Bobby and Peter Farrelly, better known as the Farrelly Brothers, had to keep the title of their debut movie a secret in order to generate interest in it. To avoid being rejected, the script for “Dumb & Dumber” was frequently sent to studios and agents with the subject line “A Power Tool is Not a Toy.” Everything for the Farrelly Brothers altered after the movie’s 1994 box office breakthrough. They would go on to become a comic powerhouse, releasing numerous successes in the 1990s and 2000s, such as “There’s Something About Mary” and “Me, Myself & Irene.”
But “Dumb & Dumber” is much than just the outrageous antics of best buddies and would-be worm growers Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne. The daring buddy comedy upended Hollywood’s preconceptions about the genre while simultaneously widening the wage gap for its top performers. The “Ace Venture: Pet Detective” star made 140 times as much money as his co-star Jeff Daniels thanks to the Farrelly Brothers’ audacious choice to pair a non-comedic actor with a budding Jim Carrey.
The studio never wanted Jeff Daniels
The Farrelly Brothers reportedly tried for four years to get actors for “Dumb and Dumber” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The script was presented to Jim Carrey after more than 100 performers declined the movie, mostly due to the title. According to Peter Farrelly,
“We had hoped that someone would someday read the script and completely respond to it the way [Jim Carrey] did. We therefore believed that this man would be ideal for the job because, when we met with him, he seemed to understand it just as we did.”
After a protracted search, Carrey was chosen to play Lloyd Christmas, but the Farrelly Brothers’ job was far from over. The filmmaking team wanted Jeff Daniels to play Harry Dunne (after Nicolas Cage turned them down). However, New Line Cinema didn’t. In actuality, the studio informed the producers, “Please, let’s not have him. Find a comedian now.”
Daniels’ performance in the 1986 film “Something Wild” and the chemistry he shared with Carrey were the main reasons the brothers were enthusiastic about hiring him as Harry. The studio ultimately gave in and extended the tiniest olive branch. They made Daniels a $50,000 offer for the job with the expectation that he would reject the pitiful sum. Daniels agreed to the amount because she was eager to collaborate with Carrey.
Due to Jim Carrey’s surprising rise to fame, the wage gap will soon widen even further.
Jim Carrey was supposed to make a lot less
The timing of Carrey’s large salary for “Dumb and Dumber” was fortunate. He reportedly only expected to receive $350,000 for the movie. Although the agreement was reached, it was never finalised, and overnight, Carrey rose to stardom. Unexpectedly, “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” became the top-grossing movie; as a result, Carrey’s wage demands increased each week the movie was at the top.
With increased negotiating power, Carrey was able to secure the highest salary of any comedy performer at the time—up to $7 million. Nearly half of the movie’s $16 million budget was represented by this sum. Given that the money being spent was the studio’s money rather than their own, the Farrelly Brothers didn’t take it personally. By Peter Farrelly
“Yes, the studio is irrelevant to us. The performers should always be given as much as possible. We hope they succeed in getting it.”
The Farrelly Brothers declined to make another “Dumb & Dumber” film without Carrey and Daniels because they were so pleased with their casting. Before returning to the series with the 2014 sequel “Dumb and Dumber To,” which brought Carrey and Daniels back together, they passed on the 2003 prequel “Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd.” Daniels undoubtedly earned significantly more than $50,000 the second time around given that she was earning $150,000 per episode for HBO’s “Newsroom” at the time the sequel was produced.
