Julian Barratt: Mindhorn nearly starred Jim Carrey

Julian Barratt and Simon Farnaby, the writers and stars of new British comedy ‘Mindhorn’ (in UK cinemas from 5 May), say Jim Carrey was once attached to their movie during its development.

“The truth of it is that… the script went out and someone thought, ‘this would be good for Jim Carrey’,” Julian Barratt, who eventually played the lead role of Mindhorn, explained to Yahoo Movies.

“So that came back to us that ‘Jim wants to do it. Jim is in love with this and wants to hold it to his chest.'”

“Maybe he was,” Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote the script and stars in the film as stunt man Clive Parnevik, added, “But we haven’t heard from him since.”

It’s hard to imagine the peculiarly British ‘Mindhorn’ as a Jim Carrey vehicle now, and had it been made with the ‘Ace Ventura’ star we imagine it probably would have relocated to the States.

The film, a comedy gem that’s destined to become a cult classic, tells the story of washed-up actor Richard Thorncroft (Barratt). Most famous for playing maverick Isle of Man detective Mindhorn in a 1980s cop show, Thorncroft has fallen on hard times after trying to make it in Hollywood, but an unsolved mystery calls the actor back to the island for one last case.

Barratt and Farnaby joined Yahoo Movies UK for a Facebook Live interview where we quizzed them on Mindhorn’s origins, Simon’s time playing Blue Five in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’, and the future of Julian’s hit sketch show ‘The Mighty Boosh’.

Watch the full interview below.

‘Mindhorn’ is in UK cinemas from 5 May, and will be coming to Netflix in America soon.

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