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Based on a Dark Horse comic book series of the same name, which frequently comprised very dark horror stories. Chuck Russell has said that the movie script started off in that tone before being transformed as a vehicle for Jim Carrey's unique comedy.
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Years before Son of the Mask, there were, at some point, plans for 'The Mask II', but that sequel was canceled. There was even a contest from Nintendo Power magazine where first prize was a walk-on role in that movie.
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Prior to Cameron Diaz landing the role of Tina Carlyle, the producers had originally suggested a relative unknown but up and coming blonde Anna Nicole Smith for the role. Ultimately the decision was reversed when they found Cameron Diaz while leaving a modeling agency.
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The nightclub "Coco Bongo", where Jim Carrey goes in this movie and The Majestic, is also the name of Jim Carrey's nightclub in Cancun, Mexico.
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The part when Jim Carrey is being chased by the gangsters and pulls the wet condom out of his pocket and says, "Sorry wrong pocket," was improvised by Carrey.
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The banana-yellow suit that Jim Carrey wears is based on a suit which his mother made for him for his first attempt at stand-up comedy.
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The oversized teeth on the Mask character were originally to be used only during silent scenes. However, Jim Carrey learned to talk with them on to make his character that much more wacky.
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An original script idea was for Stanley to meet the street gang that he later encounters as the Mask earlier in the film, getting mugged and having his watch stolen. This is why when his landlady asks him if he knows what time it is, he says, "Actually, no." The scene was likely shot since at least one trailer featured Carey saying to the gang "I have no money" while listing other things he doesn't have. This scene is not in the final movie. As written, he would have offered them the mask, not knowing its power. Instead the gang just roughs him up and he goes home, which is why he's in shambles in the next scene.
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As befits Stanley's obsession with cartoons, The Mask acts like various cartoon characters, most notably the Tazmanian Devil (traveling as a tornado), Pepe Le Pew (romancing Tina in the park), Bugs Bunny (dying in the gangster's arms), and Tex Avery's Wolf (seeing Tina in the nightclub).
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The line "You love me, you really love me!" after the Mask's "award acceptance speech" in the Coco Bongo is a parody of Sally Field's infamous 1985 Oscar acceptance speech, when she won Best Actress for Places in the Heart. Her actual words were "You like me... right now, you like me!" but it is often misquoted as "...you really like me!" or "...you really love me!" (as in this example).
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In the scene where Ipkiss puts the mask on in his apartment, and becomes a whirlwind, lightning strikes in the background reveal a back lit image of his skeleton. The viewer will need to play the movie in slow motions as the scene is only 1/10th of a second long.
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The one thing that attracted Jim Carrey to the project more than anything else was that Stanley Ipkiss, much like him, is a huge fan of cartoons.
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Cameron Diaz had to audition 12 times for the part of Tina, only landing the role 7 days before shooting began.
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Jim Carrey was paid $450,000 for his work in the film, a huge bargain for New Line because the deal was signed before Ace Ventura: Pet Detective became a surprise hit, and made The Mask a hot property for the summer 1994 release schedule; Carrey then inked a $7 million before this film opened to star in Dumb & Dumber.
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Contains many pop-culture and contemporary references from the era. In the Landfill Park showdown scene with the cops, there are references to The One Armed Man (David Lynch's _"Twin Peaks" (1991)_). When The Mask asks the question "Where's a camcorder when you need it?", being surrounded by the cops, this is a veiled reference to The Rodney King beating, being one of the first, most notable incidents of police misconduct captured by private citizens on a camcorder.
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The scene where the Mask accepts the fake Academy Award was inspired by Sally Field's acceptance speech in 1985 for her performance in Places in the Heart, where she said "...you like me! Right now, you like me!". Also, when the Mask tries to walk "off stage", he walks the wrong way and is corrected, a mistake made by many actors accepting awards at the Oscar ceremony.
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Spoilers
The DVD contains two deleted scenes. One was an introduction with the Vikings coming to bury the Mask on the shore, while another was in the warehouse after Peggy turns Stanley over to Dorian; he picks her up and throws her into the printing press, with a newspaper printing out that shows her smashed face and says she died that night.
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