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Jim Carrey wanted to make a 'Dumb and Dumber' found footage horror flick
So you're telling us there's a chance of this still happening?
Last week, SYFY WIRE exclusively reported that Jim Carrey had interest in making a Bruce Almighty sequel where put-upon Buffalo reporter Bruce Nolan gained the powers of Satan. The movie (conceived by Bruce screenwriters, Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe) never got off the ground, although it sounds like Carrey never lost his enthusiasm for gonzo movie pitches.
During a writers' roundtable hosted by The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker Daniel Kwan (co-writer and director of the multiversal hit, Everything Everywhere All at Once) recalled how Carrey once reached out to him and creative partner, Daniel Scheinert, early on in their Hollywood careers to make a found footage horror movie on the set of 2014's Dumb and Dumber To.
No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.
RELATED: Jim Carrey almost got Satan's powers in unmade 'Bruce Almighty' sequel 'Brucifer'
"He had just seen Paranormal Activity and was like, 'Guys, it’s found footage and it’s horror — have you seen it?' And we were like, 'Uh-huh, we’ve heard of it. Where is this going?' And he was like, 'I haven’t seen anyone do that — but with comedy. And I have this great idea,'" Kwan said. Apparently, the genesis of the idea went back to Carrey's experience on the production of the 1994 original, which partly took place at The Stanley Hotel, an allegedly haunted establishment that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining.
"He’s like, 'The whole time we were shooting, things were breaking, people were getting hurt, doors were swinging, and it felt haunted,'" Kwan continued. "'We’re going to shoot Dumb and Dumber To, and I want you guys to do a found-footage horror comedy on the set. While we’re filming, you guys are going to make a feature-length, behind-the-scenes video that slowly becomes a horror film.'"
Kwan and Scheinert — who also wrote and directed 2016's offbeat gem, Swiss Army Man — loved the idea and swiftly came up with an outline. Reality broke down the door when they finally sat down with one of the Dumb and Dumber To producers. "We pitched the idea, and they’re like, 'We’re not actually going to make this. I’m sorry, Jim got really excited, but there’s no way the studio is going to let us do a movie while they’re shooting Dumb and Dumber To.' And we were like, 'OK...''
If you subscribe to the many-worlds interpretation, then there is a reality out there where this strange horror experiment actually became a reality. Sadly, it's not this one, especially since Carrey announced his intention to retire from acting.
"I’m being fairly serious,” he told Access Hollywood earlier this year, going on to add that it'd take a damn good script to woo him back. "If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s gonna be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break ... This is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists...I have enough. I've done enough. I am enough."
In the mood for some classic Jim Carrey antics? Liar Liar and Bruce Almighty are now streaming on Peacock.
