Jim Carrey withdraws support from 'Kick-Ass 2' over too much violence

Jim Carrey portraying named Colonel Stars and Stripes in a scene from "Kick-Ass 2." (AP / Universal Pictures, Daniel Smith)

NEW YORK -- Jim Carrey is distancing himself from his own movie, saying the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre changed his perspective on the violence in his upcoming action comedy "Kick-Ass 2."

The actor filmed his part in the superhero vigilante film a month before December's mass shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults. But weeks before it opens in theatres, Carrey took the highly unusual step of condemning the violence of a film he stars in.

"Now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence," Carrey said Sunday on Twitter.

He apologized to others in the film and added: "I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart."

"Kick-Ass 2" is a sequel to the 2010 movie whose breakout star was the 11-year-old fighting machine Hit-Girl, played by Chloe Grace Moretz. She reprises the role in the sequel, which Universal Pictures will release Aug. 16. Carrey plays a vigilante named Colonel Stars and Stripes.

A spokesman for Universal said the studio declined to comment. But a producer on the film, Mark Millar, who wrote the "Kick-Ass" comic books the movies are based on, responded in a lengthy blog post saying he's "baffled" by Carrey's announcement.

"Yes, the body count is very high, but a movie called 'Kick-Ass 2' really has to do what it says on the tin," wrote Millar. "A sequel to the picture that gave us Hit-Girl was always going to have some blood on the floor and this should have been no shock to a guy who enjoyed the first movie so much."

Millar said the film "isn't a documentary," and questioned whether violence in fiction is connected to real-life violence "any more than Harry Potter casting a spell creates more boy wizards."

Carrey was outspoken about gun violence following the Sandy Hook shooting. In February when gun sales were increasing, he tweeted that anyone "who would run out to buy an assault rifle after the Newtown massacre has very little left in their body or soul worth protecting."