How I Feel About “The Mask – And Jim Carrey!”
That picture says it all: I love “The Mask”, the hilarious 1994 film starring Jim Carrey…and love the Actor as well, who celebrated his 63rd birthday on January 17th…this is a moment I captured with him once that I wanted to share:
That’s Jim having fun with the camera when he was doing early promotion for what would be a worldwide smash hit, “The Mask!”
You see, E! Host Michael Castner and I saw the film with Carrey months before it opened around the world!
We were at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival – and I always documented our adventures as much as I could – some of the best times ever!
Welcome To Cannes!
The world’s most prestigious film festival takes place every May in the sleepy French Riviera town of Cannes France.
That year, Jim Carrey was at the festival to promote a new film he had, following the surprise box office success of “Ace Venutra: Pet Detective” a few months earlier – his new film wouldn’t open round the world for five more months – in fact, in three scenes the visual effects were still temporary – but since the entire world’s film press was there, so was he!
So that’s how Michael and I ended up on the beach in small plastic chairs interviewing the funniest man in the world – and we spoke to Cameron Diaz as well – it was her movie debut!
We have her first TV interview for the film – plus Michael and Jim’s walk along the French Riviera – here is the classic clip from our interview with the Comic genius:
This 1994 film was a smash hit, and turned the Comedian into the hottest star in the world!
The plot has a minimal setup: the meek and mild-mannered Bank clerk Stanley Ipkiss is transformed into a manic superhero when he finds a mysterious mask – and puts it on to wildly hilarious results.
Here’s the trailer for “The Mask”:
Here’s a fun fact about the movie: the iconic banana-yellow suit that Jim Carrey wears is based on a suit his mother made for him for his first attempt at stand-up comedy!
By the way, this was Cameron Diaz’s first acting role. She was also in Cannes and was very sweet when we met her as well. Even in that overwhelming environment, she had poise and grace – and has exhibited those same traits every time I met her afterwards.
Both of them were so young at the time: Jim Carrey was 31 and Cameron Diaz was 21 when they made the film.
It was all part of the terrific times we had going to Cannes every year, like the time we spoke to the world’s biggest star – that’s me on the left, watching Michael interview Arnold Schwarzenegger behind The Carlton Hotel:
If you want to know how this little press gathering went HORRIBLY OFF THE RAILS, click on my story here!
One of my favorite memories of Cannes was when we took Joan and Melissa Rivers there to shoot a Fashion Review!
They were two of the most fun people we ever took to the south fo France, and if you want to know how we shot an entire one hour special on the dock of the iconic Carlton Hotel, just click here:
Back to Carrey: there are so many ways to celebrate his career: from more serious performances in “The Truman Show” to his latest smash hit “Sonic The Hedgehog 3” – but there is one film that has a very warm spot in my culinary heart:
Yep, his wacky wacky wacky comedy “Dumb & Dumber” is a love letter to food – click here for more examples!
My blogging friend Bradley shared this Jim Carrey birthday story yesterday, celebrating the film that made Carrey a star – check it out here:
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Categories: Bloopers, Cannes Film Festival, Comedy Movies, Cult Movies, Film Fight Club, Great Films, Hollywood, Movies, Pop Culture, Talent/Celebrities, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, TV Show
johnrieber 
what a blast all of this is! I see him as a natural comic genius, and it sure shows up in his films, I’m guessing he did some improv here and there – happy birthday to Jim!
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You’ve had some of the most amazing experiences, John. Jim Carrey is one of the most talented comedians of all time and he is so much more. And I won’t lie, when I saw Diaz in THE MASK, I thought she was the most beautiful woman in this world. Thanks for sharing these beautiful moments with us.
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I recently watched it and it is as you say hilarious…..chuq
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I had never seen this until I met Julie in the year 2000. Her kids had a VHS tape of this film and ‘Ace Ventura’, and we watched them together one night. I thought the effects were really clever.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I will never forget his interview with us which was so much fun – and seeing the film where the “mask” hadn’t been added to some scenes so we saw him holding his empty hands as if the mask was in it…he has always been funny, gracious and giving in all of our interviews….thanks for sharing that Pete – cheers!
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