Yet another Jim Carrey movie has been put in the circular file. The catchily titled A Little Game Without Consequence, which was to have reunited him with Mask co-star Cameron Diaz, has fallen to pieces shortly before filming was to begin. Diaz and director Gabriele Muccino have also left the project.The Hollywood Reporter has the details:
Sources cited problems with the script as the principal reason for the departures. The script was said to have gone in a different direction than the actors expected when they became involved. Allan Loeb ("Things We Lost in the Fire") penned a draft of the screenplay based on a play by Jean Dell and Gerald Sibleyras, which also was turned into the 2004 French film "Un petit jeu sans consequence," written by Bernard Rapp. Muccino wrote the most recent draft.
"The script was said to have gone in a different direction" is, of course, Hollywood code for "the studio wanted a big finale where Carrey proposed while hanging out of a blimp with an orangutan sidekick."
This is the third stalled vehicle in a row for Carrey. After previously seeing the plug pulled on Used Guys, a co-starring vehicle with Ben Stiller, due to budget concerns, he saw Ripley's Belive It Or Not!, a proposed collaboration with Tim Burton, put on hold. With a Lemony Snicket sequel looking unlikely, a Bruce Almighty sequel in the works without him, and both the Dumb & Dumber and Mask franchises trucking on without him, this can only mean one thing: Time to pull those Ace Ventura shorts out of mothballs and remember how to talk out his ass.