We have enjoyed many movies from Jim Carrey over the years, but in 1994, a movie was released that is still thought to be one of his best. It is The Mask, and along with Jim Carrey, you can see Cameron Diaz, Peter Green, and Peter Riegert. Admittedly, this movie isn’t to everybody’s liking but the comedy of Jim Carrey definitely shows through from the beginning till the end. It has become a cult classic and people are still loving it today, just as much as they did in 1994.
Although you may know a lot about the movie, there are likely some things that went on behind-the-scenes that you are not aware of. We have compiled 20 of the most interesting and unknown facts about The Mask, and have shared them with you on this page. Enjoy.
1/20. The banana-yellow suit that Jim Carrey wears is based on a suit which his mother made for him for his first attempt at stand-up comedy.
2/20. Even after he was offered $10 million, Jim Carrey said he wouldn’t do a Mask sequel. But then has recently been quoted as saying I think I should be a part of one of my sequels, finally. I am in the mood to revisit a couple of things that I did. Kids are coming up to me about The Mask and Ace and all these things constantly. You know, [it’s a new] generation [of fans].
3/20. The oversized teeth on the Mask character were originally to be used only during silent scenes. However, Jim Carrey learned to talk with them on to make his character that much more wacky.
4/20. Prior to Cameron Diaz landing the role of Tina Carlyle, the producers had originally suggested Anna Nicole Smith for the role. Ultimately the decision was reversed when they found Diaz while leaving a modeling agency. She had to audition 12 times, and landed the role in just 7 days before the start of filming.
5/20. Chuck Russell revealed that a lot of money was saved on special effects after Jim Carrey was cast. Carrey’s body movements were so flexible and cartoonish, they didn’t see the need to enhance them digitally.
6/20. In the film, Loki is called the god of evil. However, given the nature of Loki is true enough in Norse mythology, its distinctive features are the essence of duplicity, resourcefulness, cunning and guile.
7/20. The nightclub “Coco Bongo”, where Jim Carrey goes in this movie, is also the name of his nightclub in Cancun, Mexico.
8/20. The part when Jim Carrey is being chased by the gangsters and pulls the wet condom out of his pocket and says, “Sorry wrong pocket,” was improvised by Carrey.
9/20. Many of the moves in Tina’s nightclub act are directly taken from Red’s nightclub act in the Tex Avery cartoon Red Hot Riding Hood (1943), a portion of which Stanley watches at the beginning of the movie.
10/20. The main thing that attracted Jim Carrey to the project was the chance for him to act out some of his favorite cartoon characters. The Mask’s various personas reflect different cartoon characters: the Tasmanian Devil, when he does the whirlwind spin down the street, Pepe Le Pew when he’s putting the moves on Tina, Tex Avery’s nightclub wolf when he first sees Tina, and Bugs Bunny when he’s pretending to die in the gangster’s arms.
11/20. The interior shot of the garage where Jim Carrey gets ripped off by the mechanics for his car is the same location as the firehouse from Ghostbusters (1984).
12/20. Cameron Diaz’s singing voice in the film was dubbed by Susan Boyd.
13/20. The Mask asks, “Where’s a camcorder when you need it?” when police surround him. This is a veiled reference to the Rodney King beating, being one of the first, most notable incidents of police misconduct captured by private citizens on a camcorder.
14/20. Jim Carrey based his character on his father.
15/20. The Mask’s exclamation of “That’s a spicy meatball!” after swallowing the bomb is quoting a famous commercial for Alka-Seltzer, in which an actor had to eat meatballs for over 60 takes because he couldn’t deliver this line.
16/20. Based on a Dark Horse comic book series of the same name, which frequently comprised very dark horror stories on how the mask would murder people with cartoon antics. Chuck Russell has said that the movie script started off in that tone before being transformed as a vehicle for Jim Carrey’s unique comedy.
17/20. Jim Carrey was paid $450,000 for his work in the film, a huge bargain for New Line because the deal was signed before Ace Aventura: Pet Detective (1994) became a surprise hit, and made The Mask a hot property for the summer 1994 release schedule; Carrey then inked a $7 million deal before this film opened to star in Dumb & Dumber (1994).
18/20. When Ipkiss puts the mask on in his apartment, and becomes a whirlwind, lightning strikes in the background revealing a back lit image of his skeleton. The viewer will need to play the movie in slow motions as the scene is only 1/10th of a second long.
19/20. The DVD contains two deleted scenes. One was an introduction with the Vikings coming to bury the Mask on the shore, while another was in the warehouse after Peggy turns Stanley over to Dorian; he picks her up and throws her into the printing press, with a newspaper printing out that shows her smashed face and says she died that night.
20/20. It helped change movie critics’ opinions of Jim Carrey. The Mask was Carrey’s best reviewed film of 1994 and changed Roger Ebert’s opinion from calling him a hyper goon in his review of Ace Ventura, he gave it only one star, to declaring that Carrey delivered a joyful performance in The Mask.