When Jerry Evans was hired to choreograph the blockbuster superhero comedy “The Mask,” which celebrates its 25th anniversary Monday, he was surprised when director Chuck Russell informed him he was secretly making a musical.
“I said, ‘Secretly?” recalled Evans, adding that Russell admitted that “I haven’t told anybody other than you and my producer. We’ll just tell everybody when it’s time, I guess.’ He had a plan. I said ‘Sounds good to me. I love it.”’
And so did audiences and critics in the summer of 1994.
Variety‘s review called the showcase for Jim Carrey’s talents “adroitly directed, viscerally and visually dynamic and just plain fun.”
Based on the popular Dark Horse comic book series of the same name, “The Mask” turned Carrey into a superstar as the sweet, nebbish, cartoon-loving loan officer Stanley Ipkiss who turns into a green-faced human cartoon when he dons a magical mask he found.
“I said, ‘Secretly?” recalled Evans, adding that Russell admitted that “I haven’t told anybody other than you and my producer. We’ll just tell everybody when it’s time, I guess.’ He had a plan. I said ‘Sounds good to me. I love it.”’
And so did audiences and critics in the summer of 1994.
Variety‘s review called the showcase for Jim Carrey’s talents “adroitly directed, viscerally and visually dynamic and just plain fun.”
Based on the popular Dark Horse comic book series of the same name, “The Mask” turned Carrey into a superstar as the sweet, nebbish, cartoon-loving loan officer Stanley Ipkiss who turns into a green-faced human cartoon when he dons a magical mask he found.
- 7/28/2019
- by Susan King
- Variety Film + TV
I can recall a joke from the late comedian Richard Jeni about America and our approach towards invention of the last twenty years. “We may not know how to create anything anymore, but we’re damn sure the best at finding ways to fuck something up and sell more of it.” He was talking about the French croissant, and our fast food breakfast croissanwiches. Taped is the second Dutch feature I’ve seen this year at Fantastic Fest. This film and the other have both had the rights purchased by U.S. studios with the intention of doing a U.S. remake. We’ll see what kinds of breakfast sandwiches we can make out of them, but until then the Netherlands are proving themselves capable of making their own pretty fine crime thrillers. Taped begins as what would appear to be an eventual melodrama about a married couple trying hopelessly to rekindle their affection for one another...
- 9/23/2012
- by Adam Charles
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Richard Jeni fans get ready for laughs with the DVD arrival of Richard Jeni: The Beach Crowd - which features never before seen performance footage and available exclusively from www.richardjeni.com. During his amazing, yet unfortunately too brief career, Jeni starred in five one hour stand-up specials for HBO & Showtime. Richard Jeni: The Beach Crowd, produced and distributed by the Estate of Richard Jeni, was compiled from raw footage captured during two weekend performances in 2002 and 2006 at Southern California.s famed Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. This DVD presents a rare opportunity to watch the performer build and perfect his material. Due to the sheer volume of great material, Jeni often left .A. material...
- 8/2/2011
- by Patrick Luce
- Monsters and Critics
John Belushi and Richard Pryor had more in common than comedic brilliance. Each struggled with intense personal demons, detailed in the two-hour special, The Tragic Side of Comedy (Wednesday, 9 pm/Et). The Bio Channel show explores the troubled lives behind some of the most celebrated comedians of our time, including Chris Farley, Richard Jeni, Bernie Mac, and Andy Kaufman.
From SNL to Animal House, take a look back on the brilliant work of John Belushi and the struggle with drugs that led to his death-by-overdose at 33.
Watch a clip after the jump.
Read More >...
From SNL to Animal House, take a look back on the brilliant work of John Belushi and the struggle with drugs that led to his death-by-overdose at 33.
Watch a clip after the jump.
Read More >...
- 6/24/2009
- by Gina DiNunno
- TVGuide - Breaking News
I've never really watched the original series, but I think that few would deny that the show was really a child of the 60s (indeed, as Richard Jeni has said, it certainly seemed at times that the writers were coming up with plots after a long toke: "Dudes, listen... we'll have an evil Spock... and we'll know he's evil because he has a beard"). Similarly, the Trek of my youth, The Next Generation, was clearly a product of the end of the Cold War: the Russians are no longer our enemies and now there's a Klingon on the bridge. Deep Space Nine, I believe, was a response to the mid-90s holiday from history, which led to a darkening of tone and suspicion of government in all sorts of media in the Us (The Matrix, X-Files, the so-called "Dark...
- 5/19/2009
- by Julian Yap
- Huffington Post
Comedian Richard Jeni was suffering mental illness before he committed suicide last year, a coroner's report has revealed. The star shot himself in the head at his Hollywood home in March 2007. Shortly after his death, Jeni's family revealed he had been diagnosed with "severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia". A report from Los Angeles County coroner's officer now reveals he had a history of mental illness and was hospitalized last year suffering from suicidal depression. The report also reveals he had a history of schizophrenia and had taken antidepressants and a sleeping aid before he died. Although he had made no known suicide attempts in the past, the report claims Jeni's girlfriend heard him talking to himself, a week before his death, saying "just squeeze the trigger."...
