It’s been nearly 30 years since The Cable Guy hit theaters on June 14, 1996. Directed by Ben Stiller, the film stars Jim Carrey as a mentally unstable cable TV technician who tries to befriend one of his customers—played by Matthew Broderick—and gradually intrudes on his personal life in disturbing ways. Carrey doing something with more serious elements marked a turning point for the actor, who’d spent the better part of the decade making straight comedies like the Ace Ventura films and Dumb and Dumber. It also earned Carrey a record $20 million payday, unheard of at the time and significantly more than what the person who had the role before him was expected to get.
Columbia Pictures originally purchased the script in 1994, and shooting was supposed to begin that summer. At that stage, Chris Farley was attached to play Carrey’s part in the movie for somewhere in the vicinity of $3 million. When Farley signed on to do Tommy Boy that same year, Paramount locked him into a two-picture deal that ultimately forced him to step away from the project—temporarily, anyway. The deal led to him reuniting with David Spade for the 1996 comedy Black Sheep, which only made a little over $12 million more than Carrey did for taking Farley’s place in The Cable Guy.
Farley was still looking to do The Cable Guy before Carrey got involved, though. His plan was to finish up his final season on Saturday Night Live in 1995 and then shoot the movie. He reportedly decided he didn’t want to commit that far in advance and backed out of the project once again. That cleared the way for Columbia to lure in Carrey, who’d been turning down some major cash prior to being offered the role.
At the end of the day, neither The Cable Guy nor Black Sheep was a huge hit for their respective stars. Carrey’s semi-dramatic performance as the demented “Chip Douglas” did open the door for him to take on less-comedic roles, however, in films like The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Presumably, the role would’ve had a similar effect for Farley, who was looking to take a dramatic turn himself toward the end of his life.
One other project that unfortunately never materialized for Farley during that period was a biopic based on the tragic life of silent film star Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.
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