This one pretty much speaks for itself and yes, while we love Spike Jonze, we’re kind of glad this one didn’t happen.
Bono: I kind of always knew, actually. Yeah. [Spike] pitched an idea… [laughs] I’ll tell you this just as I go. He didn’t know I was calling him, I called him in his car because I had heard he was on his way to Warner Bros. I called him up as Bugs Bunny. And it kind of freaked him out a little bit. He’s going, [as high-pitched Spike]: “Who is this? Who is this?” And I’m going, [as Bugs]: “What’s up Doc? It’s Bono.” He said, “Bono?!?” I had never met him before, and I asked him would he make us a video. The song was called “Last Night on Earth.” And he called me back and he goes, “I got an idea! OK. Right. It’s like, you’re in a forest, the band are in a forest, and it’s lit like a rock video. You know those kind of lights late at night in the forest that they have in rock videos?” I said, “Yeah, I think I do.” “OK. The band are there: Larry… Adam… and Edge. And you’re in the rock video with the lighting. Now, there is an apartment—one of those kind of penthouse apartments that you see in rock videos.
And Bono is wandering through on the phone, it’s late at night, looking at the window, like the rock video.” And I said, “Yeah, I got it. This sounds great so far, Spike.” And he says, “OK. You want to get to the point?” I said, “Yes.” “All right. It’s not Bono. It’s Jim Carrey.” [silence] “Jim Carrey is gonna play you. Do you like that?” [laughs] I said, “Yes, I do. You mean, I can take the day off?” And he says, “And he comes down from the apartment, he goes through the forest to find the band.” [laughs] I mean, look. Truly, a remarkable spirit. A nicely anarchic, nicely romantic figure in film.
Via THR. True story: Mark Romanek directed Weezer’s “El Scorcho” video, but Spike Jonze actually pitched a version first that involved Public Enemies’ Flavor Flav way before he became a reality TV star/has-been.
