Stiller's Clone Comedy Gets Another Look
Posted on May 5, 2009
Hollywood Reporter says the Used Guys script is getting another look. The film was originally supposed to star Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller and was about two no longer needed pleasure clones in a world run by women. Fox pulled the plug on the version. Hollywood Reporter says the new version of the film starring Ben Stiller and Reese Witherspoon will focus more on the relationship between the clone (Stiller) and the clone's owner (Witherspoon).
The current take at Fox focuses more on the relationship between Stiller's character and Witherspoon's clone owner. Roach will remain a producer on the project along with Stiller's Red Hour Films.We hope this version is good. The Stiller-Carrey version sounded like it could have been funny.Dave Guion and Michael Handelman ("The Ex") wrote the Roach-Carrey version of the project, which was to co-star Emily Mortimer, based on an original draft by Mickey Birnbaum. The film had a start date of June 11, 2006, and a release date of June 15, 2007.
But in May 2006, as the project was entering preproduction, Fox pulled the plug on it as too costly an enterprise, with a $112 million budget and Roach, Stiller and Carrey reportedly accounting for 27% of the backend profits. At the time, the studio portrayed the decision as merely a delay because of the stars' scheduling conflicts