Say hello to my new friend!
(Sound) >> Violence,
it's the cornerstone of American entertainment, from the gleeful antics of
Tex Avery to the blood curdling surrealism of Freddy Krueger.
Following Chuck Russell's success with Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors,
New Line Cinema charged the director with adapting a 1991 splatter fiction comic
book series, The Mask,
hoping to create a hip new horror franchise to start bringing in the green.
The comic book trilogy consists of The Mask, The Mask Returns and
The Mask Strikes Back.
Depicted violence is very much in line with the 80s horror genre, but
Russell felt the character was too similar to Freddy Krueger.
A paranormal maniac with a tude does sound pretty familiar.
And so as if predestined by the gods,
our director cast Jim Carrey, who was beginning to make a name for himself but
had yet to even release Ace Ventura Pet Detective.
Which means he was still unknown enough for New Line to afford him.
Knowing what a bright comedic star Carrey would soon become,
the director convinced New Line to drop the horror angle and go straight comedy.
So how did the ultra violence translate into the comedic style?
And how does a one of a kind performer like Jim Carey change the direction
of the character?
>> He was really nice to everyone?
>> Sorry, sorry, I couldn't find a babysitter.
>> Clint, she's touching the- >> No, no, no, no.
>> What's the difference?
(Music)
>> Hold on, sugar, daddy's got a sweet tooth tonight.
>> Chuck Russel's adaptation takes the basics of its premise straight out of
the comics.
A nobody named Stanley Ipkiss comes into possession of a mask that when worn,
grants its user fantastic abilities.
While simultaneously wreaking havoc on the world and the wearer of sanity.
Although comic book Ipkiss is a little crazy to begin with, he's a neglectful,
possibly abusive boyfriend who purchases the mask in hopes of earning forgiveness
from his girlfriend, Catherine.
But in the movie, Carrey brings sincerity to a softer and more sympathetic Ipkiss,
who pines for someone to love.
Eventually landing on Tina as the romantic interest
(Noise) The movie further drives home
Stanley's heart of gold when he rescues the mask from a floating pile of garbage,
thinking it was someone in distress.
>> I got it!
>> Comic book Ipkiss, on the other hand,
has filled his heart with thoughts of revenge.
He's the kind of guy who blames the world for his problems, and is just waiting for
the right moment to release his full-blown fury.
The same can't be said about Jim Carrey's Ipkiss,
who reacts to his misfortunes with self pity.
His journey is one of courage and self-respect and
that is where the mask comes in.
>> Known as Big Head in the comics.
(Music)
>> Smokin!
>> In both mediums, the mask gives its wearer cartoonish abilities.
The mask can survive anything, create anything, and
the user is fully aware of the fourth wall.
>> You really love me.
>> However, the mask in the movie doesn't posses the most horrifying power from
the comic books, the ability to disguise himself as any person.
And subsequently, rip said disguise off in a grotesque spectacle of flesh.
>> Daddy?
>> Don't, no, don't look at the scary pictures, honey, daddy's working.
>> This is an interesting piece Mr.
Ipkiss, looks like fourth or fifth century Scandinavian.
>> In the movie, Ipkiss theorizes that the mask's powers derive from the night God,
Loki who may have been banished into the wooden object as punishment.
But the only clues to the mask's origins in the comics appears in a rain forest.
Where a tribe uses it in a ritualistic ceremony of blood.
It's actually a lot sillier than it sounds.
And so, it's with these new superpowers that Stanley goes about town punishing
those who had wronged him.
In the movie, Ipkiss puts a hole in his landlady's new floor,
robs his boss's bank and shoves auto parts up some mechanic's heinies.
>> (Laugh) Heinies.
>> But in the comics, Big Head acts out Ipkiss's most violent impulses,
massacring a biker gang and jaw stomping his grade school teacher.
>> Good Lord!
>> Yeah, and as for the mechanics,
they end up looking like a twisted modern art project.
>> His head looks funny.
(Laugh) >> Your mother's going to kill me.
>> Big Head's night of mayhem inevitably attracts the attention of the police,
namely Lieutenant Kellaway, who in both mediums, is a hardworking detective.
