Actor and comedian Jim Carrey played a very small yet significant role in Charlie Cox becoming the Marvel star many know him as. Because if it wasn’t for Carrey and his work, Cox might not be in the film industry today.
Charlie Cox once shared he was worse-off after his breakthrough role in ‘Stardust’
Cox paid a lot of dues to end up in the position he’s currently in now. The Daredevil star’s road to superstardom wasn’t the easiest. He enrolled in the Bristol Old Vic Theater School in England when he was 19 years old, officially embarking on a career in acting. From there, Cox auditioned and appeared in several theater plays, television shows and feature films to build up his profile and filmography.
His hard work would eventually lead to the movie Stardust, which was one of Cox’s biggest roles back then. Stardust was a fantasy film adapted by the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name. Cox found himself starring alongside stars like Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, and Ian McKellen for the ensemble project.
Those closest to Cox predicted that the movie would give the actor the big break he was looking for.
“I was told by so many people what that would mean and what it would lead to. None of those things happened,” he said in an interview with NME.
The lack of opportunities that came after Stardust made the actor worry about his future.
“The doors did not all open,” he added “I didn’t know what was going to happen to my career. I almost felt worse off. When you’re up-and-coming, everyone’s interested, but when you’ve had the moment and it hasn’t translated into anything… people look for someone else. There was a period of time when I felt like I couldn’t get arrested.”
How Jim Carrey stopped Charlie Cox from quitting acting
When Cox had serious doubts for his career, the work of another actor managed to provide a sense of comfort. Like many, Cox was a fan of comedian Jim Carrey’s work, and followed many of the actor’s movies. But it was Carrey’s role in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that left a lasting impression.
The 2004 romance sci-fi feature had Carrey starring as a heartbroken ex-lover trying to erase all traces of his former girlfriend from his memory. The dramatic turn Carrey took with the movie touched Cox on a personal level.
“I’d grown up seeing Jim doing Ace Ventura, but his performance in [Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind] truly transcended what I believed he was as an actor,” Cox once said in an interview with Men’s Fashion (Via Contact Music). “I remember being so inspired. For the first time I really understood why I was on this path.”
Charlie Cox doesn’t feel like a star
Cox at one time still didn’t see himself as big of a name as his other contemporaries. It was one of the reasons why Cox was often worried about working with stars of either television shows or movies. His work in the business showed him that sometimes a big enough celebrity could change a project for the worse.
“Maybe this doesn’t change, but I don’t feel like a star, I just happen to lead a TV show,” Cox said in an interview with Independent.
As for whether Cox would be prefer to be a movie star himself, he wasn’t entirely sure. Especially since his current work as an actor allowed him many of the benefits that stars already enjoyed.
“It depends what that means. I would like to be someone that people come to, to be in films that get seen,” he said. “I’m in a very lucky position now where, if I want to do a film at the moment there are films I could do. I spent a great many years doing films that, despite me thinking they might be good or vaguely interesting, didn’t get seen.”
