The life and career of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman.The life and career of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman.The life and career of legendary comedian Andy Kaufman.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 25 nominations
Jim Carrey
- Andy Kaufman
- (as Tony Clifton)
Greyson Erik Pendry
- Little Michael Kaufman
- (as Greyson Pendry)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA man impersonating Gary Oldman discussed the project with an unsuspecting Danny DeVito for months and even submitted an audition tape to Milos Forman. The real Gary Oldman had passed on the role of Andy Kaufman months earlier, and became aware of the scam after he found his name listed as one of the actors auditioning for the part.
- GoofsWell before his Saturday Night Live (1975) begins, Andy is seen doing his classic impression of "Mr. Carter, the president." Jimmy Carter was not yet even running for president at the time, and didn't get the office until halfway through the program's second season.
- Quotes
George Shapiro: Andy, you have to look inside and ask this question: who are you trying to entertain - the audience or yourself?
- Crazy creditsThe credits lists Tony Clifton as himself. Tony Clifton was a character created by Andy Kaufman, and was portrayed by Andy or Bob Zmuda in real life (and by Jim Carrey in the movie).
- Alternate versionsSeveral scenes were shot but cut. These include:
- The cast of Taxi rehearsing with a stand-in substituting for Andy.
- Andy responding to fan mail from some attractive girls.
- Andy taking a girl out on a date and acting so weird she asks to go home.
- After the Tony Clifton fiasco on the Taxi set, Andy calling Ed Weinberger and thanking him for playing along so convincingly.
- A scene backstage after Andy "hurts" his neck at the wrestling match where his worried parents come to see if he is okay.
- A scene towards the end of the movie at the Improv Club where Andy resurrects his Foreign Man routine and is "heckled" by Zmuda posing as an audience member.
- ConnectionsEdited into Funny or Die Presents...: Fifty Shades of DeVito (2018)
Review
Featured review
Jim Carrey goes off
Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey) is a misunderstood child and a misunderstood comic. He loves to play WITH the audience more than play TO the audience. Talent agent George Shapiro (Danny DeVito) signs him up despite thinking that he's a foreigner who speaks broken English. He gets the role on Taxi and develops the character Tony Clifton with his writing partner Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti). Andy starts wrestling women planting actresses like Lynne Margulies (Courtney Love) who ends up being his girlfriend. He gets into a fight with professional wrestler Jerry Lawler. Then he gets cancer but people aren't sure if it's actually a joke.
Firstly, there is a surreal quality to this starting with Andy Kaufman at the beginning of the movie stating that things have been changed up. The other thing is that so many people are playing themselves in the movie. It's like an alternate universe. There's also the fact that Jim Carrey does a lot of crazy stuff on stage. Carrey puts it all on the line in this movie and it shows. I wouldn't put too much stock in the accuracy debate. I don't usual care that much about that and this movie can be seen as another Tony Clifton production anyways.
Firstly, there is a surreal quality to this starting with Andy Kaufman at the beginning of the movie stating that things have been changed up. The other thing is that so many people are playing themselves in the movie. It's like an alternate universe. There's also the fact that Jim Carrey does a lot of crazy stuff on stage. Carrey puts it all on the line in this movie and it shows. I wouldn't put too much stock in the accuracy debate. I don't usual care that much about that and this movie can be seen as another Tony Clifton production anyways.
helpful•30
- SnoopyStyle
- Nov 9, 2014
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $82,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $34,607,430
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,515,585
- Dec 26, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $47,434,430
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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