In the comic, he and his trusted partner, Lionel, are merciless in their quest for
truth, though they never get close to suspecting Ipkiss.
>> Awkward!.
>> Stanley Ipkiss.
>> The movie does the total opposite.
Kellaway suspects Ipkiss right off the bat and does his best to prove him guilty.
It's a tough job since his partner Doyle is an utter buffoon.
>> Doyle!
>> The Mask's confrontation with the police climaxes at the park where he
mesmerizes the entire department and leads them in a broadway style mambo number.
(Music)
>> The scene just charms the pants right off of me every time.
>> Yeah, it's really great.
Just curious, how does the confrontation with the police go in the comics?
>> Well, he murders, but on a mass scale.
You could say he mask murders.
>> Gah!
>> He kills that guy, he kills that guy, he kills all these people.
He dresses up like this old lady, but then he kills those guys.
>> He's a bad guy?
>> Well, yeah, but the real bad guys are in the mob.
>> That's right, both mediums feature organized crime.
In the movie,
a gangster named Dorian has plans to steal the seat of power from his boss, Nikko.
>> But in the comics,
a mute muscle-for-hire named Walter is the star villain.
He starts out working for a sadistic drug dealer, but over the course of
the trilogy, simply becomes an unstoppable force in search of Big Head.
>> In the movie, Dorian captures Stanley and harnesses the power of the mask.
>> What a rush.
>> His evil plot culminates in an attack on the local charity ball
where he kills his old boss and takes the city's elite hostage.
So it's up to our protagonist, Stanley Ipkiss to save the day.
>> Daddy's going to have to go kick some ass.
>> But in the comics, Ipkiss is no hero.
After committing mass murder, he cowardly runs home and
starts packing bags to skip town.
But his plans go out the window after Catherine discovers his misdeeds and
shoots him in the back, ending her boyfriend's reign of terror.
>> You go girl!
(Music)
The movie doesn't give Tina nearly as much to do say, for
getting the mask away from Dorian with her womanly wiles.
With comic Ipkiss dead, Catherine hands the mask over to Kellaway and
it's the lieutenant who puts it on and challenges the criminal underworld.
Eventually he finds and kills Mr. Ipaz and makes a fine nemesis out of Walter.
This contentious relationship continues through the third installment when Walter
does finally get his hands on the ultimate prize, though it doesn't do him much good.
>> His face is too big.
>> He sure is an nincompoop, isn't he, sweetheart?
But the bad guys aren't the only nincompoops who go after the mask.
The comic books feature a number of other mask wearers.
In The Mask Returns, it ends up on the face of a driver working for
the mob, thus creating Big Head, the crime boss.
In The Mask Strikes Back, it finds its way into the hands of a group of delinquents
creating Big Head the anarchist, Big Head the rock star,
Big Head the day tripper and finally, Big Head the superhero.
All of which ends in chaos and death, of course.
>> In the movie, Ipkiss' animal sidekick, Milo is the third and
final character to wear the mask.
His methods are a bit sophomoric, but
he successfully helps foil the villains plot, because he's always a good boy.
Our stories end when the chaos is reigned in and the mask is hidden away for good.
>> Or so we think.
(Music)
In the comics,
Walter nonchalantly tosses the mask out of sight in an anticlimactic bit of irony.
But the movie gives that honor to Tina, who tosses it off of
a bridge because she's in love with the man inside the mask.
>> Good for you, Stanley!
(Sound) Looking back at the darker elements of the movie,
I can see why New Line thought The Mask would make a great horror series.
>> In my fantasy, Ipkiss is played by Nicholas Cage.
He's so- (Noise) Weird.
>> But with Jim Carrey in the leading role, the darkness was lifted.
And The Mask became a classic hero's journey filled with cartoonish fun for
the whole family.
>> Smokin!
>> Ha, you know what?
You're all right kid.
>> Casey, don't give her a cigarette.
>> I'll just take that back.
>> And so concludes another episode.
>> Don't forget to like this video and subscribe for more adaptations and
of course, Broadway level mambos right here on Cinefix.
>> I'm playing in the street!
(Noise)