Before Swiss Army Man and Everything Everywhere All at Once, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (known collectively as "Daniels") were approached by Jim Carrey to shoot a found footage horror film behind the scenes of Dumb and Dumber To.
"Very early in our careers, Jim Carrey reached out," Kwan told the Hollywood Reporter during the outlet's annual Writers Roundtable. "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 then delved into Dumb and Dumber's connection to The Shining that inspired Carrey's idea of a found-footage horror comedy. "Basically, the set of Dumb and Dumber was famously a haunted set -- it was in the same hotel that The Shining was inspired by -- and [Jim's] like, 'The whole time we were shooting, things were breaking, people were getting hurt, doors were swinging, and it felt haunted. 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.' We're like, 'OK, we're in. This is amazing.'"
Despite the Daniels' eagerness to work with Carrey, their partnership proved dead on arrival. "We wrote a whole outline and were really excited," Kwan said. "Then we sat down with the producer, 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 …'"
Dumb and Dumber's Surprising Connection to The Shining
As Kwan points out, the Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for The Shining's Overlook Hotel, was also used in Dumb and Dumber. While shooting the latter, Carrey stayed in the supposedly haunted room 217 -- the same room that author Stephen King and his wife stayed in and on which the author based The Shining's infamous room 237. Though Carrey has not shared the specifics of his stay, he is said to have only occupied room 217 for a few hours before spooky events forced him to leave.
While a horror comedy from Carrey and the Daniels may sound like a missed opportunity to some fans, any future partnership between the actor and the directors may be equally fraught. Carrey announced his intentions to retire ahead of the release for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, in which the actor reprised his villainous role as Doctor Robotnik. Meanwhile, the Daniels' are at the beginning of their professional filmmaking careers, rising to prominence with this year's Everything Everywhere All at Once, which opened just a week before Sonic 2. The Daniels' sophomore effort is A24's highest-grossing feature to date and is considered a frontrunner in several major awards season categories, recently receiving a leading eight nominations at the Independent Film Spirit Awards.
Source: THR