For a man who was, just three years ago, “fairly serious” about retiring from acting, it is starting to look a little like Jim Carrey has reconsidered. Not only has the Canadian-American funnyman made another Sonic movie since telling Variety he was weighing up retirement after Sonic The Hedgehog 2‘s release, playing not one but two Dr. Robotnik’s in the spiny speedster’s third outing, but now he’s in line for an even farther out of left field new project. Per Variety‘s reporting, Carrey is in talks to star in a live-action take on classic sci-fi cartoon The Jetsons — and what’s more, Colin Trevorrow is in negotiations to direct.
For those unfamiliar with Hanna-Barbera’s 60s primetime favourite, The Jetsons is ostensibly a Space Age riff on The Flintstones, following the hijinks of the titular family — George, Jane, Elroy, and Judy Jetson (and proto-Scooby Doo family dog Astro) — as they navigate life, work, school, and a whole load of space-based shenanigans in their hometown of Orbit City. The original show only actually ran for a single season back in 1962, before second and third seasons (and an animated movie) came with a mid-80s revival of the franchise. Over the past couple of decades, Robert Rodriguez and Conrad Vernon have each separately attempted to get live-action and animated Jetsons movies off the ground, but all attempts thus far have sadly fallen by the wayside.
What Jurassic World Dominion director Trevorrow’s take on the material might look like then is anybody’s guess at this stage, as the filmmaker — alongside co-scribe Joe Epstein — is still in the negotiations phase for taking the project on. And as for Jim Carrey, while we may fairly assume he’s in the frame to play put-upon family man George Jetson, his career to date has very much been the model argument for expecting the unexpected so all bets are off. What we do know is that new Carrey, new Trevorrow, and an unexpected revival/reimagining of something of a forgotten toon classic are all things that have our curiosity piqued. And that gets a hearty “Hooba-dooba-dooba!” from us
