Jim Carrey may have starred in one of Mel Gibson's biggest downfalls

Jim Carrey's career has taken some interesting turns over the years. After becoming a box office hit in the mid-1990s with a string of blockbuster blockbusters like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Batman Forever and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, he found a ditch with the commercial and critical destruction of Ben Stiller's grimly comic meandering “The Cable Guy.” The brooding actor renewed his commercial connection with mainstream moviegoers the following year with Liar Liar, then ventured “The Truman Show” by Peter Weir. The result was one of the best films of 1998, which received numerous Oscar nominations for Weir (Director), Supporting Actor (Ed Harris) and Original Screenplay (Andrew Nichols). That a film as acclaimed and successful as “The Truman Show” could be denied Best Picture and Best Actor nominations in a lean year seemed like a rebuke to its star. Many members of the Academy simply could not get over the fact that only four years ago this man was literally talking on the big screen.

Oscar voters sent a clear message that year: Carrey had to earn his nomination, which, given that they denied him in 1999 for Andy Kaufman's pitch-perfect performance in Man on the Moon, meant a certain vague sense of distance and seriousness. necessary. It was stupid and I wonder if it eventually wore Kerry down. After the prestigious start that was Frank Darabont's “The Majestic” in 2001, he belied the performance of his career so far in 2001. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” by Michel Gondry. More mixed signals: The acclaimed/successful masterpiece picked up a slim pair of nominations for actress (Kate Winslet) and screenplay (for Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, and Pierre Bismuth, which they won), while Carrey got nothing (he was also snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild).

Carrey responded with a couple of quality commercial films in Fun with Dick and Jane and Yes Man and the infamous thriller Number 23. Now that his chatty ass had been in the rear view for over a decade, it was time for another serious film. That's when the original screenplay hit Hollywood. It needed an actor with a manic edge. Kerry felt like a perfect fit. Mel Gibson eventually got the role and the film flopped. How did such a promising project go wrong?

Kyle Killen's “Beaver” was to the hottest scenario on the 2008 blacklistan annual collection of the film industry's best screenplays as voted on by Hollywood development executives. It's a strangely cathartic story about a toy company CEO who has a nervous breakdown and begins to communicate with his estranged family through a beaver hand puppet. In 2009, the film “Beaver” turned out to be an excellent film with Jodie Foster, directed by Jim Carrey. It ended up in front of the cameras with Mel Gibson as the star.

“Beaver” was a crossroads for both actors. Until the release of the film, Gibson was mired in scandal in connection with allegations of domestic violence from girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, as well as bigoted comments dating back to 1991. Gibson's problem to this day is that he is an extremely talented actor and director with a penchant for making and acting in movies. Foster, who had starred with Gibson in Richard Donner's Maverick, cast the dice on Gibson for a comeback project and, shockingly, no one wanted to see the action star in a quirky drama. The film grossed $7.3 million on a $21 million budget.

Would “Beaver” have worked with Carey? Yes. I hate to say it, but it worked with Gibson. Strip away the awful baggage Gibson brought to the role and add a glowing talent like Carrey and this could have been an Oscar contender. It's an unusual film, but it's also achingly heartfelt and so well directed by Foster. Ten years after The Beaver was not filmed, Carrey appears fiercely devoted to the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies and nothing else. Way to beat a genius, Hollywood.