Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey famously had a feud while filming Batman Forever, a feud which led to Jones’ immortal quip about the comic actor, “I cannot sanction your buffoonery“. Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies are curious entries in the Batman canon. Batman Forever from 1995 and Batman & Robin from 1997 are definitively not the best movies in the live-action Batman canon, and there’s a very strong case to be made that they’re the worst, but like all Joel Schumacher movies, there’s something deeply fascinating about their styles and sensibilities.

Of these two Schumacher-directed films, Batman Forever is the better one, though with a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes, you shouldn’t go into it expecting The Dark Knight. However, there is a lot to like about it, particularly the two villains, Two-Face, played by Tommy Lee Jones, and The Riddler, played by Jim Carrey. Dolled up in the Schumacher signature neon, these two classic Batman villains played by the celebrated pair of actors add an absurdity, but also gravitas, to the film. While the villains teamed up, Jones and Carrey weren’t so close in real life.

Jim Carrey Had An Awkward Conversation With Tommy Lee Jones At A Restaurant

Jones Could Not “Sanction” Carrey’s “Buffoonery”

Jim Carrey was coming off a legendary movie year when he appeared in Batman Forever. In the previous 12 months, Carrey starred in Ace Venture: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber and was well on his way to becoming a comedy legend. By 1995, Tommy Lee Jones had already been nominated twice for Academy Awards and had won in the Best Supporting Actor category the previous year for The Fugitive. Both men were at powerful points in their careers, with Carrey at a slightly earlier stage.

So, during filming, when Carrey ran into Jones at a restaurant, of course, the up-and-coming star went to introduce himself to the acting legend and his screen partner (via THR). Carry spoke about the experience on a 2017 episode of Norm Macdonald Live, hosted by the late comedian. The night before Carrey and Jones’ biggest scene together was set to be filmed, Carrey just so happened to arrive at the same restaurant as Macdonald. Carrey said,

“The maitre said, ‘Oh, I hear you’re working with Tommy Lee Jones. He’s over in the corner having dinner.’ I went over and I said, ‘Hey Tommy, how are you doing?’ and the blood just drained from his face. And he got up shaking — he must have been in mid kill me fantasy or something like that. And he went to hug me and he said, ‘I hate you. I really don’t like you.’ And I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ and pulled up a chair, which probably wasn’t smart. And he said, ‘I cannot sanction your buffoonery.'”

Years later, Carrey is laughing through this entire story and now seems to remember it as more of a bizarrely intimate, albeit rude, experience than anything. It is very odd that Jones seemed to have a specific ire for Carrey, and then that he just so happened to be starring in a movie alongside someone who almost appears to be his archnemesis.

Tommy Lee Jones And Joel Schumacher Filmed The Client Before Batman Forever

Jones Did Not Understand Batman Forever When He Read The Script

Some of the issues Tommy Lee Jones had with Carrey may have been an extension of his problem with Batman Forever as a whole. Jones and Schumacher were actually working together on The Client when Batman Forever was in pre-production. Jones starred in that 1994 legal thriller as U.S. Attorney Roy “Reverend Roy” Foltrigg, and so when Batman Forever producer Peter Macgregor-Scott came to visit the set and talk to Schumacher, he also took the opportunity to give the Batman script to Jones. Macgregor-Scott said (via THR),

“Tommy Lee and I were quite good friends. I’d done Under Siege and The Fugitive with him. And I remind him that he got the Academy Award for The Fugitive. ‘F— you’ he said (laughs). He’s a great guy. Difficult but wonderful. Later when we were working on Batman, I said to Joel, ‘Tommy would be a fantastic Harvey/Two-Face.’ He said, ‘Go get him.’ So I sent Tommy Lee the screenplay down in Texas, and two hours later, he calls me up and he says, ‘I don’t get it.’ I said ‘Why don’t you reread the f—king thing and remember that the Academy Award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones is playing the f—king role!’ And I hung the phone up. (Laughs.) A few hours later, he calls back and says, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ And then he got on a plane and flew into Burbank the next day, and we went to work. No management. No nonsense. The deal was obviously going to be worked out.”

