Movies - TV
Jim Carrey And Cameron Diaz Caused Some Major Rewrites For The Mask
By JOE ROBERTS
When it came to casting “The Mask,” director Chuck Russell knew that Jim Carrey was the only choice for Stanley Ipkiss but struggled to cast the female lead, Tina Carlyle, until Cameron Diaz auditioned. Then-unknown Diaz was a hit, but her charming personality and the obvious chemistry she shared with Carrey made it necessary to change their character’s arcs.
Tina was originally imagined as a “good girl who’s actually bad,” but according to producer Bob Engelman, “People instantly fell in love with Cameron Diaz, and never saw her as bad. Much of it had to be re-conceived.” Likewise, her character was made the romantic interest of Carrey’s Ipkiss, and the two ultimately get a happy ending.
Likewise, although Carrey was always the go-to for the Ipkiss role, his over-the-top comedic acting led to some script changes. As Engelman recalls, Russell wanted to add more depth to the story, but after test screenings, “the audience didn’t care. They just wanted to get to the fun,” so the team went back and changed the movie to have a happy ending for Ipkiss.