The Mask (1994)
Where to Watch
- To accurately portray their role in The Mask, Jim Carrey spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director Chuck Russell.
- The Mask utilized mostly practical sets and locations to ground the story, a specific choice insisted upon by Chuck Russell.
The Mask is a 1994 American superhero comedy film directed by Chuck Russell, based on the Dark Horse Comics series. Jim Carrey stars as Stanley Ipkiss, a timid, romantically unsuccessful bank clerk in the fictional Edge City who discovers an ancient wooden mask that transforms him into a cartoonish, green-faced, zoot-suited trickster with reality-warping powers. When wearing the Mask, Stanley's repressed personality is unleashed as an uninhibited, fourth-wall-breaking force of nature who dances, woos, and pranks his way through the city while attracting the attention of both the beautiful singer Tina Carlyle, played by Cameron Diaz in her film debut, and a local crime boss who wants the Mask for himself.
The Mask was a showcase for Jim Carrey at the absolute peak of his physical comedy powers โ released in the same year as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber, it confirmed Carrey as the most bankable comedy star in the world. The visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic brought Tex Avery-style cartoon physics to live action, with the Mask character's body stretching, morphing, and defying gravity in ways that blended seamlessly with Carrey's already elastic physical performance. Cameron Diaz's screen debut as the sultry nightclub singer was a star-making turn that launched one of the decade's most prominent acting careers.
The Mask earned $351 million worldwide on a $23 million budget.
