The Mask (1994 film)

The Mask is a 1994 American superhero comedy film directed by Chuck Russell and produced by Bob Engelman from a screenplay by Mike Werb and a story by Michael Fallon and Mark Verheiden. It is the first film in the Mask franchise, based on the comic book series of the same name by Mike Richardson, published by Dark Horse Comics. It stars Jim Carrey in the title role along with Peter Riegert, Peter Greene, Amy Yasbeck, Richard Jeni, and Cameron Diaz in her film debut. Carrey plays Stanley Ipkiss, an ordinary man who finds an enchanted mask that transforms him into the titular green-faced troublemaker who can cartoonishly alter himself and his surroundings at will, which attracts the attention of a ruthless mafia enforcer who seeks to overthrow his boss. Filming began on August 30, 1993 and concluded in October that same year.
The film was released on July 29, 1994, by New Line Cinema, becoming a critical and commercial success. The film grossed over $351 million on an $18–23 million budget, becoming the fourth-highest-grossing film of 1994, which made it the most profitable film based on a comic up to that point. The film also influenced the resurgence of swing music in the 1990s. It cemented Carrey's reputation as a significant actor of the 1990s, and it established Diaz as a leading lady. Carrey was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role, and the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, losing to Forrest Gump. A sequel without the involvement of Carrey, Son of the Mask, was released in 2005 to critical and commercial failure.
In Edge City, insecure bank teller Stanley Ipkiss is frequently ridiculed by everyone except for his co-worker and best friend, Charlie Schumaker. Meanwhile, gangster Dorian Tyrell, whose boss Niko owns the Coco Bongo nightclub, plots to overthrow Niko. One day, Tyrell sends his dazzling singer-girlfriend, Tina Carlyle, into the bank to record its layout for an upcoming robbery. Stanley is attracted to Tina, and she seemingly reciprocates.
After being denied entrance to the Coco Bongo to watch Tina perform, Stanley's faulty loaner car breaks down during his drive home. While looking over the harbor bridge in despair, he tries rescuing a humanoid figure in the waters but finds it to be a pile of garbage concealing a wooden mask. Upon returning to his apartment and donning the mask, he is transformed into a green-faced trickster known as "The Mask," who can cartoonishly alter himself and his surroundings at will. With newfound confidence, Stanley indulges in a comical rampage through the city, humiliating several of his tormentors, including his temperamental landlady, Agnes Peenman, and the mechanics who gave him the faulty car. Meanwhile, Niko learns of Tyrell's plans and warns him to leave Edge City in one week or be killed.
The following day, Stanley encounters Detective Lieutenant Mitch Kellaway and newspaper reporter Peggy Brandt, who are investigating the Mask's activity. To obtain the funds necessary to attend Tina's performance, Stanley dons the mask and raids the bank, inadvertently foiling Tyrell's robbery. At the Coco Bongo, Stanley dances exuberantly with Tina, whom he kisses. Shortly after, Tyrell confronts him for disrupting the theft, and Stanley flees, leaving behind a scrap of cloth from his suit, which reverts into a piece of his pajamas. After arresting Tyrell and his henchman, Kellaway finds the piece of fabric and suspects Stanley's involvement.
Later, Stanley consults psychiatrist Arthur Neuman, who recently published a book called The Masks We Wear; he deduces that the mask may be a creation of Loki and its powers are only active at night. Neuman believes it is mythology, but he concludes that the Mask's personality is based on Stanley's repressed desires. That night, Stanley meets Tina at a local park as the Mask until they are interrupted by Kellaway, who attempts to capture him. Stanley flees with Peggy after he distracts the police with a mass performance of the titular song from Cuban Pete; Peggy then reluctantly betrays him to Tyrell for a $50,000 bounty. After Tyrell becomes a bulky and malevolent being when he dons the mask, he has his henchmen force Stanley to reveal the location of the stolen money before turning him in to the police along with a green rubber mask.
When Tina visits Stanley at the station, he urges her to leave the city, but not before she thanks Stanley for showing her kindness and telling him that the mask was unnecessary. She attempts to flee but is kidnapped by Tyrell, who prepares her for the charity ball at the Coco Bongo, hosted by Niko and attended by the city's elite, including the mayor. Upon arrival, the masked Tyrell murders Niko and prepares to destroy the club with a time bomb. Stanley's dog, Milo, helps his owner escape from his cell by retrieving the keys from the guard. Stanley sets out to stop Tyrell and takes Kellaway hostage to escape the police station.
