Mike Richardson, the founder of Dark Horse Comics and creator of The Mask, wants to see a reboot of the Jim Carrey comedy hit from the 1990s, but this time with a woman in the lead role. The original The Mask came out nearly 25 years ago in the summer of 1994. It was an immediate success, earning over $351 million on a $23 million budget, and cementing Carrey as an A-list actor.
In The Mask, Carrey played Stanley Ipkiss, a hapless bank clerk who, through the power of the titular mask, transformed into a brash, wisecracking, green-faced gangster clown in a yellow zoot suit. As a living cartoon character, Carrey had the chance to show his impeccable comedic talents and create one of the most iconic characters, and films, of its decade. The success of The Mask spawned both a cartoon series and video game for the Super Nintendo. Unfortunately, its cinematic sequel, 2005's Son of the Mask, lacked Carrey and instead starred Jamie Kennedy. It failed to reach anywhere near the same level of financial or critical success, and the film franchise was abruptly stalled.
Richardson thinks that, ahead of the film's 25th anniversary and the launch of a new Mask comic, now is the time to revive The Mask film franchise. Speaking with Forbes, Richardson said that not only is he ready to revisit the franchise, he also has an idea of who should play Carrey's mask-wearing successor. Though Richardson isn't ready to say exactly who he wants behind the mask, he did say that he wants a "really good physical comedian" to lead the film. He also let slip that he didn't want to say "her" name yet. This indicates that, similar to many other reboots right now, Richardson thinks any possible reboot of The Mask should have a female lead.
Most of this seems to be wishful thinking on Richardson's part, as he's currently more focused on the upcoming comic revival of The Mask. The comic series that spawned The Mask was originally somewhat dark, and explored themes of absolute power and how that power would corrupt regular people into acts of petty revenge and crimes up to and including murder. While the 1994 film toned down some of the unsettling elements of the comic, and Carrey played Stanley as less of an antihero and more of an everyman, Richardson promises that the new comic series will play more to the original comics' darker aspects. Whether or not the new comic series will serve as a herald to a new film is unclear at this point.
If a follow up to The Mask is made, it would obviously have a major legacy to live up to. Son of the Mask is all but forgotten, and for good reason, but The Mask is still a beloved film and one of Carrey's best. The challenge with rebooting it would be finding someone audiences can sympathize with and laugh with as much as they did with Carrey, something that Son of the Mask failed to accomplish. The fact that Richardson has a lead in mind already is interesting, but there's no real way to speculate yet on who she could be. Obvious choices would be Melissa McCarthy or Kristen Wiig for both name recognition and their status as leading ladies who can play zany and physical comedic roles, but there are so many other possibilities.
All anyone can do right now is wait and see if this news turns into anything real. There have been more than a few attempts to bring the franchise back to life, and all have fallen through without really getting off the ground. As of now, a reboot of The Mask, or a sequel or spinoff or whatever it ultimately ends up being, remains far away.
Source: Forbes