Jim Carrey was paid $7 million for the original Dumb and Dumber, while his co-star Jeff Daniels — who shared top billing! — made just $50,000. Carrey wasn’t a big star when Dumb and Dumber went into production in 1994 and the comedy’s total budget was just $16 million — so how did he walk away with so much? “They offered him $350,000 to do the movie and he passed,” explains Peter Farrelly.
You’re not missing much. I mean, it’s a 20 year gap in their careers. There’s a gag earlier in the film where Daniels visits Carrey in a nursing home because he’s fallen into a coma for 20 years and then Carrey finally “wakes up” and says it was all a gag. It’s almost like a nod to the Andy Kaufman conspiracy theory that he was faking his death as part of an elaborate real life bit.
Dumb and Dumber is my favorite comedy of all time, but I’ve avoided that sequel like the plague. It looks like it has the budget of an SNL sketch
You’re not missing much. I mean, it’s a 20 year gap in their careers. There’s a gag earlier in the film where Daniels visits Carrey in a nursing home because he’s fallen into a coma for 20 years and then Carrey finally “wakes up” and says it was all a gag. It’s almost like a nod to the Andy Kaufman conspiracy theory that he was faking his death as part of an elaborate real life bit.