After locking Kellaway in his car, Stanley enters the club and enlists Charlie's help, but he is quickly discovered and captured. Tina tricks Tyrell into removing the mask, which is recovered and donned by Milo, who battles through Tyrell's henchmen as he and Stanley fight each other. Stanley retrieves the mask, uses its powers to dispose of the bomb seconds before it detonates and defeat Tyrell by sending him down the drain of the club's ornamental fountain; the police arrive and arrest Tyrell's henchmen. Kellaway tries arresting Stanley again, but the mayor intervenes, implicating Tyrell as the Mask and praising Stanley as a hero.
The following day, Stanley, falsely exonerated and more secure, returns to the harbor bridge with Tina, Charlie and Milo. Tina discards the mask before she and Stanley kiss. Charlie tries to retrieve the mask, only for Milo to swim away with it.
In 1989, Mike Richardson and Todd Moyer, respectively the founder and Executive Vice President of Dark Horse Comics, first approached New Line Cinema about adapting the comic The Mask into a film, after having seen offers from other studios. The main character went through several transformations in different script treatments, and the project was stalled a couple of times.
One unused Mask idea, according to Richardson, was to transform the story into one about a mask-maker who took faces off of corpses to put them on teens and turn them into zombies.
Initially intended to become a new horror franchise, New Line Cinema offered the job of directing the film to Chuck Russell, who had previously worked on the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the 1988 remake of The Blob. Russell found the excessive violence of the comic off-putting, and decided that it wouldn't work in a film; instead, he proposed a more comical, family-friendly tone.
Mike Werb says Chuck Russell tapped him after reading his script for Curious George for Imagine. The two decided to turn The Mask into a wild romantic comedy. Mike Werb wrote his first draft of The Mask in less than six weeks, and less than two months later, it was green-lit.
According to Mark Verheiden, they had a first draft screenplay for a film version done back in 1990. Verheiden then wrote the second draft in early 1991, adding more humor, and that ended up being the only work he did on The Mask. Verheiden's revised draft included more instances of fourth wall breaking like "cameos" by critics Siskel and Ebert, and dark content such as excessive bloodshed and sexual assault. The characters Stanley, Kellaway, and Doyle carried into the final film; Stanley's girlfriend Kathleen (inspired by Kathy from the comics) evolved into Tina Carlyle while Scully and Vitelli became Dorian Tyrell and Niko, respectively. After that, the film entered development hell.
The dance sequence at Coco Bongo was inspired by the 1943 animated short Red Hot Riding Hood.
In the early stages, various actors were suggested as possibilities for the lead role. Possible leads included Rick Moranis, Martin Short, and Robin Williams. New Line Cinema executive Mike DeLuca sent a tape of Jim Carrey performing a sketch from the comedy show In Living Color to Richardson, who noted Carrey's energy and highly expressive physicality. Director Chuck Russell had seen Carrey perform live at The Comedy Store and followed him on In Living Color and was keen to cast him in the film. Carrey was top of his list and the script had been rewritten for him, but Nicolas Cage and Matthew Broderick were also kept in consideration if he declined. Producer Bob Engelman recalled Carrey had the flu during the filming:
Russell's first choice to play Tina had been Anna Nicole Smith; however, she backed out at the last minute to appear in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult instead. A costume director he had worked with recommended Cameron Diaz and they got her to audition for the part. The character was originally written as a good girl who is actually bad but after Diaz was cast the part was rewritten to make her genuinely a good person. Mike Richardson said to Forbes that Diaz proved to be the right choice. "If you watch the film again, you'll notice scenes where Jim and Cameron are together. If you watch her face, oftentimes, Jim was doing something, and she would break out laughing the minute the scene ended".
The Mask's visual effects were handled by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Dream Quest Images. The sequences in the film which involved computer animation were supervised by ILM animation director Wes Takahashi. Although many VFX scenes had to be cut for budget, New Line invested more heavily on the special effects, as Jim Carrey was not yet an established star. Russell videotaped the rehearsals, then worked to design the effects out of Carrey's performance:
Makeup effects artist Greg Cannom wanted to bring out Carrey's exaggerated facial expressions through makeup. Carrey's daily makeup sessions took four hours. The costume included fake teeth meant to be used outside of dialogue scenes, but Carrey learned to wear them while talking to play the character more convincingly.
