Caught up as I was in my 9.19 Jim Carrey indifference (“Does anyone really give that much of a hoot if he continues to be a big star or not?”), I went all “meh” on Nikki Finke‘s latest L.A. Weekly column, which details the blow-by-blow of how UTA’s Nick Stevens lost Carrey as a client (largely due to the finaglings & ministations of Carrey’s manager Jimmy Miller). I should’ve paid faster attention. It’s a well reported, extremely tasty story.
Here’s a sample graph: “A furious Stevens confronted Miller and [Carrey’s other manager-at-the-time, Eric Gold): If he were doing such a crappy agenting job for Carrey, then how come his client, Ben Stiller, has never been hotter? The managers responded they felt Stevens favored Stiller over Carrey. The agent told them that was nonsense and contended that the only difference between the two stars was that one had managers and the other didn’t. The acrimony was out in the open: Stevens started ranting on the phone and in e-mails that Miller and Gold were poisoning his relationship with clients.”
But here’s the best portion: “Known for strategic thinking and savvy deal making, [Stevens, Miller and Gold] moved Carrey from TV into movies and jumped his salary from a paltry few hundred thou for Ace Ventura, Pet Detective to an Industry record of $20 mil for The Cable Guy just 18 months later. In turn, Carrey once rewarded them with spankin’ new Porsche 911 Carrera convertibles. But on September 13, Carrey phoned Stevens and said, ‘I’ve never met with another agency. But I’m feeling like it’s time.’ The two haven’t talked since. The next day, Stevens had that Porsche towed and sold. ‘I could never sit in it again after that,’ the agent was overheard to say.'”