Chuck Russell, the film director best known for reshaping The Mask into a colourful comic spectacular, has died aged 74. He took over the project when it had languished for years in Hollywood as a horror script, persuading New Line Cinema to let him rework it as a riotous, special-effects-driven comedy that fused star Jim Carrey's physical performance with cutting-edge CGI, and it went on to become the fourth highest-grossing film of 1994.

Russell was also known for launching major acting careers, insisting on casting an inexperienced Cameron Diaz opposite Carrey in The Mask, giving Patricia Arquette her film debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987), and handing Dwayne Johnson his first lead role in The Scorpion King (2002). The Mask alone grossed more than $351m worldwide, a success Russell attributed to its universal themes about the fear and appeal of "letting loose". Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, he was the son of a travel agent and an advertising executive, and studied at the University of Illinois before beginning his directing career.