Sonic the Hedgehog 3 director says Jim Carrey worked 'twice as hard' for dual roles

Watch: Sonic The Hedgehog 3 director discusses Jim Carrey's duelling Robotniks

When it comes to the third instalment of a hugely popular franchise like Sonic The Hedgehog, you have to go big or go home. But what happens when you’ve already defeated a villainous Jim Carrey multiple times? Well, you up the stakes. Enter: Two Jim Carreys.

In Sonic The Hedgehog 3, Ben Schwartz's blue-tipped speedster faces off against two foes. As well as squaring up against Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves), his legendary video game antagonist in the form of a black hedgehog, he also battles Jim Carrey’s Machiavellian scientist Dr. Robotnik (for the third time!), played by Carrey and Dr. Robotnik’s long lost grandfather, also played by Carrey.

"What a big ask that was of Jim," director Jeff Fowler told Yahoo UK about the challenge of bringing two Robotnik’s to the screen. "But knowing that he could do it and that he would be excited about the idea – fortunately for us, he said yes."

In the film, Sonic is roped in to help capture Shadow, a super-fast chaos agent who has broken out of the cryogenic prison he’s been trapped in by the government for 50 years. The man behind his release is Gerald Robotnik, the scientist who headed up the lab that was testing on him. The pair are on a mission for revenge and will stop at nothing to get what they want. In order to activate their plan, Gerald reconnects with Ivo, the grandson he abandoned half a century ago.

In multiple scenes, Carrey’s Dr. Ivo Robotnik and Gerald Robotnik share the screen. There are hugs, fights and a particularly sentimental montage that includes ice skating while holding hands and snuggling up over hot chocolate. All of it ended up being a bit of a technical puzzle for Fowler and his team, but one that he credits in large part to Carrey’s willingness to commit to the bit.

Not only was there a question over whether Carrey would want to come back for a third time, but that, if he did agree, whether he’d be willing to work twice as hard and take on double the roles. Luckily, he was excited about the challenge.

Watch a trailer for Sonic The Hedgehog 3

"Jim putting the energy into creating two characters, and even just the technical component of that was – how were we going to film that and edit that and just make this thing that the audience could just buy into and have fun with – is just incredible," says Fowler.

One scene that will have you questioning whether there really are actually two Jim Carreys out there is in a highly choreographed dance sequence as the pair traverse a hall of lasers. Soundtracked to The Chemical Brothers’ thumping Galvanise, Carrey throws himself in the air, spins himself around and pops and locks in perfect time with himself.

"The best part is that most of the idea came from him originally," says Fowler. "[In] the first film, we had a brief little moment in the trailer when he was sort of jamming out. When we had our first call [for this], he was like, ‘I want to dance again’."

"I think he just likes to move," he laughs.

For Fowler, the challenge wasn’t so much how to make the dance work technically, but how to make the scene exciting. "Everyone's seen laser hall break-ins a million times, right? So how can we do something new or something fresh," he says.

So to get the best version of the scene, he asked everyone to contribute ideas on how to make the sequence pop. "My cinematographer, Brandon Trost, really got into the nitty gritty of programming the lasers. My production designer designed this hallway, our visual effects team just really crafted the look of how the lasers would reflect off their bodies. It was incredibly technical, but also one of those things that everyone just even on the first day of filming, were like, 'This is gonna be really special'."

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And Carrey? Well, he provided the tune.

"Jim contributed the song," admits Fowler. "He FaceTimed me and he's like, 'I got the song'. And I was like, 'Great, let's hear it', and we listened to it together. He just really wanted to sort of tailor these little specific call-out beats to [the moves]."

While Fowler says there was no shorthand when it came to making this movie despite the fact he’s helmed the previous two, he did admit that there’s an easy sense of camaraderie with the cast, which also includes James Marsden, Tika Sumpter and Idris Elba.

"I've been surrounded by the most amazing cast and crew in all three of these films, I have been very fortunate so it really does feel like a family," he says.

Seeing as the film’s motto is ‘Make Good Choices’, it seems Fowler chose well when it came to rounding out the cast of the franchise (which has already teased a fourth installment). With that phrase in mind, some of the stars reflected on some of the life decisions they’d consider less optimal.

"My 20s!," laughs Tika Sumpter. "I made a lot of bad choices in my 20s that no one needs to know about. And we didn't have social media then, so it was awesome."

"I wore midriff T-shirts for a while, and that was a bad choice," adds James Marsden. "I had my ear pierced! My left ear was pierced for like three days."

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is in cinemas on 21 December, 2024.