Jim Carrey

Eyewitness

By CHRISTOPHER GROVE

Actor Jim Carrey has three reasons why he keeps going back to Universal to make films: "Material, material, material," says the thesp. "They have great people working there and when they find a project they're excited about they commit to it fully."

Carrey has starred in three films for Universal Pictures: "Liar Liar" (directed by friend Tom Shadyac, whose Shady Acres shingle hangs on the U lot), "Man on the Moon" (produced by U-ensconced Jersey Films) and "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christ-mas" (with U production pact partner Imagine Entertainment).

"Ron (Meyer) and Stacey (Snider) are very much about the picture itself. They're not obsessed about the bottom line," Carrey says.

Unlike the days when studio moguls Jack Warner or Louis B. Mayer would breathe down the necks of their employees, no such deal at U.

"There's interaction between us," Carrey continues, "but they're never peeking over your shoulder."

And they're not fair-weather friends, either.

"They were really happy that we made 'Man on the Moon,'" Carrey recalls. "When it didn't do nearly as well (at the box office) as we'd all hoped for, they made it clear that their pride in the work was as high as it had ever been."