- 7/2/2007
- WENN
Tragic comedian Richard Jeni's family have confirmed the funnyman took his own life as he struggled with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia. Jeni's family released a statement yesterday in an effort to end speculation about the comedian's death on Saturday. The statement begins, "The family of Richard Jeni would like to put to rest any assumptions as to the cause of Richard's death. Despite the fact that the coroner's office has publicly stated that a suicide ruling will take two weeks, pending the results of an autopsy, Richard Jeni did take his own life." In the statement, Jeni's family reveal the comic was not, as reported, depressed after a series of professional disappointments, insisting he "had just enjoyed one of his most financially rewarding years to date." The statement reads, "The past few years had been more prolific than ever. As his agents can attest, prior to his illness, Richard only missed one engagement in over 20, and that was due to weather. The truth is earlier this year Richard Jeni was diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia. One only needs to have a family member or friend with a mental illness to understand that there is nothing rational, predictable, or fair about these diseases... He was not down or blue, he was ill."...
- 3/14/2007
- WENN
US talk show king Jay Leno has paid tribute to tragic comedian Richard Jeni after the comic was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Saturday. Jeni appeared on Leno's The Tonight Show more than any other guest, and the TV host admits he was stunned to hear of the funnyman's suspected suicide. In a statement, Leno says, "I was totally shocked. He was a great comic... a great guy. He had an everyman kind of appeal, he was a kid from New York and his comedy was that of a kid from New York... He just made me laugh. Whenever I watched Richard, I'd go, 'Man, I wish I had his material.'"...
- 3/13/2007
- WENN
Comedian Richard Jeni, who appeared frequently on the Tonight show and headlined a number of HBO comedy specials, died Saturday in Los Angeles in what appeared to be a suicide; he was 49. Jeni died of a gunshot wound to the head, an hour after police responded to a 911 call from the comedian's girlfriend and he was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Hospital. A final confirmation of suicide was still pending Monday morning, after further investigation of the incident and an autopsy. Born Richard John Colangelo in Brooklyn, Jeni found national fame in 1990 with his first Showtime cable TV special, The Boy From New York City, which won three Cable ACE awards. He followed up two years later with Crazy From the Heat, which became Showtime's highest-rated comedy stand-up show at the time. In 1992, Jeni moved from Showtime to HBO, starring in Platypus Man, a special which won another Cable ACE award and nabbed him a sitcom deal with the fledgling UPN network. In the early 90s Jeni also began making numerous appearances on the Tonight show, first with Johnny Carson and then with Jay Leno hosting, and toured nationally with his stand-up act. In addition to his stand-up comedy work, Jeni appeared in a number of films, including The Mask alongside Jim Carrey and the recent documentary The Aristocrats. A friend of comedian Chris Rock, Jeni also appeared on Rock's UPN sitcom Everyone Hates Chris and wrote material for Rock's hosting job for the 2005 Academy Awards; his most recent TV special was A Big Steaming Pile of Me, which aired in 2005 on HBO. --Mark Englehart, IMDb staff...
- 3/12/2007
- WENN
Whenever Hollywood sends up Hollywood, the result often treads a very fine line between astute, sharp satire and smug, self-serving in-joke.
Landing in the latter category with a pronounced thud is "An Alan Smithee Film -- Burn, Hollywood, Burn," the picture that became a self-fulfilling prophecy when original director Arthur Hiller opted off the credits following serious artistic differences with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas.
Staggeringly unfunny, this one-note home movie may have once been an industry must-read, but the finished product, with its endless references to O.J. and Heidi Fleiss, is anything but fresh or pertinent.
Given a test drive at this week's Mill Valley (Calif.) Film Festival, "Alan Smithee" isn't slated for release until spring, which would give Buena Vista a little time to consider the more merciful option of skipping the theatrics and heading directly to video.
What little plot line there is concerns the dilemma of one Alan Smithee (Eric Idle), a first-time feature filmmaker whose Hollywood future is pinned on "Trio", a megabudget shoot-'em-up adventure starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg and Jackie Chan.
When studio interference in the persons of smarmy, bombastic producer James Edmonds (Ryan O'Neal) and weasely studio head Jerry Glover (Richard Jeni) forces the Idle character to forfeit his personal vision, he tries to do the honorable thing by having his name taken off the picture. But thanks to that longstanding (since 1969) DGA-sanctioned pseudonym for unclaimed credits, Smithee realizes he's a doomed man.
Instead, he disappears with the film cans and ultimately makes good on his promise to burn the contents, thereby "saving the world from one more bad film." Would that Hiller could have followed suit.
Eszterhas, a prolific writer not previously known for comedy, can at least rest assured that his reputation is intact. Unwavering in its self-amused, sophomoric tone, the picture is shot "Spinal Tap"-style, with its subjects yammering incessantly into the camera.
