The two Ace Ventura movies aren’t remembered particularly fondly these days beyond how much fun it is to say “do not go in there” when exiting a room, but 1995's Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls could’ve almost been a bit cooler than what we ended up with. That’s because famously hip dude Spike Jonze made a pitch to direct the film, but star Jim Carrey rejected him because he was just a nobody at the time. Carrey shared that fun fact at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he was appearing on a panel to discuss Chris Smith’s documentary Jim And Andy: The Great Beyond. That movie is about the making of Man On The Moon, and Jonze happens to be a producer on it, so Carrey is taking the opportunity to gush about how much he’s wanted to work with Jonze ever since rejecting him all those years ago.
Here’s his full quote, via Screen Crush:
I’ve been wanting to do something with Spike forever. I was stupid enough to turn him down to direct Ace 2, cause I had no idea who he was. And he came in and pitched all kinds of shit, and he was about to take over the world and I didn’t know it. I was like “I don’t know, this guy’s new.” And I’ve been kicking myself ever since.
Jim And Andy was recently picked up by Netflix, and while it’s not the same thing as Spike Jonze’s Ace Ventura 2, at least the two of them got to work together eventually.