The very first picture of Jim Carrey playing Dr. Ivo Robotnik in the live action Sonic the Hedgehog movie has been leaked.
Appearing notably less rotund than the cunning Dr. Eggman villain of the classic Sega Mega Drive game, Carrey’s Robotnik also has a less excessive moustache and a full head of hair.
The picture was leaked by Sega fan account @SEGAbits, who noted that the leaked picture matches haircut-wise with an Instagram pic Carrey had claimed showed his Dr. Robotnik hair.
This leak comes just one day before the first trailer of Sonic the Hedgehog is due to arrive, no doubt doing a loop-the-loop zoom landing straight into our social media streams.
Rumor: First look at Robotnik in the #SonicMovie, trailer releases tomorrow pic.twitter.com/IMf4pjQX6U
— SEGAbits (@SEGAbits) April 29, 2019
Here is Jim’s haircut he posted on Instagram, citing it was for the role of Robotnik. This cut matches the rumored trailer image. pic.twitter.com/LmFDZFsvT7
— SEGAbits (@SEGAbits) April 29, 2019
The authenticity of the leak was later confirmed by Birth.Movies.Death editor Scott Wampler, who had reportedly already seen two trailers at CinemaCon. One of these trailers was apparently ‘entirely focused on Carrey as Robotnik’.
According to Wampler:
He’s [Carrey] playing the character in what I would describe as “late 90’s Jim Carrey mode”.
Now, this iconic ‘mode’ will either prove to be good news or bad news depending on your own sense of humour.
Carrey’s wackiness has long divided audiences into those rolling around the aisles with laughter, and those left stonefaced with agonized irritation. Personally, I’m pretty pleased.
Can confirm that's real. We saw two trailers at CinemaCon, one which was entirely focused on Carrey as Robotnik. He's playing the character in what I would describe as "late 90's Jim Carrey mode". https://t.co/t0HHJzy43s
— Scott Wampler™ (@ScottWamplerBMD) April 29, 2019
Those of us who spent hours upon hours of our childhoods trying to defeat Dr. Robotnik – and his little hovering spacecraft! – have plenty of feelings about this new take on the egg-shaped mastermind.
One Twitter user noted:
He apparently looks closer to his game design as the film goes on since its meant to be something of an origin story. It would be great if they ever released the trailer that showed this.
Another approved:
Personally, this is probably the best looking character in this entire movie; Sonic looks like ass and no one cares about Tom the cop! He’s clearly does not look like the og Dr. Robotnic, but I still like how he looks and I’m a huge Jim Carrey fan!
He apparently looks closer to his game design as the film goes on since its meant to be something of an origin story. It would be great if they ever released the trailer that showed this
— 🐻Hiber seep🐻 (@HypraSeaPea) April 29, 2019
How can a cheaply made fan costume look so much better than the official one? pic.twitter.com/n195fjSUMl
— CatBit (@ToonMation) April 29, 2019
If this is real, I'm not a fan. It looks like the typical adaptation cop out, of making the actor look kind of like the character, but not really (See the X-Men movies). I actually really like this fan made image and think he would look awesome like this. pic.twitter.com/AIcWESl3WC
— KALE (@Hal11K) April 29, 2019
Personally, this is probably the best looking character in this entire movie; Sonic looks like ass and no one cares about Tom the cop! He’s clearly does not look like the og Dr. Robotnic, but I still like how he looks and I’m a huge Jim Carrey fan!
— Nin10Do_Man64 (@Nin10doMan64) April 30, 2019
A dab hand at playing zany villains – his portrayal of dastardly Count Olaf in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) was genuinely laugh out loud – Carrey could well be the perfect actor to entrust with Robotnik’s megalomaniacal energy.
Sonic the Hedgehog has a US release date scheduled for November 8, 2019.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.