Crash and Carrey

11/27/1998 at 12:00 AM EST

Did Jim Carrey really freak out or was it Method acting? That's what journalists -- and even studio executives -- are asking themselves after the comic actor, who stars in the new Andy Kaufman film bio "Man on the Moon," went berserk during a weekend press junket at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Carrey told the L.A. Times that in playing the late Kaufman, "You completely lose yourself." And that's exactly what he did when he began slapping another actor, Bob Zmuda, after Zmuda crashed the press conference (in costume as one of Kaufman's comic creations, foul-mouthed lounge singer Tony Clifton). Zmuda also referred to the star as "Drew Carey." He then reportedly spraypainted a hotel door and behaved so badly that Carrey started wrestling with him. At one point, Carrey swept reporters' tape recorders off a table and stormed out of the room. He came back 30 minutes later, insisting that the melee was not a publicity stunt. Universal Pictures, which is releasing "Moon," confirmed Carrey's statement.