Director Spike Jonze Was Up For ACE VENTURA 2 and Jim Carrey is Kicking Himself in the Ass For Not Hiring Him
I had absolutely no idea that director Spike Jonze (Her, Where The Wild Things Are) was up to direct Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura 2. It's true, though! According to Carrey, the director came in and "pitched all kinds of shit." Ultimately Jonze didn't get the gig, but Carrey has regretted not hiring him ever since.
Carrey shared the story at the Toronto International Film Festival (via ScreenCrush) where he was promoting the new documentary he did with Jonze’s called Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond. Here's what he said:
“I’ve been wanting to do something with Spike forever. I was stupid enough to turn him down to direct Ace [Ventura] 2, cause I had no idea who he was. And he came in and pitched all kinds of shit, and he was about to take over the world and I didn’t know it. I was like ‘I don’t know, this guy’s new.’ And I’ve been kicking myself ever since.”
That would have been Jonze's big break, but that big break came with the film Being John Malkovich, which is a great movie! I've always loved Jonze's crazy, fun style and I wonder what kind of "weird shit" that he would have done with Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls because the movie already contained lots of weird shit like that insane rhino scene that you can watch below.
Maybe now that Carrey and Jonze are working together, somewhere down the line they will get to do some "weird shit" together. It'd be great to see them team up for some kind of crazy feature film. Maybe they can come back and do Ace Ventura 3!