If you've been really eager to watch Jim Carrey talk in a French accent and steal art, your wish is one step closer to reality. Two years ago, the actor was tapped for a new project called Pierre Pierre. A modest $13 million comedy, the film was to morph Carrey into a "self-indulgent French nihilist who transports a stolen painting from Paris to London." And though the script had made the Black List, the project went nowhere. Jason Reitman (who was attached at the time) left, Fox Atomic fizzled, and the production fell into turnaround.

But now it has new life with the man who brought us Borat and Bruno.




Deadline reports that Larry Charles will direct the upcoming Pierre Pierre, with Carrey still playing the "Frenchman who transports a stolen painting from Paris to London, behaving more obnoxiously than any waiter you've ever encountered at Cannes." The comedy project -- which sounds like How to Steal a Million meets The Pink Panther -- is now being shopped to producers with a new, and higher, $20 million price tag.

The project looks to be pulling Carrey off the path of cheery-faced romcoms, Christmas fare, and the rest, and throwing him back into the world of physical comedy. Though it's not the Fire Marshall Bill feature that I've been dying to see for years now -- or perhaps the life story of Robert Culp -- it will be nice to see Carrey's flamboyant laughs take center stage again as an obnoxious comedic lead -- with a healthy dose of nihilism to boot!

Is it time for Carrey to return to his physical roots? Time will tell. Let's see if the product continues to move forward this time around.