Jim Carrey was paid $7 million for the original Dumb and Dumber, while his co-star Jeff Daniels — who shared top billing! — made just $50,000. Carrey wasn’t a big star when Dumb and Dumber went into production in 1994 and the comedy’s total budget was just $16 million — so how did he walk away with so much? “They offered him $350,000 to do the movie and he passed,” explains Peter Farrelly.
You’re not missing much. I mean, it’s a 20 year gap in their careers. There’s a gag earlier in the film where Daniels visits Carrey in a nursing home because he’s fallen into a coma for 20 years and then Carrey finally “wakes up” and says it was all a gag. It’s almost like a nod to the Andy Kaufman conspiracy theory that he was faking his death as part of an elaborate real life bit.
You’re not missing much. I mean, it’s a 20 year gap in their careers. There’s a gag earlier in the film where Daniels visits Carrey in a nursing home because he’s fallen into a coma for 20 years and then Carrey finally “wakes up” and says it was all a gag. It’s almost like a nod to the Andy Kaufman conspiracy theory that he was faking his death as part of an elaborate real life bit.