Interview of the Week: Jim Carrey

NEW YORK, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Jim Carrey's soul is showing.

The zany, 39-year-old star of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," "The Mask" and "Dumb & Dumber" waxed philosophically recently while talking to reporters about his Capra-esque new movie, "The Majestic," his career, his love life, and who he now considers heroes in light of the horrific events of Sept. 11.

An old film buff himself, Carrey insisted that 21st-century moviegoers are not too cynical to enjoy a sweet story like "The Majestic."

"More than ever people are refreshed by it," Carrey replied. "You can't deny love. You see it ... you can't deny it. It's there. It gets to you. It gets inside ... this character is everybody's son, everything people have lost. I went down after Sept. 11th and saw (Ground Zero in Manhattan) and read some of the things people had written and that's what kills you. These are magnificent, incredible people that were lost."

Set during the era of the 1950s Hollywood black list, "The Majestic" stars Carrey as an ambitious young screenwriter who loses his job and identity, but is then embraced by a small town who mistakes him for a war hero.

"('The Majestic') is not about the black list," Carrey explained. "It's about choices and respect for sacrifice and the effect that people can have on each other."

Carrey noted that the reason his character is transformed into a much more likable man by the end of the movie was because he had "loving people telling him he was worth something."

"What makes a hero," he emphasized, "is a mother and father or people you grow up with making you believe you're a hero. Making you believe you have that in you and that's a good thing to put out there."

Carrey said he enjoyed taking a break from madcap roles like the cop with the split personality he played in last year's gross-out blockbuster "Me, Myself & Irene."

"It was a wonderful thing to listen and to have real chemical reactions between people," he confided. "A lot of times in the comedies it's like, 'Set Jim up and let him go.'"

The actor went on to say he also loved acting with veterans James Whitmore and Martin Landau.

"It was fascinating to be around them because they are not tired of it. They've been doing it forever, and they're not jaded. They're like, 'OK. What are we going to do now? ...'" Carrey explained. "To me, that's the Ghost of Christmas Future. (It makes me wonder,) 'can I still be interested in what I do when I'm in my 70s?' (Because) you can never perfect (acting)... I don't see how you could. I don't know if anyone feels like they have. I'd like to talk to the person who thinks they have. I would say somebody like (Al) Pacino has, but I'm sure he doesn't feel like that. (Acting is) 'divine dissatisfaction.'"

Asked how his career choices coincide with his own spiritual growth, Carrey replied: "Maybe I'm just getting old, but I see connecting with people as more important ... The scripts find me for reasons ... That script is me and I don't know why yet, but a few weeks in I generally realize why I'm doing something. 'The Grinch' meant something to me. I have led an isolated life. I do know what it's like to be the green freak who walks into a room ... And this one was very much about manhood and at this point I'm faced with getting older and it's really like, 'What's your legacy going to be? What are people going to say about you? What's the effect you have on people? Do you really mean something to them?'"

Regarded as one of Hollywood's most eligible bachelors, the star of "Man on the Moon" and "The Truman Show" has suffered several highly publicized break-ups with female co-stars in recent years. Despite the dissolution of his brief marriage to Lauren Holly and rocky relationship with Renee Zellweger, Carrey said he remains optimistic that Ms. Right is still out there.

"Love has brought me to my knees so many times," he said. "I can't figure it out. I don't know what the hell is going on there sometimes. I do know I totally believe in it ... It's a weird thing these days because you can't be romantic or you're a stalker ... You don't show up under a window anymore. It's like, 'Romeo's dangerous.' It's a very strange climate ... You have to make sure everyone's OK and you have clearance on this end to be romantic. Love is a puzzlement to me. It's something I just value so much and yet I haven't been able to hold onto it. And I will. More than anything, that will be my thing in life, will be to set that up for myself."

"The Majestic" is now in theaters.