Elton
John's thanks gift
USA TODAY, Thursday, September
3rd, 1998
By Jeannie Williams
Here's a tale involving Jim Carrey and Elton
John that could pass into myth. If you get a gift like Carrey got, you
won't forget it. Carrey is very much into the character of the late comedian
Andy Kaufman, as he makes Man on the Moon, the Kaufman bio-pic directed
by Milos Forman. John, a good friend of Forman's, was invited on the set
and hit it off with Carrey. A week ago, Carrey went onstage at John's L.A.
concert to duet on Rocket Man. "He was able to sing armonies on the choruses
without rehearsal," says David Furnish, head of John's Rocket Films. |
Backstage, Carrey
told John how Kaufman had been so involved with his Tony Clifton lounge
lizard character that vegetarian Kaufman consumed prime rib and Jack Daniel's
and smoked in his Clifton persona. Afterward, he would detox by swallowing
30 feet of cheesecloth. John was fascinated by this. So when he sent Carrey
a thank-you gift, it recognized all three of the characters Carrey is dealing
with. Included was some good red wine for Carrey, limburger cheese and
magazines of large, naked women over 50 for Clifton - and 10 packages of
cheesecloth for Kaufman. Lynne Margulies, Kaufman's girlfriend for two
years until his death in 1984, confirms the cheesecloth tale, though the
comic may have done it only a couple of times. "It was a yoga thing. Andy
was very evolved spiritually," says Margulies. She's played by Courtney
Love and is a consultant on the movie. "What a sense of humor," she says
of John. |
