Dumb & Dumber: How Jim Carrey's Salary Went From $350k To $7 Million
Dumb & Dumber To is almost ready for release and although the comedy sequel probably isn't going to live up to expectations (if there were any), at least we've got the Farrelly brothers' promotional jaunt to keep us entertained. The directors were speaking to students at Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television this week and recounted numerous stories about production on the classic 1995 movie, including Jim Carrey's inflated salary.
Peter recalled how Steve Stabler - producer on Dumb & Dumber - offered Jim Carrey $350k to do the original film, which he passed on. Carrey - who was also working on The Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective wanted $400,000 and the studio executives were holding off. A couple of months later, Ace Ventura hit the big-screen and made $107 million on a budget of just fifteen.
"It was a surprise number one, too. I think nobody knew that he was going to be as funny as he was in that," recalled Bobby.
More: everything you need to know about Dumb & Dumber To
The producers went back to Carrey and offered $400,000, though the comedy actor now wanted $500,000.
"Long story short," said Peter, "...it got up to seven million and that's what he got paid. The whole budget was 16 million and Jim got seven, which was the most ever for any comedic actor."
More: Jim Carrey makes spectacular return in Dumb & Dumber To - but who is dumber?
The brothers also spoke about how the studio was against the casting of Jeff Daniels as Harry. Until then, Daniels hadn't made waves in the comedy genre and it was considered a gamble.
"Jeff Daniels was not the obvious choice because he hadn't done any, you know, out and out comedies before that," said Bobby, "He was always comedic in his roles. But we were huge fans of his and Pete in particular loved him in [Something Wild]."
Dumb & Dumber To hits theaters in the U.S on Friday (November 14, 2014).
Watch the Dumb & Dumber To trailer:
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