Carrey Denies Oscar Obsession

Jim Carrey is one of the most successful actors of all time. His films have taken in close to $2 billon in the U.S. alone.

On The Early Show's Home Theater segment, entertainment contributor and People Magazine Senior Editor Jess Cagle says Carrey's "Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events" is being released on DVD.

The film, Cagle observes, gave Carrey his latest tour de force performance, and it certainly paid off. It was his ninth film to cross the blockbuster $100 million mark.

Based on the first three novels in the highly successful "Lemony Snicket" series, "A Series of Unfortunate Events" follows the misadventures of the Baudelaire children: Violet, the inventor; Klaus, the scholar, and Sunny, the biter.

After their parents die in a mysterious fire, they are left in the care of Count Olaf, a distant relative played by Carrey. The evil Olaf plots to kill the children and steal their family fortune.

The film also stars Meryl Streep, who helped set the right tone for Carrey, who told Cagle, "When I get there, I'm going to have a great time. I'm going to walk on the set and say, 'Hey humans, how ya doin'? Let's have fun. Let's play in the sandbox.' When I watched Meryl Streep work on 'Lemony Snicket,' it was such a blast, man. …These people with such experience behind them, and they still play."

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning for best makeup.

After 20 years making films, Carrey says it's still the people behind the scenes who impress him: "I get excited about everyone's work in this kind of situation, because you come on this set and realize nothing is possible without the people that build this stuff. It's always amazing to me. It's just never been any different. I just go on to the set and go, 'Wow.'"Carrey has built a successful career juggling family comedies such as "Lemony Snicket" with more adult films, such as his other 2004 hit, "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

Many pundits expected Carrey to finally receive an Oscar nomination for his restrained performance, but it didn't happen.

It has been widely rumored that he is obsessed with the award, but Carrey says that is one of the biggest misconception about him: "Absolutely not true. Never has been true. I think it's a great thing, and I think it would be a great, wonderful experience to be recognized by the people that you love to work with for the work you love to do. If I ever got an nomination, I'd have to have a paramedic unit standing by, but I've never been obsessed with that."

And Carrey knows what his true legacy will be. "When I'm 70, I know that I have to look forward to people coming up who are 40 and saying, 'Dude, every day I watched that freakin' 'Mask,' man. Every day!' 'Cause I did it to Don Knotts, and I've done it to the people, where I've gone up to people and said, 'You have no idea how happy that thing made me.' "

The two-disc special edition of "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" contains hours of behind-the-scenes footage and hilarious outtakes, Cagle points out.

The DVD is being released by Paramount Home Video, which is owned by Viacom, the same company that owns CBSNews.com.