Jim Carrey talks about Horton Hears A Who!

46 year-old Jim grew up in Canada and knew that he wanted to perform by the time he was three. After moving to LA and working at comedy clubs, he went on tour with comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield, then started to get TV and film roles. In 1990 he joined the cast of Fox Television's comedy hit In Living Color.

After Ace Ventura: Pet Detective became a colossal international hit, he hit the big time. It was followed by the even more successful The Mask, and then a series of blockbusters, including Dumb and Dumber and Liar Liar.

He'll next be seen in Yes Man, and then heard in Robert Zemeckis' 3-D animated follow-up to Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, performing the roles of Ebeneezer Scrooge and the ghosts.

Q: Was it exciting being part of a CGI animated film like Horton?

A: It is the first time for me doing anything like this. Yeah, it is exciting. I was waiting for the right thing to come along; I always wanted to be a part of this medium. The advances they've made in the last ten years are amazing so I was delighted to do this.

The thing that I loved about Horton was that he is a world apart from The Grinch. This is a character who does not have any ego at all. First of all, I thought to myself, how am I going to play an elephant? Nobody has done a voice for Horton before. I thought surely there has to be a big booming voice but when you think about the soul of Horton, you realize that he doesn't think he's bigger than anything else. He doesn't think he's bigger than the mouse, who's his best friend. His soul is much more gentle than you'd imagine. He is not an elephant in his own mind. He thinks of himself as small and light.

So I thought that would affect the character. He would not come across as powerful, the way you would think an elephant might be. I asked the directors if they wanted a crazy characterization and they said no we just want him to be like you'. So I was a younger version of myself for the role. I just wanted to humanize him and make him the kind of character who simply wants to love everything and everyone in its path.

Q: Had you read and enjoyed a lot of Dr Seuss books?

A: Oh yes, Dr. Seuss books were huge for me. I love them because they are pure creativity. To me, Dr. Seuss is like a child's version of punk. It is as cool as you can get and fun. Dr. Seuss will never be unhip. I love the idea of introducing a whole new generation to the stories. The message is so great in this one - that there are no limitations to what you can do. I also love the idea that a person is a person no matter how small'. You shouldn't judge anyone, and the idea of worlds within worlds within worlds.

Q: Is it difficult or challenging for you as a physical comedian, being trapped in a sound booth making an animated movie?

A: It was hard work. I can tell you I went home sore a lot of days because I was doing wild characterizations with my arms and my body all the time. I did not sit still. For example, I was moving around a lot in sequences where I'm trapped and I'm being tied down. I had to physicalize everything to make it real. I would go home aching from head to foot and say what is this, am I doing an action movie?' It was quite physical.

I think the greatest challenge with this type of film is that you have to create an imaginary world in your head that doesn't exist.

The animators had a little video camera trained on me all the time so they could get all my expressions recorded. We wanted to get the animated part of the character and the very human part too.

Q: Did you come up with lots of ideas of your own for Horton and improvise?

A: On a daily basis I was creating a lot of different things. That's why they hire people like Robin Williams or me to do these things - to be spontaneous. They want us to come in and fill out the character and scene and create special moments. I work with the animators and they tell me about a sequence and I go what if we do this?' I don't remember really specific things. It's a creative process, a jam session, but it's a lot more complicated than people think.

Q: You take a lot of risks in your career. Do you enjoy challenging yourself?

A: I like challenges and I don't believe in failure. I don't believe in regrets. I believe suffering, failure - all those concepts - are things that are absolutely necessary to make us the best people that we can be, the best at whatever we want to do. All of it is essential. I come from the philosophy of, "whatever happens to me is the greatest thing that could happen, no matter what." Sometimes in the moment I have a regret, but then I have found myself every time down the line saying to myself, "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for that so called failure." For example, I would not have been able to do Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind if I hadn't had my heart broken. I wouldn't be able to do a lot of things I've done without those moments when I thought it was the end of the world. It's just getting the perspective in the moment that's the hard thing and getting to that point as quickly as possible.

Q: Have you always been funny?

A: When I started out performing as a little boy, I was trying to make my mother feel better and laugh because she was sick and in pain all the time. I found out that I had that power to relieve her. It started out that way and expanded and I knew I wanted to do this. What I do as an art form is try to make people feel good and if I do try to make them feel bad, it's for a reason. There's something I am trying to say.

I always dreamed of being like my dad. He was an amazing character. Talk about animated - he was a cartoon. When he told a story when I was a little kid, I used to look up at him and watch the entire room fall to pieces. That was it. I wanted to be just like him. He was so funny and talented and just made people feel good.

Q: What has been your greatest challenge?

A: Authenticity. Really that it's it - being what you want to be, rather than what you think you should be in order to make it or be accepted, to fly in the face of people who say "you shouldn't do this or that". I've done scenes where I didn't think I was completely in them. I never feel completely like "I did it!". Acting is divine dissatisfaction. It's the greatest thing in the world to do, but you are never satisfied with it ever.

Q: Can you talk about your next project?

A: I am doing a film right now with Bob Zemeckis, a classic version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with Gary Oldman, and we are doing the real Dickens version. I am playing Scrooge at four different ages and I'm playing the ghost of Christmas Past Present and Future. This kind of film (performance capture 3D animation) presents its own problems and challenges because you are in an empty warehouse that has cameras on the walls and there is nothing for you there except your imagination. So the work you have to do is ask yourself, what did it smell like in Victorian England in that era? Okay, it smelled pretty bad. What was the atmosphere like? It was cold, freezing cold, because they only had coal fires. You have to create the world. How do I make this character real for myself?

Q: What are your goals?

A: Just more creativity. I want to be a positive force in the world, I would like to make people happy. I am having such fun right now. I am really in a good place in my life. And I still have this childlike joy in doing my job, which is the greatest gift for me.