A ‘Fire Marshall Bill’ Spin-Off Movie? Jim Carrey Character Featured In Movie Poster On Social Media

Is a movie about Fire Marshall Bill blazing its way into a theater near you? That is exactly what you may think after seeing what appears to be a promotional poster for the In Living Color spin-off film on Facebook.

Before you get your hopes up about seeing Fire Marshall Bill make his triumphant return to the wildfire scene in a movie theater near you, it’s imperative that you look closer at the poster. As shown within the fine print of the Fire Marshall Bill advertisement, you can see a design credit naming Rico Knight, the person that created this fan-made promo poster for a fake movie.

Rico, who posted the Fire Marshall Bill promotional poster on Facebook last week, has designed quite a few other concept posters for fake movies in recent months — including Twins 2 starring Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Hart as well as Big Bad Girls starring Martin Lawrence and Tyler Perry.

Even though the promo poster for Fire Marshall Bill is fake and the chances of an actual movie being made are slim, it’s still at least nice to think about as a pipe dream. Seeing Jim Carrey reprise such a popular character on the big screen may very well end up becoming a sleeper hit and surprise blockbuster comedy.

Actor Jim Carrey brought the memorable character to life during the five-season run of the popular 1990s sketch comedy show In Living Color. When it comes to teaching fire safety lessons and tips, chances are that the average person pictures a longtime firefighter or station chief handling the job to make sure that the right message is relayed.

In most cases, the last person that you would want to teach any type of fire safety lessons is a demented man bordering the boundaries between passionate and psychotic that seemed to start more fires than stop them. That is exactly what Fire Marshall Bill became for In Living Color fans and viewers — the complete opposite of the ideal fire safety instructor, and it was hilarious to watch him in action!

@ohemilyanne remember doing this the other night? reminded me of Jim Carrey’s Fire Marshall Bill character pic.twitter.com/MTXbrfRW

— Caleb (C BREW) (@TheRealC_BREW) August 21, 2012

During an interview with James Lipton for Inside the Actor’s Studio, Jim Carrey stated that his character’s look was mostly natural. Even though the make-up and costume crew did use make-up enhancements to help get him into character, the core of Fire Marshall Bill’s look and appearance came directly from Jim himself. To prove it, Jim did not hesitate to adjust and mold his face while being interviewed to bring Fire Marshall Bill back to an audience years after In Living Color aired its final episode.

Most longtime fans of Jim Carrey’s work would agree that he made a name for himself in Hollywood on the big screen with the release of the 1994 film Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Even though the critics fired negative reviews at the Tom Shadyac-directed film, it still managed to surprise everyone when it was finally released in theaters. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, which also starred Courtney Cox and Sean Young, generated over $107.2 million worldwide with an estimated production budget of $15 million.

At its core, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective allowed Jim Carrey to push his character work to new heights — a concept that he learned to master while starring on In Living Color. When you think about the wide variety of controversial yet clever characters that Jim Carrey played on the popular sketch comedy series — such as Fire Marshall Bill and the masculine female bodybuilder Vera DeMilo — the former stand-up comedian was truly able to stretch the limits of comedy as far as possible until he found an unexplored territory.

Nice to catch up with memories. Watching Jim Carey without the mask in an off-the-wall sequel, Ace Ventura #Mnet111 pic.twitter.com/IH2xxilCzw

— David Bugzy Muwonge (@Dave_Bugzy) July 16, 2016

In a July 1994 interview with Roger Ebert, Carrey had a chance to open up about the development of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, including his initial reluctance about getting involved with the movie at all. Once he decided to accept the role, Jim Carrey had a specific mission and objective that he wanted to achieve with that role — a mission that most people would agree he accomplished.

“I made a complete choice to go as far out as I possibly could. No half measures. ‘Ace,’ for me, is basically making fun of the hero genre. It’s a complete spoof of my own ego. Like, what would I want to do if I had the fantasy of doing anything I want? Well, I want to be able to beat anyone up, and I want to get all the girls. It’s an ego trip, basically.”

Carrey also discussed his conversations with director Tom Shadyac in regards to refusing to hold back. Carrey acknowledged the classic “Less is More” concept that is used and encouraged by most actors, actresses, and acting coaches. However, when it came to bringing Ace Ventura to the big screen, Carrey admitted that he was “sick of being safe” and refused to do so with that character.

“[Tom Shadyac] said… ‘I want to let you do what you do onstage.’ It was like a new idea to me but it was also just a complete relief. It was like, ‘Well, we’re going to get in a lot of trouble.’ And that’s basically what happened. Every night after we went home from the set, we were gripped by fear… I knew it was the kind of thing that would either make me very popular or ruin me, basically. It was one or the other.”

No, there is not a spin-off movie about Fire Marshall Bill currently in development. The promotional poster is just enjoyable fan-made art that can be added to the expanding list of other fan-made art and fake movie posters. However, remembering the creative artistry of Fire Marshall Bill and Jim Carrey’s overall performance as that character speaks volumes about his versatility and range as an actor in general.

[Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images]