A Surprise Prepared

Besides Universal's fantasy comedy How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which was currently playing to great success, Jim Carrey had also released a 20th Century Fox comedy that summer, There's Something About Mary. A 51 million US dollar investment had brought in 90 million US dollars in North America and 140 million US dollars worldwide;

After failing miserably in his two attempts to compete for the Oscar for Best Actor with The Truman Show and Man on the Moon, Jim Carrey had become somewhat disheartened. He went straight back to his old path, appearing one after another in purely commercial comedies like There's Something About Mary and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

But after spending so long in Hollywood, he could not entirely escape its conventions. Unable to resist the allure of that little golden Oscar statuette, Jim Carrey resolved to take on the drama Life is Beautiful;

Life is Beautiful was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros., with Frank Darabont, who shared his frustrations, as director.

Frank Darabont's previous The Shawshank Redemption had earned rave reviews, while The Green Mile had been a triumph in both reviews and box office, yet both had still missed out on the Oscars;

This time, Frank Darabont abandoned Stephen King's prison-novel subject matter and joined forces with Jim Carrey to develop the romance Life is Beautiful, launching another assault on the Oscars!

Jennifer Aniston understood. "It seems Jim Carrey still has ambitions. He really doesn't want to be permanently locked into comedies;"

"Recently, I've also been planning to star in Fox Searchlight's drama The Catcher in the Rye. I want to shake off the shadow of Rachel Green from Friends too!"

Aaron wrapped an arm around the woman's waist and kissed her cheek. "That's good. Since Jim Carrey needs to