Jim Carrey Left Retirement for Sonic Role: ‘I Need the Money’

^{This article originally appeared on Business Insider.}

Jim Carrey said he has come back from retirement because he needed the money.

Carrey announced in 2022 that he would retire after the release of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” in which he played the villain Dr. Robotnik.

In an interview with Access Hollywood in April 2022 Carey said, “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.”

That break was short-lived. Less than two years later, Variety confirmed in February that Carrey was coming out of retirement to star in “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”

In the film, premiering on December 20, Carrey plays Dr. Robotnik and Gerald Robotnik, Robotnik’s grandfather.

Speaking to the Associated Press at the London premiere of “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” on Tuesday, Carrey said, “I came back to this universe because, first of all, I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch. And I just, I bought a lot of stuff, and I need the money, frankly.”

Carrey’s salary for the previous two films is not public knowledge, but “Sonic the Hedgehog” and its sequel were surprise box office hits – a rare occurrence for video game adaptations. The first film grossed $319 million, and the sequel made $405 million in ticket sales.

In February 2023, Carrey also put a Los Angeles home he’s owned for 30 years up for sale. The mansion was originally listed at $29 million, but after nearly two years on the market the price has now been cut to $19.75 million.

Hugh Grant, Nicolas Cage, Amanda Seyfried, and Harrison Ford are A-list celebrities who have all said they took roles for financial reasons.

In his memoir “Sonny Boy,” published in October, Al Pacino wrote that he quit movie acting in the mid-1980s because he felt “creatively drained” but returned to the industry after running out of money.

“I looked up, and I had no money,” Pacino wrote. “I had about ninety grand in the back, and that was it.”

With encouragement from Diane Keaton, his “The Godfather” costar and then-girlfriend, Pacino got a role in the 1989 film “Sea of Love.”

Later in the memoir, Pacino wrote that he went broke again in 2011 due to overspending.

“There’s almost nothing worse for a famous person — there’s being dead, and then there’s being broke,” Pacino wrote.

This time around Pacino sold a house, did commercials and accepted a role in the 2011 Adam Sandler movie “Jack and Jill” to get financially stable again.