The funnyguy actor is set to put his thespian skills to the test in a thriller set entirely in a Manhattan phone booth. The plot puts Carrey's character in the booth, answering a ringing phone and being told by the mystery voice on the other end that he will be shot dead if he hangs up.
The role, Carrey's first since wrapping The Grinch earlier this year, will reunite him with Batman Forever helmer Joel Schumacher, who directed Carrey's scene-chewing villainous turn as the Riddler.
For the rubber-faced Carrey--who's done more stretching lately with his parts than with his face (see The Truman Show and Man on the Moon)--Phone Booth would give him with the opportunity to play a Hitchcockian character in dire straits.
Unlike any of his previous films, Carrey would be on screen at every moment as his character remians in the same location for the entire movie--at a phone booth on a busy Manhattan street.
To prepare for Phone Booth, Carrey will hold extensive rehearsals with Schumacher, who plans to stick to an ultra-low budget by shooting Booth guerrilla-style in just a few weeks. To bring the film in on the cheap, Carrey will have to take a pay cut from his usual $20 million per picture fee to play the part (he doesn't mind).
The movie's distributor, Fox 2000, is even envisioning streaming footage of the rehearsal and shooting process over the Internet to allow fans to see how the movie gets made.
Until Carrey and Schumacher came aboard, Phone Booth had attracted a revolving door of talent: Will Smith, Armageddon helmer Michael Bay and and filmmaking brothers Allen and Albert Hughes have all flirted with the project.
Phone Booth is expected to get under way in New York this summer in a yet-to-be-determined location.
Carrey will next be seen in the Farrelly brothers' upcoming Me, Myself and Irene, due June 23, and Ron Howard's live-action version of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas out in time for the holidays.