Jim Carrey Goes Method In Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Trailer

The thing about method acting that people don't talk about enough is that it can make an actor an absolute pain to work with—just ask the cast of Suicide Squad how much they liked going to work every day with the Joker.

Now, we'll get to see what the process of getting into character and never leaving looks like when Jim Carrey does it in the fascinating-looking new Netflix documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond.

Composed largely of behind-the-scenes footage filmed during the production of the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, Jim & Andy follows lead actor Carrey as he goes very, very deep into his role as the infamously transgressive comedian—much to the chagrin, evidently, of the movie's cast and crew.

As a performer, the late Kaufman was a practitioner of avant-garde anti-comedy, mining laughs out of the radically unexpected rather than relatable material and tight punchlines. Or at least, sometimes he got laughs—other times, he drove audiences away in droves, his seemingly neverending act being too much, at times, for anyone to deal with.

To Carrey's credit, it appears like he perfectly emulated Kaufman's alienating performance art in the making of Man on the Moon, consequences be damned. As the trailer for Jim & Andy proudly declares, the producers of the 1999 movie kept behind-the-scenes footage from the feature locked away for years, out of concerns that it would make its lead actor look unhinged and intolerable. 

It's easy to see why they'd do that—Carrey truly commits to Kaufman's bit, causing tensions on set that are hypnotic to behold. It does make him look unhinged and intolerable—and with this new documentary, audiences will get a chance to see just how far the actor went for the sake of his art.

The movie—whose cheeky full title is Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond—The Story of Jim Carrey & Andy Kaufman Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton—was directed by Chris Smith, who previously directed the documentaries American Movie and The Yes Men. It will premiere on Netflix on November 17.