NEW YORK -- Jim Carrey is crazy. Crazy in love, that is.

But no, he and the new woman in his life - actress Renee Zellweger - are not engaged. And she's not pregnant. And most of all, he did not moon over her like a teenager on the set of their new movie, Me, Myself and Irene.

Speaking publicly for the first time yesterday about his romance with Zellweger (best known as the single mom who stole Tom Cruise's heart in Jerry Maguire), Carrey appeared relaxed and jovial, though he was coy about the details.

"I think what we are is too special to share with strangers and the world - it's ours," Carrey told reporters during a press conference at a Manhattan hotel where he was helping promote the new film.

"I will say we had the most wonderful, old-fashioned, tremendously something - you - dream - about - happening - but - it - never - happens - anymore type of courtship, and we're having a great time.

"I think she's absolutely a gem of a human being and one of the best actresses I've seen in my life."

Carrey and Zellweger met on the Rhode Island set of the Farrelly brothers' Me, Myself and Irene (due in theatres June 23), but both maintain they didn't begin dating until after the shoot had wrapped.

Peter Farrelly, half of the movie's writing-directing duo, joked earlier in the day that Carrey had been like a lovesick puppy around Zellweger, eventually becoming bummed out when she didn't return his affections.

"He is the mouth of the century," Carrey said of Farrelly. "Jesus Murphy, shut up, man! Shut up!" (In a confiding tone, he joked that Farrelly "likes to tip a few" before doing interviews.)

Carrey is divorced from actress Lauren Holly, whom he met while filming the Farrellys' Dumb and Dumber. But despite the mischievous suggestions of the brothers, Carrey says he didn't sign up for Me, Myself and Irene simply because Zellweger was going to be involved.

"I don't go out to these things hoping like, 'I'm gonna git this one,' " Carrey said. "That's not how I operate."

The movie, which pushes the boundaries of bad taste even further than the Farrellys' There's Something About Mary, sees Carrey playing a Rhode Island state trooper with a split personality. Both of his identities - one meek, one psychotic - fall for Zellweger's Irene.

During yesterday's half-hour press conference, Carrey repeatedly joked with reporters and appeared happy and comfortable. He vows he has exorcised the spirit of Andy Kaufman, referring to his immersion in that character during the filming of Milos Forman's Man On the Moon. That process culminated in a bizarre press conference in which Carrey physically fought with a man dressed as the Kaufman character, Tony Clifton, disrupting the interview and sending reporters' tape recorders flying.

As he was getting settled in, though, Carrey did accidentally knock a tape recorder over with his elbow.

"Oops," he said with a grin, "there I go again."


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