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The Mask Director Chuck Russell on Jim Carrey, Revisiting Franchise

Chuck Russell (Witchboard) spoke to Bleeding Cool to reflect on the legacy of The Mask, Jim Carrey, and if he would revisit the franchise.

To say 1994 marked a watershed year for Jim Carrey would be an understatement given the success of the two films that vaulted him to superstardom in Warner Bros' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and New Line Cinema's The Mask. Having a front row seat to witness his talents was director Chuck Russell, who was predominantly known as a producer, production manager, and the director of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and The Blob (1988), a remake of the 1958 classic. The pressure was on Carrey to prove he could be a mainstream bankable lead and for Russell to expand out of the horror genre. Fueled by his manic energy, Carrey, who plays the title character and his bumbling alter ego, Stanley Ipkiss, The Mask became box office gold, inspiring merchandise sales, a 1995 animated series, and an ill-fated 2005 spinoff, Son of the Mask. As principal stars Carrey and Cameron Diaz, who made her on-screen debut as love interest and lounge singer Tina Carlyle, expressed interest in returning, Russell spoke to Bleeding Cool on whether he would return to direct a sequel or a possible remake embracing the Dark Horse Comics' darker source material created by Mike Richardson, Doug Mahnke, and John Arcudi.

The Mask: Director Chuck Russell on How Jim Carrey Made the Film Work and If He Would Return Without Him

I know Jim Carrey is synonymous with 'The Mask.' I recall reading about how the original script was more reflective of the darker tone of the Dark Horse Comic? If Jim wasn't interested in returning, would there be a chance you might revisit that franchise and might see that original vision, or is your participation predicated on his involvement?

Absolutely, I love the original Dark Horse comic, but I believe in synchronicity, and at the time, I was a big fan of Jim's 'In Living Color', and was a little ahead of the curve. He is a comic genius, literally like Buster Keaton, still to this day. His ability to do physical comedy is truly unique. I said, "This guy's a living comic already, let's make 'The Mask' a little more comedic." The original comic had very dark humor, and some of those scenes are based on the exact same thing in the original comic.

The original comic was splatter punk, and it limits your audience. 'The Mask' had a wide audience, because I didn't do all the gore. I don't think it's a question of gore; there's an underworld presence in the comic books of bad guys, gangsters, that's much edgier than what I did. I did a little bit of that, but I think you could go darker, and I personally have done the whole range from horror to comedy. I would be very happy to revisit that if we all get ourselves organized to do it.

The Avenue and Highland's Witchboard, which stars Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Jamie Campbell Bower, Melanie Jarnson, Charlie Tahan, and Antonia Desplat, will be released in theaters on August 15th.

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