Swing music featured prominently in the film, and Royal Crown Revue made an on-screen cameo, which in turn influenced the swing revival later in the decade.
The Mask: Music From the Motion Picture was released on July 26, 1994, on Chaos Records through Sony Music Entertainment. It features music from: Xscape, Tony! Toni! Toné!, Vanessa Williams, Harry Connick Jr., Carrey himself and more. The songs "Cuban Pete" and "Hey Pachuco" were also used for the trailer of the 1997 Disney film Flubber.
The record labels TriStar Music and Epic Soundtrax released an orchestral score soundtrack to The Mask after the original soundtrack's release. The score was composed and conducted by Randy Edelman, performed by the Irish Film Orchestra, and recorded at Windmill Lane Studios Ireland.
The film was a box-office success, grossing $119 million domestically and over $350 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest grossing superhero movie at that time, behind Batman. In terms of global gross compared to budget, the film became the most profitable comic book movie of all time, and it remained so until 2019, when Joker surpassed it. The Mask is one of three films featuring Carrey (the others being Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber) released in 1994 that helped launch the actor to superstardom; The Mask was the most successful of these three films both critically and commercially.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 80% based on reviews from 54 critics, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's consensus states, "It misses perhaps as often as it hits, but Jim Carrey's manic bombast, Cameron Diaz's blowsy appeal, and the film's overall cartoony bombast keep The Mask afloat." Metacritic gave it a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on reviews from 12 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
On the television program At the Movies, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film "two thumbs up". In his column, Ebert, who was underwhelmed by his performance in Ace Ventura, thought Carrey found "a perfect vehicle" in The Mask. He also praised the art design and called Diaz "a true discovery". Siskel, who had a similar dislike for Ace Ventura, praised Carrey's performance in The Mask by stating that he was "better used as an ingredient instead of as the plot". He also commended Diaz's performance, and he overall called the film "the latest example of technique overriding the written word in an American film".
The film was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 67th Academy Awards. The film was also nominated for Best Fantasy Film, Best Costumes and Best Make-up at the Saturn Awards. Carrey was nominated for a Golden Globe, but also a Razzie Award (for "Worst New Star").
The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc on January 18, 1995, and on DVD on March 26, 1997. The VHS version included the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "The Mask", which features interviews with Jim Carrey and Chuck Russell. The DVD presented a non-anamorphic Widescreen transfer. It was eventually released as a special edition in 2005 with an anamorphic transfer. It was later released on Blu-ray Disc on December 9, 2008. It was the most rented title in the UK for the year 1995 with 3.8 million rentals.
An animated television series, titled The Mask: Animated Series, made over 54 episodes from 1995 to 1997, with Rob Paulsen as Stanley Ipkiss and his alter ego, the Mask, and Neil Ross as Kellaway. Ben Stein reprised his role as Dr Neuman. Though based on the film and making some minor references to its events, it is set in an alternate continuity where Ipkiss keeps the mask, Tina Carlyle is absent, and the mask works during daytime. Its final episode was a crossover with another Jim Carrey character, Ace Ventura. This would later continue in an episode of the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective cartoon series.
A video game based on the movie, also titled The Mask, was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System by Black Pearl Software.
After the success of the original, a sequel film was planned, with magazine Nintendo Power offering readers a chance, via sweepstakes, to win a cameo role in the film. Carrey eventually bailed on the project, forcing Nintendo Power to give the winner of the contest the equivalent cash value of the cameo role instead. A sequel, Son of the Mask, featuring neither Carrey nor Diaz, was eventually released in 2005. It was a critical and commercial failure upon release, and the franchise was put on hold indefinitely.
On the possibility of a sequel to the 1994 film with Carrey reprising the role of Stanley Ipkiss and Diaz as Tina Carlyle, Mike Richardson said in a 2014 interview: "We've been talking about reviving The Mask, both in film and in comics. We've had a couple of false starts". In December 2024, Carrey revealed that he was still interested in portraying the Mask in a sequel depending on the idea used. In January 2025, Diaz also expressed interest in returning "if Jim's on board".