From the jump, it seems like Jones was not totally on board with the film. Before Batman Forever, Jones was best known for his dramatic roles in films like The Fugitive, JFK, Coal Miner’s Daughter, and Rolling Thunder. Two-Face in Batman Forever is a very arch role, and Jones mostly sneers and cackles through it. His makeup and costuming alone signal that he’s not supposed to be a super-serious comic book movie villain. It could be that Jones was uncomfortable with the whole project, and Carrey was the lightning rod for his frustrations.

Carrey Thinks That Jones Was Frustrated By The Comic’s Stardom

Jones Was Used To Being The Big Man On Set

Neither we nor Jim Carrey can totally know why he seemed to bother Tommy Lee Jones so much because Jones, who is normally taciturn, has never spoken about the incident. He’s, in fact, barely spoken about Batman Forever. Carrey has an idea, and said on Norm Macdonald Live,

“I was the star and that was the problem.”

The Riddler is the bigger of the two villains in Batman Forever, and Jones, who is normally the biggest star on set, may have felt challenged by the arrival of the young, energetic Carrey, who was probably one of the most well-known actors in the world at the time. Macdonald echoed Carrey’s sentiments, saying the reaction was likely due to some jealousies on Jones’ part. Carrey did give his castmate some grace, however, saying,

“He might have been uncomfortable doing that work, too. That’s not really his style of stuff.”

It appears that Carrey did not take the meeting to heart and viewed it as a quirky, weird story. He said about Jones,

“He’s a phenomenal actor, though. I still love him.”

Perhaps it’s because he’s years removed, but it does seem like Carrey was not offended by Jones’ comments. Carrey has made his share of castmates frustrated in his career, so he may have well understood where Jones was coming from. Now, Carrey thinks of his meeting with Jones as a funny story. A talented dramatic actor himself, Carrey likely appreciates Jones’ body of work and skill, even if the man can’t sanction Carrey’s buffoonery.

Joel Schumacher Didn’t Appreciate Jones’ Atтιтude Towards Carrey

Jones Still Worked Hard On The Set Of Batman Forever

Joel Schumacher was not unaware of Tommy Lee Jones’ atтιтude while working on Batman Forever. When speaking about Jones, Schumacher said (via Vulture),

“He was fabulous on The Client. But he was not kind to Jim Carrey when we were making Batman Forever.”

He gave his own reason as to why the older vet looked down on his younger co-star,

“Tommy is, and I say this with great respect, a scene stealer. Well, you can’t steal the scene from Jim Carrey. It’s impossible. And, I think it irked Tommy.”

In Schumacher’s mind, Jones had simply never shared a scene with someone so easily able to take over a scene, which Carrey is one of the best ever at doing. While Schumacher may have understood Jones’ annoyance, he didn’t appreciate how Jones went about expressing it,

“No, he wasn’t kind to Jim. He did not act towards Jim the way an Oscar winner with a star on Hollywood Boulevard, being the oldest member of the cast, and having such a distinguished career and the accolades to go with it, should have acted towards Jim. But what happens on the set stays on the set.”

Jones clearly rubbed Schumacher the wrong way with his behavior towards Carrey, even if it seems like Carrey took his rudeness on the chin. Schumacher also went on to say about Jones,

“I don’t care what state Tommy is in emotionally, when that camera rolls, there is no bad take.”

There is no rule that actors in a cast have to get along with one another. As long as they are doing their best while on the job, that’s enough. It appears that Jones did not let his personal animosity get in the way of ruining everyone else’s time on set. He didn’t like Carrey, said as much, and then moved on with his life.

As silly as his reasons are for disliking Carrey, it’s somewhat refreshing that he was honest about it and still made sure to give it his all on set. Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey may not be friends, but you wouldn’t guess that based on Batman Forever alone.