If you can believe it, it has been 26 years since Dumb and Dumber was released. As old as that might make you feel, it is incredible to witness just how timeless this movie has become.
More than two decades later, and this movie is as iconic as ever.
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Here are some behind the scenes secrets that fans don’t know!
1. It was Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s first movie.
Although the two created the screenplay years beforehand, it took some time for the project to come to fruition.
They eventually brought the idea to Eddie Murphy’s production company, and the rest is history .
2. New Line Cinema was against Jeff Daniels playing the role of Harry.
“Jeff Daniels was not the obvious choice because he hadn’t done any, you know, out and out comedies before that,” Bobby Farrelly recalled back in 2014 speaking to Hollywood Reporter .
3. Jeff’s agents didn’t want him to be apart of the movie either.
“‘We’re begging you, not to do this,'” he recalled his agents telling him to the Hollywood Reporter .
“There were three agents on the phone the night before I was to fly the next morning to do wardrobe for Dumb and Dumber .”
“Three agents, one in New York, two in L.A. The two in L.A. were going, ‘We’re gonna stop you. You’re not going to do this. You’re a serious, important actor, we’re trying to get you to the Oscars, you keep defeating us, so stop doing that—and this will be the end of your career.”
“Frankly, Jim Carrey is a comedic genius. With all due respect, he’s going to wipe you off the screen. Say no, and we’ll take care of it.'”
4. Jim Carrey advocated for Jeff Daniels to be in the movie.
“Jeff gets up there and he does not know what he’s going to do until he sees what you’re doing and then he plays off that,” Bobby said to The Hollywood Reporter .
“He’s a genius at doing that. And Jim understood. He was elevating him so he fought for him.”
5. Jim Carrey “motor-boated” Jeff during their audition.
“Jim just, before we’d even said a word, he just went into Lloyd,” Jeff said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2014.
“He just did that thing”—”I motor-boated him,” Jim inturrupted , proudly.
6. Jeff was really excited to be working with Jim Carrey.
He admitted in an interview with the New York Times in 1994 that he “really wanted to work with Jim.”
In fact, he wanted to work with Jim so badly, that he accepted the role even though he would only be paid $50,000 for the movie, while Jim was paid $7 million .
7. Jim’s chipped tooth was real.
Thanks to an old sports-related injury, Jim already had a chipped front tooth.
It had a cap on it, but the night before filming started, he used a beer bottle to remove it. Talk about dedication to the role!
8. Steve Martin and Martin Short were both considered but turned down the role of Lloyd.
While Chris Elliott and Rob Lowe were both considered for the role of Harry.
Evidently, the Farrellys brothers had a specific type they wanted for this film!
“The night before [they started filming], Jim took a beer bottle…hooked the cap over the cap on his tooth, and pulled the cap off of his tooth,” J.B. Rogers told *The Ringer*.
“Because he thought his character should have the split tooth . He didn’t think of it until that night. He’s like, ‘[expletive], I gotta get this thing off.'”
9. The scene where Harry tries to throw the broken toilet away after using it was originally supposed to be worse.
“We did trim it a little,” Bobby told Cinema Blend .
“That was our decision, yeah,” Peter chimed in. “But yeah, we were pushing it, but they didn’t get it and I remember at the premiere, Bob Shay, who was the head of the studio, gave a toast or a speech up front and he said, ‘By the way, this isn’t why I got into the movie business.'”
10. The scene where Lloyd asks Harry if he wants to hear the most annoying sound in the world was not part of the script.
The shocked look on Jeff’s face during that scene was 100% authentic!
Leave it up to Jim Carrey to serve us the most hilarious improvisation .
11. According to Jeff, none of the scenes with him and Jim were filmed during the first week of production because they were still considering replacing him with another actor.
Fortunately, the creators of the movie warmed up to Jeff and decided to keep him on.
12. The names Harry and Lloyd were chosen for a very specific reason.
Peter and Bobby chose the names Harry and Lloyd for the main characters of their first movie because the name of a comedian they’re big fans of is named Harold Lloyd.
