The man who won't take no for an answer

In Warner Bros.’ new comedy Yes Man, Jim Carrey is Carl Allen, a guy whose life is going nowhere — the operative word being “no” — until he signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: Say “yes” to everything and anything. Says director Peyton Reed, “It throws him off course at first, but then it really gets him to take stock of himself and to invest in life again.”

Reed was immediately attracted to the story of Yes Man after reading the script based on the best-selling memoir of the same title by Danny Wallace. “I dug into the script and subsequently into Danny’s book, and I was really struck by the fact that Danny actually did embrace this philosophy for a period of time,” says Reed.

When Wallace was dumped by his girlfriend years ago, he decided he needed some time to “just sit around and be a boy and play video games, and not really do anything,” he recalls. “My mates were a little bit worried about me. They kept phoning up, leaving messages and texting me with various opportunities and invitations. And I was always saying ‘no.’”

A chance conversation on a London bus turned things around for Wallace and inspired his book. “Someone happened to mention to me, ‘You should say yes more.’ It was probably just a casual remark, but I thought that it was the best advice — like every self-help book in the world distilled into three words. And that launched my ‘yes-capades!’ I bought a car off a bloke at a party just because he said, ‘I don’t suppose you’re interested in buying a car, are you?’ I went to see a band called General Onion and His Shocking Castanets. Thanks to a cleverly-worded advertisement, I flew to Singapore for the weekend. Not really a weekend destination, you know?” he laughs, “but I had a great time. The way I see it, you’re as likely to meet the love of your life at a bad party as at a good one, but if you’ve said no, you’ll never know.”

“I definitely liked the very positive spirit of the material,” shares Reed. “And the basic idea of someone really taking on life, but in our case, in a very random way. A guy like Carl getting into these situations is funny, and I knew that with Jim Carrey playing Carl the comic possibilities were endless. Jim’s physicality and delivery just take what’s funny to a whole different level.”

The Scottish-born author, humorist and television personality Wallace had trouble keeping his feet on the ground when he was approached by the filmmakers about transforming his memoir into a film starring Jim. “I was thrilled when I received a phone call regarding turning my book into a Hollywood film. Clearly I was going to say ‘yes!’” Wallace grins.

Opening across the Philippines on Jan. 21, Yes Man is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.