Scratch another Jim Carrey movie from active development – Ripley’s Believe It Or Not is following Used Guys back into limbo.
The culprit, Paramount head Brad Grey, who has shoved the biopic of Ripley that Carrey was to star in and Tim Burton was to direct, off the schedule for a re-write. “In a world where we wanted to do more work on the script, this seemed to make more sense,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. The sticking point apparently came about the budget, which, given the hefty visual effects load, was looking at the $150 million range.
But despite having already started pre-production on the Ripley tale, Burton won’t be cooling his heels… Paramount has simply swapped Believe It Or Not for Sweeney Todd. Adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s musical about the throat-slitting, pie-filling “demon barber of Fleet Street” by John Logan, the film will start its journey towards getting the green light.
And guess who Burton is considering for the lead? His surname rhymes with “step”… Yes, to exactly no one’s surprise, Johnny is top of the list.
If you were disappointed by the news, take heart: this won’t be the end for Believe It Or Not according to Paramount’s Gail Berman. "We love this project and look forward to making it with Tim and Jim - just later than originally planned," she told the Hollywood Reporter.