Jeff Daniel’s parents hated ‘Dumb And Dumber’ toilet scene: “My father hung his head in his hands”

Dumb And Dumber star Jeff Daniels has looked back on the comedy’s success, as well as its critics, which included his own father.

• READ MORE: Dumb And Dumber To – Film Review

Speaking on a Guardian retrospective for the film, the actor looked back as the infamous toilet scene in the movie, where his character Harry is unwittingly given laxatives and is seen suffering in the bathroom.

He recalled: “I have a theatre company in Michigan so I put on a preview. I was sat next to my parents and when we got to the toilet scene, my father hung his head in his hands and said: ‘No, Jeffrey …’ Meanwhile 5,000 people fell out of their chairs laughing”.

Dumb And Dumber would be an international success, earning $247.3million at the box office, finishing in the top 10 highest grossing films for 1994. It also led to both a prequel and sequel. However, Daniels recalls the initial reaction being quite different.

“The reviews were horrible though” he said. “I still have a scrapbook of 200 newspapers panning the movie and wishing it never existed. Then we were the box office No 1 for six straight weeks. That’s when it hit me that we’d done the impossible”.

The film remains an outlier in his career, as Daniels has mainly appeared in dramas such as Emmy-winning series The Newsroom and movies such as Good Night, And Good Luck. As such, he had reservations about the scene, but said co-star Jim Carrey was on hand for support.

“Jim asked me: ‘Hey man, you OK?’ I said: ‘Just cold feet. This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it’. He said: ‘You’ve gotta go all in man. Go all the way!’ He couldn’t have been a better cheerleader. Me on that toilet will be the image on my tombstone”.

Jim Carrey would go on to make many comedy hits, and recently appeared in box office success Sonic The Hedgehog 3. Late last year, he revealed that despite hinting at retirement, he did the film because he “needs the money, frankly”.

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