The ‘Jurassic Park’ role that Jim Carrey lost out on: “He auditioned for a very long time”
Actors and filmmakers pass like ships in the night all the time, leaving Jim Carrey and Steven Spielberg as two massive names in the industry who could have collaborated at least twice but have remained outside of each other’s orbit throughout their respective careers.
The movie was just fine without them and went on to launch a franchise that cleared a billion dollars at the box office, but Jay Roach and Ben Stiller’s Meet the Parents was originally in development with Spielberg and Carrey on either side of the camera.
The driving force behind the three-time Academy Award winner’s decision not to try his hand at a broad studio comedy was his wife, Kate Capshaw, who insisted that he wasn’t funny enough to pull it off. Harsh words, but clearly they had plenty of merit if Spielberg downed tools and ruled himself out of the running, with Carrey following suit.
The star-powered pair could have partnered up almost a decade previously, though, on a film that would have propelled Carrey to mainstream fame a year before he achieved it anyway when Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber were all released within ten months of each other in 1994.
It was also more than just a run-of-the-mill blockbuster; it was a cultural event that broke down technological barriers, left audiences with their jaws on the floor, and became the highest-grossing film of all time. In a different world, it could have been Carrey as Jurassic Park‘s Ian Malcolm, not Jeff Goldblum.
“We auditioned Jim Carrey for Malcolm, and then Goldblum came in and, of course, blew me away,” casting director Janet Hirshenson revealed. “He’s Goldblum, nobody’s like him. I think Steven pretty quickly also knew that he was the one.”
As for Carrey? “He auditioned for a very long time,” she said. “He was really into it; I think he really wanted the role. He was good; it was a totally different way to go. I remember he came in very enthusiastically.” Ironically, what may have cost him the part was the very same thing that made him a superstar anyway.
“The Jim Carrey approach,” she mused of how the actor opted to play Malcolm in his audition. “So yeah, it would have been a little more comedic. Jeff was comedic in his dry, Jeff Goldblum-y sort of way, but yeah, it becomes a different way to go. But by that time, I think we were pretty much geared into Jeff Goldblum.”
It would be an understatement to call Carrey and Goldblum two unique actors with a very particular set of tricks and tics, so it’s a little weird to imagine them competing for the same role. Then again, it’s difficult to imagine a version of Jurassic Park with Jim Carrey running away from dinosaurs doing Jim Carrey things where it would work.