Performance-wise, the cast is divided into two groups -- those playing themselves or, at least, self-conscious versions of themselves (Stallone, Goldberg, Chan plus Larry King, Dominick Dunne, Robert Shapiro, Shane Black and a somewhat amusing Robert Evans) and those playing characters with winking asides (O'Neal, Jeni and rappers Coolio and Chuck D as the filmmaking Brothers Brothers).
Also joining in the high jinks are Sandra Bernhard as Jeni's wife; Miramax Chief Harvey Weinstein as a detective, looking understandably like a deer caught in headlights; and Eszterhas himself, who proves he can take a joke by generously including putdowns of his own "Showgirls", as well as furnishing the words "screenwriter, penile implant" as his onscreen I.D.
Technically, things are of the on-the-fly, shaky, hand-held variety, while the soundtrack is packed with snippets of selections from unknown bands who apparently took Eszterhas up on his full-page trade ads inviting them to send in their demos for a shot at fame and fortune.
AN Alan Smithee FILM -
BURN, HOLLYWOOD, BURN
Buena Vista
Presented by Hollywood Pictures
in association with Cinergi Prods.
Director Alan Smithee
Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas
Producer Ben Myron
Executive producer Andrew G. Vajna
Director of photography Reynaldo Villalobos
Production designer David L. Snyder
Editor Jim Langlois
Music Gary G-Wiz and Chuck D
Casting Nancy Foy
Color/stereo
Cast:
James Edmonds Ryan O'Neal
Alan Smithee Eric Idle
Jerry Glover Richard Jeni
Dion Brothers Coolio
Leon Brothers Chuck D.
Ann Glover Sandra Bernhard
Running time - 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Landing in the latter category with a pronounced thud is "An Alan Smithee Film -- Burn, Hollywood, Burn," the picture that became a self-fulfilling prophecy when original director Arthur Hiller opted off the credits following serious artistic differences with screenwriter Joe Eszterhas.
Staggeringly unfunny, this one-note home movie may have once been an industry must-read, but the finished product, with its endless references to O.J. and Heidi Fleiss, is anything but fresh or pertinent.
Given a test drive at this week's Mill Valley (Calif.) Film Festival, "Alan Smithee" isn't slated for release until spring, which would give Buena Vista a little time to consider the more merciful option of skipping the theatrics and heading directly to video.
What little plot line there is concerns the dilemma of one Alan Smithee (Eric Idle), a first-time feature filmmaker whose Hollywood future is pinned on "Trio", a megabudget shoot-'em-up adventure starring Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg and Jackie Chan.
When studio interference in the persons of smarmy, bombastic producer James Edmonds (Ryan O'Neal) and weasely studio head Jerry Glover (Richard Jeni) forces the Idle character to forfeit his personal vision, he tries to do the honorable thing by having his name taken off the picture. But thanks to that longstanding (since 1969) DGA-sanctioned pseudonym for unclaimed credits, Smithee realizes he's a doomed man.
Instead, he disappears with the film cans and ultimately makes good on his promise to burn the contents, thereby "saving the world from one more bad film." Would that Hiller could have followed suit.
Eszterhas, a prolific writer not previously known for comedy, can at least rest assured that his reputation is intact. Unwavering in its self-amused, sophomoric tone, the picture is shot "Spinal Tap"-style, with its subjects yammering incessantly into the camera.
Performance-wise, the cast is divided into two groups -- those playing themselves or, at least, self-conscious versions of themselves (Stallone, Goldberg, Chan plus Larry King, Dominick Dunne, Robert Shapiro, Shane Black and a somewhat amusing Robert Evans) and those playing characters with winking asides (O'Neal, Jeni and rappers Coolio and Chuck D as the filmmaking Brothers Brothers).
Also joining in the high jinks are Sandra Bernhard as Jeni's wife; Miramax Chief Harvey Weinstein as a detective, looking understandably like a deer caught in headlights; and Eszterhas himself, who proves he can take a joke by generously including putdowns of his own "Showgirls", as well as furnishing the words "screenwriter, penile implant" as his onscreen I.D.
Technically, things are of the on-the-fly, shaky, hand-held variety, while the soundtrack is packed with snippets of selections from unknown bands who apparently took Eszterhas up on his full-page trade ads inviting them to send in their demos for a shot at fame and fortune.
AN Alan Smithee FILM -
BURN, HOLLYWOOD, BURN
Buena Vista
Presented by Hollywood Pictures
in association with Cinergi Prods.
Director Alan Smithee
Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas
Producer Ben Myron
Executive producer Andrew G. Vajna
Director of photography Reynaldo Villalobos
Production designer David L. Snyder
Editor Jim Langlois
Music Gary G-Wiz and Chuck D
Casting Nancy Foy
Color/stereo
Cast:
James Edmonds Ryan O'Neal
Alan Smithee Eric Idle
Jerry Glover Richard Jeni
Dion Brothers Coolio
Leon Brothers Chuck D.
Ann Glover Sandra Bernhard
Running time - 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/3/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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