Dan Marino was ready to turn down a cameo in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective until he met Jim Carrey.
“At first I wasn’t really going to do it, to be honest with you,” the Hall of Fame quarterback, 62, exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, January 23, while promoting his Super Bowl commercial with M&Ms. “Because I read the script. I’m like, ‘This is a little weird.’ And then I made, then I met Jim Carey, like, OK, this could be all right.”
Following his meeting with Carrey, 62, Marino realized the comedian had a clean vision.
“This guy could kind of take this whole thing on and we could have some fun together. And it turned out to be, like, a cult movie,” Marino, who played himself in the movie, said. “People still watch it and it’s amazing that [it’s] actually still going.”
In addition to being beloved by fans, the 1994 comedy also is memorable to Marino’s children. The former Miami Dolphins star shares six children with his wife, Claire Veazey, whom he’s been married to since 1985. Marino joked that since his kids were young when he played football, they know more about his acting stint than his football career.
“[Ace Ventura] was something they talked about sometimes,” Marino said of his family’s appreciation for his cameo. “That was a lot of fun.”
In the film, Carrey’s character is tasked with solving who stole the Miami Dolphins’ mascot before the Super Bowl. In the duo’s memorable scene, Marino was tied up after being kidnapped by Lieutenant Lois Einhorn, played by Sean Young.
“Ace Ventura, pet detective,” Carey said in the movie. “I’ve been sent in with a special play, the quarterback sneak.”
As the detective goes to free the football player, he’s caught by the captor and held at gunpoint. Ace begs Lois not to kill him and offers up Marino instead. The twosome have a hilarious back-and-forth where they argue about who should be sacrificed. Ultimately, Ace exposed Lois’ scheme and the athlete was free to go play in the game.
Marino was in the middle of his career as the Dolphins quarterback when he made the cameo. Nearly 15 years after announcing his retirement, Marino returned to the Dolphins as a special advisor in the front office, a position he still holds.
Ahead of Super Bowl LVIII, Marino teamed up with fellow NFL legends Terrell Owens and Bruce Smith for M&M’s “Almost Champions” commercial, poking fun at the legends who never won a Super Bowl. In the clip, the athletes will get their own “almost champion rings.”
“What I like about it is we have all the almost-champions, Bruce Smith’s in it, [Terrell Owens is] in it, and it really worked out well,” Marino told Us of the advertisement. “And we make fun a little bit … The whole thing is excellent, and everybody’s going to enjoy it.”
M&M’s Super Bowl ad will debut during the big game on Sunday, February 11.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
