Video of Jim Carrey 'Freaked Out' Meeting Johnny Depp Resurfaces

Fans of '90s nostalgia will be wowed by footage showing the moment Johnny Depp and Jim Carrey met for the first time.

While both have had their career highs and lows since this first meeting in 1995, both men were arguably at the height of their fame at the moment they shook hands. The sweet moment was captured on film by E! at the time, as both are clearly a fan of each other's work, and Carrey admits that he's "freaked out" by meeting a 30-something Depp.

The footage resurfaced online when it was shared on Reddit by popular account @trailer8k. The moment was caught on film after Carrey interrupted Steve Kmetko's interview with Depp for his 1995 movie Nick of Time.

"Oh my god," Depp says wide-eyed when he notices Carrey walking into the room. It's explained that Carrey was in the same hotel where the interview was taking place, and decided to drop by.

Johnny Depp and Jim Carrey in 1995
A video of Johnny Depp and Jim Carrey (both pictured in January 1995) has resurfaced after the pair met for the first time in a hotel in 1995. Steve Granitz / Ron Davis/WireImage / Getty Images

"I'm freaked out," Carrey exclaims standing above Kmetko and Depp. Explaining why Depp and Carrey hadn't run into each other yet, Carrey says of Depp, "well he's taking the secret entrances and stuff. I just go in the lobby and say 'love me.'"

After laughing, Depp replies, "they love you. I love you. I do." With that they touch hands and Carrey departs so Kmetko and Depp can continue with the interview.

While the video has only resurfaced online on Reddit recently, over on YouTube the clip of the chance meeting has 2.8 million views.

To add further context of where both men were at in their careers, in 1995 Depp was co-starring in Nick of Time alongside Christopher Walken. This came a year after his first Golden Globe-nominated role as Ed Wood in Ed Wood.

In 1995, Carrey, who is just 18 months older than Depp, starred as Riddler in Batman Forever and returned for the sequel Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. By this time he'd already had his own breakout roles in the likes of The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, and the first Ace Ventura: Pet Detective movie the year before.

Both men went on to achieve varying degrees of success with critically acclaimed performances in movies, but both have also endured their own personal troubles and legal battles.

In 2022, Depp was embroiled in a public defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard, while in 2016, Carrey was hit with a wrongful death lawsuit by both the husband and mother of his former girlfriend Cathriona White.

Depp has two new movies scheduled for release in 2023: the animated Johnny Puff Secret Mission, and the biographical La Favorite, in which he'll play King Louis XV of France. After appearing in the 2022 sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Carrey currently has no announced projects scheduled for release, though a third movie is reportedly scheduled for 2024.

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About the writer


Jamie Burton is a Newsweek Senior TV and Film Reporter (Interviews) based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more

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