Jeff Daniels Feared ‘Dumb & Dumber’ Toilet Scene Would “End” His Career

Armando Tinoco
·2 min read
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Jeff Daniels is recalling filming Dumb and Dumber and the infamous toilet scene.

The actor of Netflix’s Man in Full recently revealed in an interview that he feared his career would end over the funny scene in the comedy.

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Daniels starred in the 1994 comedy as Harry, opposite Jim Carrey. In the film, the two friends go on a road trip to Aspen, Colorado, to return a briefcase to a woman. Harry has digestive problems in one scene and ends up in a toilet that doesn’t flush. Daniels thought filming this scene would be a bad move for his career.

“It’s one thing to read the toilet scene, but then the day comes and we’re actually going to do the toilet scene,” he said in an interview with USA Today. “I told Jim, ‘This is either the beginning of my career or the end of it.'”

Daniels called his co-star “fearless” and gave him a pep talk to do the scene with Carrey telling him, “It’s going to be great. You’ve just got to go all the way with it.”

“That was a couple hours of porcelain gymnastics,” he added. “And that close-up when they pop in tight on my red face. I had been doing it so long, I had almost passed out.”

Despite initial pushback from his agents, being part of the film paid off for Daniels. Clint Eastwood noticed his work in the comedy and met him at a golf tournament.

“Clint says to me, ‘I just saw Dumb and Dumber and you know, the toilet scene? That happened to me,'” Daniels said. “And then he tells a story about dating this woman that he really wanted to impress, but the shellfish hit him the wrong way from lunch.”

Daniels said that he did his job “beyond my job” and believes that the toilet scene “will probably outlive us. It will be funny 40 years from now.”

Remember the Dumb and Dumber toilet scene in the video below.

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