Jim Carrey's "morality"

A recent article in The Guardian described how Jim Carrey now condemns the violence in his own movie Kick-Ass 2:

Jim Carrey has shocked producers of forthcoming comic-book sequel Kick-Ass 2, in which he stars as a baseball-bat-wielding masked crimefighter, after denouncing the "level of violence" that permeates the film in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings.

Scottish comic-book writer and Kick-Ass 2 executive producer Mark Millar, whose original work forms the basis of the sequel, today responded on his own blog, pointing out that Carrey, who plays a character named Colonel Stars and Stripes, knew exactly what he was letting himself in for. Carrey, who has been an outspoken proponent of increased gun control in the wake of the shootings by gunman Adam Lanza in December, tweeted on Sunday that he could no longer support the film. He wrote: "I did Kick-Ass 2 a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence. My apologies to others involve[d] with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart."

"[I'm] baffled by this sudden announcement as nothing seen in this picture wasn't in the screenplay 18 months ago," he wrote. "Yes, the body count is very high, but a movie called Kick-Ass 2 really has to do what it says on the tin. A sequel to the picture that gave us Hit Girl was always going to have some blood on the floor and this should have been no shock to a guy who enjoyed the first movie so much …

Carrey had made a recent video in which he mocked Charlton Heston and his "cold dead hands" speech. What seems to have happened is that Carrey realized after filming the movie that his hypocrisy would be pointed out, so he figured he'd cover his rear end by denouncing his own movie before it appeared in theaters. 

But his actions bring up several questions. First, is he not violating the terms of his contract with the producers of the film by criticizing the film right before its release? Is his behavior not, at the very least, disloyal? 

Second, Carrey's anti-gun stance is one which he's held for a while. He is, after all, 51. What was he thinking when he made the movie? Here he is in a still from Kick-Ass 2:

Third, why is Carrey using Sandy Hook as an excuse? Adam Lanza's massacre at the Newtown CT elementary school took place this past December, a month after the filming of Kick-Ass 2. The timing seems awfully convenient given how many mass shootings, including those where children were killed, had occurred before the filming.

Was Carrey not at all influenced by Aurora, or Binghamton, or Columbine, or any of the other mass shootings of the past couple decades?

Or was Newtown simply a more conveniently timely excuse given that it occurred after he had pocketed his paycheck from Kick-Ass 2?

Carrey's stance does not reflect any sort of traditional morality. Instead, it reflects moral vanity -- a desire to be seen as having politically correct sensibilities.

Let's hope producers take into account his willingness to throw a movie he's worked on under the bus when making future casting decisions. 

Charlton Heston, you can rest in peace. Jim Carrey has outed himself as the silly hypocrite that he is.