Jeff Daniels feared THAT toilet scene in 1994’s Dumb And Dumber would ‘end’ his acting career

Jeff Daniels thinks back to the time he thought he had flushed his acting career down the toilet.

In an interview with USA today while promoting his new Netflix limited series drama A man in full sizethe actor revealed how he took a big risk when he played Harry Dunne alongside Jim Carrey in Dumb And Dumber (1994).

Daniels said he worried that the scene in which his character suffers serious intestinal problems in the bathroom of his love interest Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly) in the hit comedy could be detrimental to his career.

“It’s one thing to read the toilet scene, but then the day comes when we actually do the toilet scene,” he admitted. ‘I said to Jim, ‘This is the beginning of my career or the end of it.’

Keep in mind that not only did his agents try to talk him out of the Peter and Bobby Farrelly movie by claiming he was a “serious actor,” but he also claims studio executives didn’t want him either, and proceeded to low- ball him by offering him $50,000 for the job, while co-star Carrey received $7 million.

Jeff Daniels, 69, revealed how he thought the toilet scene in Dumb And Dumber (1994) would flush his career down the toilet, in a new interview with USA Today

Thinking he wouldn’t accept the $50,000 for the role of Harry, Daniels called the studio’s bluff and accepted the offer, attempting to shake up his career by making a comedy.

It turns out the studio preferred to hire a proven comedian who could bounce Carrey.

‘This is not the direction you should go. We’re going to stop this and get you out of this movie,” Daniels recalled his agents telling him during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show in 2021.

At the time, in 1993, Daniels was a young dramatic actor with dramatic credits including Terms Of Endearment (1983) and Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose Of Cairo (1985).

Although he had been comedic in some of his roles up to that point, Daniels had not done a full-length comedy film before this. But the Farrelly brothers went to work for him and knew he was perfect for the film, partly because they saw him in the comedy thriller film Something Wild (1986) with Melanie Griffith.

During the conversation with Eisen, Daniels explained his reason for wanting to do Dumb And Dumber and work with Carrey.

“Ace Ventura had been out. Big hit. And he had shot [The] Mask, and it wasn’t released yet when we started shooting. So I wanted to go into comedy,” he said of his thought process.

He continued, “The studio actually wanted a comedian, so they gave me the first week of filming, where we shot a lot of my stuff. The snowball on the head, the tongue on the pole and all the skis in the ski hut. You know, Harry Dunne scenes. And at the end of the first week they cut them together, and they liked what they saw, and I got to stay.”

“It’s one thing to read the toilet scene, but then the day comes when we actually do the toilet scene,” he admitted. “I said to Jim, ‘This is the beginning of my career or the end of it.’

In the scene, Harry develops serious intestinal problems in the bathroom of his budding love interest Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly)

Not only did his agents try to talk him out of the Peter and Bobby Farrelly movie by claiming he was a “serious actor,” he also claims the studio executives didn’t want him either, and proceeded to ridicule him. by offering him $50,000 for the job, while co-star Carrey received $7 million.

Directed by Peter Farrelly, who co-wrote the screenplay with his younger brother Bobby Farrelly and Bennett Yellin, Carrey also starred as Lloyd Christmas, a crazy slacker with teeth who is best friends with Harry, almost as stupid.

The story focuses on the duo coming across a suitcase full of money left in Harry’s car by Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly), who was on her way to the airport. The pair decide to go to Aspen, Colorado to return the money, completely unaware that it is related to a kidnapping. Ultimately, they find their test of friendship and intelligence when they are chased across the country by killers and police.
In addition to Carrey, Daniels and Holly, the cast also includes Karen Duffy, Mike Starr, Charles Rocket, Teri Garr, Felton Perry, Harland Williams, Victoria Rowell and Cam Neely.

When it came time to shoot the now famous or infamous scene, Carrey tried to give Daniels a dose of confidence with a pep talk of sorts.

‘[He] told me, “It’s going to be great. You just have to go all out,” the Athens, Georgia native recalled his co-star telling him.

Daniels further revealed that by the time the camera tightened up to capture his tense and flushed face, he nearly fainted while doing the scene for a few hours, which he called “porcelain gymnastics.”

In the end, it all worked out when Dumb And Dumber became a huge hit with fans, grossing $247 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $17 million.

Ultimately, Dumb And Dumber became a real hit, grossing $247 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $17 million.

The two stars would eventually reprise their roles in Dumb And Dumber To (2014), which received some negative reviews from critics despite earning $169.8 million at the box office while working with a $50 million budget.

“As far as comedy scenes go, that toilet scene will probably outlive us,” he joked. “It’ll be funny in forty years.”

A highly anticipated sequel directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly would eventually be made twenty years after the original.

Dumb and Dumber To (2014), written by the two Farrelly brothers, along with Sean Anders, John Morris, Bennett Yellin and Mike Cerrone, tells the story of the dim-witted adults Lloyd and Harry (Carrey and Daniels), who set out on a cross-country road trip to find Harry’s daughter, who has been adopted.

Although it received negative reviews from critics, it earned $169.8 million at the box office while operating on a budget of $50 million.