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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

‘Dumb and Dumber’ stars making sequel

From Wire Reports

Nearly 20 years after “Dumb and Dumber” was released, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are reuniting for “Dumb and Dumber To.” Daniels said Carrey approached directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly two years ago about doing a sequel.

“Jim has been against all sequels, and you know, understandably so. … But he turned 50 and that will mellow you out, and suddenly he’s going, ‘Let’s have some fun. … Come on,’ and we’re going, ‘Great,’ and so the Farrellys said, ‘This isn’t a money grab. Let’s really write a great second movie that takes the original and then blows it up even further, and so I think they did that,” Daniels said in an interview Wednesday.

Daniels said he’s read the script and calls it “painfully funny.”

Author Munro announces retirement

Less than a year after Philip Roth announced he had stopped writing books, another literary great may be retiring: Alice Munro.

The 81-year-old Canadian author, widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest short story writers, told Canada’s National Post during a recent interview that she was “probably not going to write anymore.” Munro made the comments after receiving the Trillium Book Award for the story collection “Dear Life.”

“Not that I didn’t love writing,” she said, “but I think you do get to a stage where you sort of think about your life in a different way. And perhaps, when you’re my age, you don’t wish to be alone as much as a writer has to be. It’s like, at the wrong end of life, sort of becoming very sociable.”

Roth, 80, made similar comments last year in explaining his decision to quit. The list of voluntary literary retirees is tiny, with the vast majority of authors continuing for as long as health permits.

Munro has said before that she was quitting, only to resume writing.

“I do stop – for some strange notion of being ‘more normal,’ taking things easy. Then some poking idea comes,” she said. “This time, I think it’s for real. I’m 81, losing names or words in a commonplace way.”

The birthday bunch

Actor Bernie Kopell is 80. Actor Monte Markham is 78. Actress Mariette Hartley is 73. Comedian Joe Flaherty is 72. Rock singer-musician Ray Davies (The Kinks) is 69. Actress Meredith Baxter is 66. Actor Michael Gross is 66. Rock musician Nils Lofgren is 62. Country singer Kathy Mattea is 54. Writer-director Lana Wachowski is 48. Country singer Allison Moorer is 41. Actress Juliette Lewis is 40. Rock musician Mike Einziger (Incubus) is 37.