Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Now that they have wrapped their dream project The Three Stooges after a decade of trying, Peter and Bobby Farrelly are moving forward with another project they’ve long wanted to do: a second installment of the New Line 1994 hit Dumb and Dumber. The intention is to bring back Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, the lovable dimwitted pals with big hearts and small brains. Sean Anders and John Morris have been hired to write the script. They co-wrote the Anders-directed Sex Drive and just co-directed the Adam Sandler comedy I Hate You Dad. The hope is for the Farrelly Brothers to direct this next.

While Carrey isn’t a big sequel guy, he dropped hints about the movie while he was out promoting Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Nothing much has happened until now because the Farrellys were engaged on The Three Stooges and Anders and Morris were shooting the Sandler comedy. Now, things are heating up. The original Dumb and Dumber, made on a $16 million budget, grossed nearly $250 million worldwide. They could have done this a long time ago, but New Line unwisely went forward with Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. Made on the cheap with lookalike actors, the movie was dreadful, but it obviously didn’t kill the franchise. Original producers Charles B. Wessler, Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler will be back as  producers, as will the Farrelly’s longtime Conundrum Entertainment partner Bradley Thomas. Fox will release The Three Stooges April 4, 2012.