With its release still held up indefinitely after distribution woes, American audiences are still unaware that “I Love You Philip Morris” is easily Jim Carrey’s best film since “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” as the last few years have been made up mostly of misfires like “The Number 23” and “Fun With Dick and Jane.” The actor has a handful of projects lined up, most notably the musical “Damn Yankees” alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, and is possibly replacing Ben Stiller in “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” but now he’s added another comedy to his dance card, and it’s one that should see a return to the more anarchic Carrey of old.
The actor is teaming with “Borat” helmer Larry Charles for the long-gestating comedy “Pierre Pierre,” by Edwin Cannistraci and Frederick Seton, which made the Black List in 2007, and follows a nihilistic, constantly-smoking, foul-mouthed Frenchman who is hired to transport the Mona Lisa after a theft from Paris to London. Carrey’s been attached to the project for a couple of years now, with Jason Reitman originally in the director’s chair, but it stalled when Reitman picked “Up in the Air” instead, and the film’s producers are now looking for a new home (it was previously set up at Fox Atomic).
While Carrey isn’t the box office monster he once was, with a $20 million budget, this would seem like a no-brainer for any studio, despite the R-rated nature of the project. And trust us, we’ve had a look at a draft of the script, and it’s very R-rated; Pierre introduces himself to the audience by saying “My whore mother and idiot father fucked some years ago and nine months later I was ripped from oblivion’s womb into this shit life… I want so very fucking much to be nothing again,” and it continues more or less along these lines for the next 100 pages.
Like Charles’ “Borat,” it’s essentially a one-joke script, but fortunately it’s a funny one for the most part, and it’s a good match for Carrey, even if it deflates in the third act, at least in our draft (dated 2006, so there’s been years for it to be banged into shape). And, if nothing else, the soundtrack should be ace; the script is packed with references to songs by Serge Gainsbourg, Anna Karina, Daft Punk and Rinocerose, among many others. Charles is a little inconsistent as a director, as anyone who’s sat through “Masked and Anonymous” or “Religulous” can attest to, but we imagine he’ll work well with Carrey. There’s no word of a start date yet, but with Carrey not having signed on officially to a next project, there’s every possibility that could get moving fairly shortly. [Deadline]