There were all kinds of fun Saturday Night Live tidbits revealed in the days leading up to the SNL 40 anniversary special, and here's one more from Robert Smigel. In an interview with EW, Smigel says there was almost a live-action movie based on his The Ambiguously Gay Duo cartoons.
The animated shorts followed two superheroes named Ace and Gay who may or may not be gay, hence the title of the comedy sketch. Robert Smigel says although he thought it would be boring, he eventually warmed up to the idea, and he was considering "a live-action one with Alec Baldwin and Jimmy Fallon.’”
Saturday Night Live showrunner Lorne Michaels was also down for a The Ambiguously Gay Duo flick, but it didn't happen because of ownership disputes between Universal (who held the rights since the cartoon debuted on The Dana Carvey Show) and Paramount.
Smigel goes on to say the project found new life in 2003 after Jim Carrey and his BRUCE ALMIGHTY co-star Steve Carell (who voiced Gary) started talking about the cartoon.
Carell told Jim that I had thought about doing a live-action movie. And Carrey just lit up at the idea.
Smigel did get the OK from Universal to write a script and he gave it to Jim Carrey, but he says "it sort of died on the vine again.” While a live-action feature film version of the cartoon is more than likely dead, there are two stars Robert Smigel has in mind for the movie.
A year ago, I was like, ‘What if I went out now to Channing Tatum and Justin Bieber?' I would go to see that.
Would you go see a live-action The Ambiguously Gay Duo movie starring Tatum and The Biebs?