Netflix bags Jim Carrey’s ode to Andy Kaufman

Streaming service Netflix has acquired a documentary about Jim Carrey’s relationship with late comedian Andy Kaufman, and has closed another deal as well.

The deal for Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obliged Mention of Tony Clifton has come out of the Toronto International FilM Festival, which is running this month.

Separately at the event, Netflix secured exclusive rights to road movie Kodachrome, which stars Elisabeth Olsen, Jason Sudeikis and Ed Harris.

Jim & Andy… follows how Carrey, who is executive producer of current Showtime series I’m Dying Up Here, approached a performance as Kaufman in a 1999 feature biopic.

It uses around 100 hours of footage shot on the set of Man on the Moon documenting how comic actor and stand up Carrey completely transformed into Kaufman – and the late cult comic’s alter ego – while on the shoot, and what he thinks about the experience 18 years later.

Jim & Andy… comes from Vice Media’s feature doc division Vice Documentary Films, with Spike Jonze and producing along with Danny Gabai and Brendan Fitzgerald. Chris Smith is the director.

“For almost two decades this brilliant performance from Jim Carrey has resonated with audiences and fans of Kaufman’s, but the story behind the film – a true piece of entertainment history has remained largely unknown,” said Lisa Nishimura, VP of original documentaries for Netflix.

“Chris Smith and Spike Jonze have masterfully unearthed and explored Jim’s complex and artful creative process, hurling audiences right into the mind of a genius.”