Studio Execs Wanted To Cut One Of Jim Carrey's Most Iconic Movie Scenes

Back in 1994, if you'd pitched a comedy from the director of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" starring a relatively unknown Canadian comedian, you'd probably be asked to promptly leave the New Line offices. But somehow, that exact film not only got made but became a beloved classic among 90s kids, introducing a generation to the unforgettable comedic stylings of Jim Carrey and becoming a foundational piece of culture for anyone there to witness its arrival. Adding to the unlikeliness of "The Mask" and its surprise success was the fact it contained several musical numbers which saw the characters participate in show-stopping song and dance sequences. If New Line executives had their way, however, none of those scenes would have been in the final cut.

In Forbes' oral history of the movie, director Chuck Russell spoke about the "unique spirit" of "The Mask," and specifically highlighted the "music and dance" aspects, which evidently "sort of shocked New Line when they first saw the cut of the movie." According to Russell, the suits encouraged him to cut one song and dance number in particular, telling the director, "This is not a musical," to which Russell replied, "You gotta have the music." 

The musical interlude in question was the sequence in which Carrey's Stanley Ipkiss, having transformed into the Mask, distracts an entire police force with a rendition of the title song from 1946 American musical comedy "Cuban Pete." Not only does the scene showcase some of the best physical comedy in the entire movie, it contains some impressive CGI that was ahead of its time. Plus, it was just a darn good time, proving that while executives might be right some of the time, they know as much as anybody else about what will work on-screen.

The "Cuban Pete" scene is remarkable for the fact Jim Carrey fought the flu while filming. Not that you'd be able to tell. The man was firing on all cylinders for this sequence, in which he finds himself confronted with the entire Edge City police force. To escape, he launches into "Cuban Pete," casting a spell on the officers, who immediately lay down arms as they're overcome by the infectious latin rhythms. It's a real spectacle of a scene that allows Carrey to shine as only he can while also being a visually striking moment that harkens back to the Old Hollywood days from which The Mask himself draws inspiration.

Production designer Craig Stearns told Forbes that he and his team used the Warner Bros. backlot for this scene due to its "older, '40s New York-y kind of feel." He continued, "We went in there and we dressed it up with all this neon and we gave it a big flashy look. It had a lot of visuals and color to it." With such eye-catching visuals, you might expect the New Lines bosses to have been thrilled. But according to Chuck Russell, the studio suits were "shocked" when they first saw it. To hear producer Robert Engelman tell it, however, it was seeing the musical scenes that actually convinced New Line to leave Russell to it. "There was one point where the studio was questioning the dance and whether it should be cut out of the movie," said Engelman, who went on to say that simply seeing the final product was enough to change their minds. "I went to Bob Shaye [founder of New Line] and said, 'Just preview it.' And it was everyone's favorite scene."

It seems both Chuck Russell and David Engelman had different recollections of what exactly made New Line so jumpy. Either the executives saw the movie, complete with the "Cuban Pete" scene, and didn't like it, or they heard about the music and got nervous. If it was, indeed, the former, you can sort of see where the studio heads might have been coming from. 

Jim Carrey is an absolute wild man in the scene, taking his already animated antics to a whole new level. To be sure, that's what he should have been doing, and for every kid who saw the final result, it made for some of the most mesmerizing, hilarious, and memorable moments in "The Mask." But you've gotta wonder what everyone on set was thinking when Carrey was actually performing this stuff for the first time. When "The Mask" was filming, Carrey's breakout, "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" was yet to debut, and as cinematographer on that now beloved comedy, Julio Macat, put it, (via The Ringer) "The stuff he was doing was so over the top I truly thought this was gonna be the biggest piece s*** ever." Even Carrey knew audiences would either love or hate "Ace Ventura." 

It wouldn't be a stretch to imagine the New Line suits had similar concerns about "The Mask," given that Carrey's unique brand of humor was yet to be embraced by the masses. The combination of his outlandish antics during the "Cuban Pete" scene and the musical aspect of it all likely combined to spook the execs. But then, they'd already green-lit a comedy starring an unknown Canadian and directed by the man behind "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors," so they couldn't have been all that worried.