20 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Starred In Jurassic Park Movies

16. Jim Carrey Was Almost Dr Ian Malcolm

Jim Carrey Jurassic Park Header
Universal

Before he made his name as a mugging goon in Ace Ventura and Dumb And Dumber, Jim Carrey had his sights on a less flamboyant star-making role. As hard as it is to take the idea seriously, Carrey auditioned for the role Jeff Goldblum so iconically performed in the first Jurassic Park film, Dr Ian Malcolm.

Somewhat unhelpfully to his cause, that film's casting director Janet Hirshenon had Goldblum in mind for the chaos theory loving lothario, and despite what she called a terrific audition, her first choice got the role.

Just imagine for a minute how differently Carrey's career trajectory might have gone had he been successful: or how ridiculous The Lost World would have been with him leading the dino-finding expedition instead of Goldblum (who has already a fairly big leap himself).

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