9 Movies That Studios Were Scared Of Releasing

New Line Cinema had absolutely no belief in 1994's Dumb and Dumber, to the point where they actively tried to hijack the film in the casting department.

Since this was the Farrelly Brothers' directorial debut (it took them years to get the film made because nobody would take a chance on it), they didn't really have much clout within the industry, and as a result, New Line was able to throw its weight around.

The studio - clearly concerned about the whole endeavour - wanted to shape the movie into something that, in their eyes, stood a better chance at being successful. Much like The Breakfast Club, people around Hollywood thought that the project was "sh*t". And so, they started trying to interfere with the casting process.

Steve Martin, Martin Short and even Nicolas Cage were among their requested choices for the two leads before Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels were cast, and even then, New Line didn't want the latter anywhere near this film: they actually offered him a paltry $50,000 in the hopes that he would say no.

But in the end, all this hubbub was for nothing. Dumb and Dumber became a big financial success, and launched the Farrelly Brothers' careers.