Carrey signed earlier in the fall to star in the fact-based tale as Steven Russell, a married father whose conman ways introduced him to the Texas prison system. There, he fell in love with cellmate Phillip Morris.

His love for Morris motivated his escape from prisons four times, once by using a green pen and bucket of water to change his prison outfit into what appeared to be surgical scrubs, another time by faking his death from AIDS and signing his own death certificate. Morris eventually got out, but Russell's escapades got him a 144-year sentence.

Ficarra and Requa wrote the script, based on a book by Houston Chronicle crime reporter Steve McVicker.