Jeff Daniels is a celebrated Emmy-winning, Tony and Golden Globe-nominated actor of the stage and screen who is known for many incredible performances over the years. Yet many fans still associate him with his role in the 1994 comedy, Dumb and Dumber.
He was as committed to the role of Harry Dunne in the film as he was to any drama that came before it, and that fact paired with his comedic timing and chemistry with co-star Jim Carrey made it one of his best movies. But his team of agents were not convinced that this was the best move for his career.
In a recent interview with USA Today in celebration of the film’s 30th anniversary, Daniels explained that the script was not in line with the “serious actor” his agents wanted him to be at the time:
“I had agents, who weren’t wrong, telling me, ‘You’re a serious actor. This is not the direction you need to be going. We’re going to stop this and get you off this movie.’ But I wanted to shake it up with a comedy. And I wanted to work with Jim Carrey.”
Daniels admitted that he feared his agents might’ve been right when it came time to film one of the film’s most disgusting and memorable set pieces, in which Harry unknowingly drinks a laxative-spiked tea and ends up having a blowout on the toilet. The actor knew such a scene would be a make-or-break moment for his career.
“It’s one thing to read the toilet scene, but then the day comes, and we’re actually going to do the toilet scene. I told Jim [Carrey], ‘This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it.’ Jim, who is fearless, told me, ‘It’s going to be great. You’ve just got to go all the way with it.’ That was a couple hours of porcelain gymnastics. And that close-up when they pop in tight on my red face. I had been doing it so long, I had almost passed out.”
Daniels said he later heard praise for the scene from none other than Clint Eastwood. The two were golfing together at a celebrity tournament when Eastwood pulled Daniels aside.
“Clint says to me, ‘I just saw Dumb and Dumber and you know, the toilet scene? That happened to me. And then he tells a story about dating this woman that he really wanted to impress, but the shellfish hit him the wrong way from lunch.”
“I did my job, beyond my job,” Daniels concluded. “In terms of comedic scenes, that toilet scene will probably outlive us. It will be funny 40 years from now.” I bet it will. That movie is so hilarious. It (mostly) holds up, and is making a new generation laugh 30 years later.
via: Variety
Jessica Fisher
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