Jim Carrey, ring any bells? Well, the actor has become a household name with his enthusiastic slapstick performances that ended his struggling era in Hollywood. Just like many actors, he too had to face his share of rejections before he made it into the entertainment world in 1990 with the help of In Living Color.
From then on, his acting cycle geared up real quick, establishing him as a star through films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. Despite making a name for himself by the end of 1994, he was still not considered renowned enough to star in the Toy Story franchise.
Why 1995’s Toy Story Rejected Jim Carrey?
Jim Carrey was a rising star in the 1990s all thanks to him giving his best performances in 1994 which was enough to show the real caliber he held in the industry. However, he was still not successful and famous enough in the eyes of the House of Mouse to get him onboard for the 1995 project, Toy Story.
It was the first entirely computer-animated feature film with a screenplay written by Joss Whedon among 3 other talented writers. After the immense success of the animated film, he spilled the beans on why the former was unable to bag a part in the film.
“We were still casting. Ironically, Disney put the kibosh on the person they wanted for Buzz Lightyear because he wasn’t famous enough, so we couldn’t use Jim Carrey.”
As per the writer, Tom Hanks was already “in place” for voicing toy cowboy, Sheriff Woody. However, this is just one of the several stories circulated around the Internet regarding his connection to the Disney project.
Meanwhile, Carrey was being considered to voice the role of Buzz Lightyear which unfortunately never came to fruition. The role eventually featured the voice of Tim Allen whose impression has now been forever imprinted in our hearts. However, the reason to not include Carrey in the franchise was quite surprising since he had reached quite a great level of fame when The Mask was released.
The 1994 Era Changed Jim Carrey’s Career!
Before 1994, Carrey was just making ends meet by trying to survive in the vast ocean of Hollywood. But his three consecutive releases changed the entire trajectory of his career.
After making quite an energetic splash in In Living Color, he landed his first leading project, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective which he also co-wrote, ultimately bagging a paycheck of $450,000 (as per Variety). It also kickstarted his star era which put him in the public eye. His next film, The Mask turned out to be a great success racking over $350 million worldwide, thus strengthening his prominence further.
Even his film co-star, Cameron Diaz reflected on her time working with the actor stating,
“Jim was the best, we had the best time. It was kind of the end of his innocence in a way, he hadn’t become Jim Carrey. There wasn’t all that with him at the time. We were kind of all free.”
She emphasized that they were able to enjoy the process much more since he hadn’t gained the top-star recognition he is known for today. With Dumb and Dumber, his prominence and salary hiked to greater heights thus establishing him among the popular actors of the 1990s era.
Source: TheDisneyBlog
