s some evidence to support it. It’s not conclusive, but at least it’s a little more interesting than most conspiracy theories.
Why do people think Jim Carrey looks like Jim Carrey?
The theories began circulating last week when Jim Carrey accepted the César Award in Paris. The 64-year-old comedian had rarely appeared in public for the past couple of years, and at the awards ceremony, he delivered his speech in French, despite never having spoken the language publicly before. And he looked completely different. See for yourself:
This was enough to spark conspiracy theorists worldwide to conclude that Carrie was a clone, or that he’d been replaced by a multilingual doppelganger, or something along those lines. So people began spreading the theory in posts like this one, using X-Men, Instagram, and TikTok:
This tweet is currently unavailable. It may be loading or has already been deleted.
And this:
This tweet is currently unavailable. It may be loading or has already been deleted.
“His eyes are a different color,” people said. “His face is completely different. He’s not the same person anymore,” they concluded. But the mystery goes much deeper than simply “he looks different.”
Connection with Alexis Stone
On March 1, internet sensation Alexis Stone appeared to take credit for Jim Carrey’s Oscar-winning look, posting on Instagram with the caption, “Alexis Stone as Jim Carrey in Paris.”
View this post on Instagram
Stone has amassed over a million followers online thanks to his uncanny ability to impersonate celebrities using latex and special effects makeup. Check out Jack Nicholson:
View this post on Instagram
So it’s not impossible, right?
Jim Carrey has admitted to using stunt doubles in the past.
Internet detectives soon found an interview between David Letterman and Carrey, in which he says he used a “Jim Carrey double.” “I send him in one direction, and he attracts all the press, and I can just enjoy my day,” Carrey told David Letterman.
And he admits it! The intrigue mounts.
Isn’t that just like Jim Carrey?
Jim Carrey is no stranger to pranks on the media. During the filming of the Andy Kaufman biopic, First Man, Carrey showed up on set as Kaufman’s alter ego, Tony Clifton, refusing to break character and insulting the crew and director Milos Forman. He is rumored to have reignited Andy Kaufman’s feud with wrestler Jerry Lawler. In the making-of documentary , Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, Carrey says he “lost himself” as Kaufman. So, it’s possible Carrey pulled this prank himself as a publicity stunt for the film. If anyone could pull it off, it was certainly Jim Carrey.
To summarize: Jim Carrey is known for his pranks on the media; he showed up in Paris completely unexpectedly, spoke a different language, looked completely different, admitted to using body doubles in the past, and Alexis Stone seems to have taken credit for acting as Carrey’s body double. So is it really so far-fetched to think that this could be the only real instance of a celebrity body double being used?
Yes, it is so unbelievable.
Why Jim Carrey is not a clone and that Jim Carrey does not have a double
It wasn’t a clone. As discussed in this column, human cloning is theoretically possible, but only embryos can be cloned, not adult Canadian comedians. So, unless the switch was planned in the early 1960s, it wasn’t a clone that won Jim Carrey’s César last week.
This wasn’t a stunt double. If Stone had played Carrie, why would they have done such a bad job? Why couldn’t the fake Jim Carrey look like he’s supposed to ? Why use the wrong face shape and the wrong eye color? Besides, latex facial prosthetics might look good in photos, but as soon as the person wearing them tries to speak, it’s obvious they’re fake.
It was Jim Carrey. His entourage confirmed it , but even if they hadn’t, it would have been obvious. Carrey’s French was halting because he’d learned it specifically for this speech. His comments to Letterman were a joke because he’s a comedian. While the actor has played pranks on the media before, the César Award is one of the most prestigious awards in cinema; it’s not something to trifle with. Furthermore, Carrey attended the ceremony with 16 other people, including his daughter Jane, grandson Jackson, and girlfriend Mina. So were they all in on it? Or were they, too, fooled by the double?
The most compelling evidence that the man who performed at the French awards ceremony last week was the real Jim Carrey is that he looks exactly like Jim Carrey . His eye color is the same: in people with dark eyes, bright direct light can make brown eyes appear lighter. His face is the same. He looks older than when he played Ace Ventura, and it looks like he’s had plastic surgery, but he’s Jim Carrey, and no matter how many lines you draw over downloaded images, it’s still Jim Carrey.