I had a sinking feeling that despite best intentions, Paramount would never get back to RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT – it’s expensive Jim Carrey/Tim Burton adventure flick – after postponing it just a few months before its start date. I just assumed both Carrey and Burton would move on to other things and RIPLEY’S would die a slow death. Not so. Paramount has brought in longtime Carrey collaborator Steve Oedekerk to revise the script and they’re currently eyeing a late-2008 start of production. Carrey and Oedekerk first met on “In Living Color” and the writer previously wrote ACE VENTURE: WHEN NATURE CALLS and BRUCE ALMIGHTY for Carrey (he’s also performed numerous uncredited tweaks on a number of other Carrey films). The new concept for the script will shift focus away from the Robert Ripley character and more on the eccentric people, creatures and artifacts he finds on his journeys. Oddly, the main sticking point – the price – is expected to stay the same. Paramount is, however, looking to get more for its money and has asked Oedekerk to “ramp up the spectacle factor.” Burton is currently prepping SWEENEY TODD for a January start in London and Carrey has THE NUMBER 23 due in February.
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