Steve Carell

Spotlight By: Stephen Snart
StephenSnart@TheCinemaSource.com

Few contemporary comic actors can match the credibility and marketability of Jim Carrey and thus attempting to follow in his footsteps is a mighty daunting endeavor; in Evan Almighty, the sequel to the 2003 blockbuster Bruce Almighty, Steve Carell attempts to do just that. Others have tried before. Eric Christian Olsen tried doing a Jim Carrey impression for 80 minutes in Dumb and Dumberer and Jamie Kennedy gave a sedated go at it in Son of the Mask. Needless to say, both films were monumental failures. But if there’s one comic actor working today who can pull of such a gargantuan feat, it’s Steve Carell.

Carell himself is completely upfront about his immense adoration for the rubber faced funny man and the enormous duty of taking over the reins of the Almighty franchise. “To have even been in Bruce Almighty and to be in scenes with him was a real thrill and honor for me. Even if I’m unfavorably compared to Jim Carrey, I take that as a compliment.”

He vividly remembers the shock and amazement he felt when Bruce and Evan director Tom Shadyac revealed he was being courted to take over the lead role in the sequel. “I thought that he was going to pitch the idea of the sequel starring Jim and maybe featuring me as another sort of thorn in his side kind of character. And then when he said well we’d like you to play the title role. I was like…” Carell stammers for a moment, “You had me at hello. I was totally there.”

When asked what specifically got him so excited about the project, he answers with a name. “”Well mostly because of Tom. The first movie I ever did was Bruce Almighty and Tom took very good care of me. It was funny; when I went to the premiere of that I had no idea if I

was going to be in the final cut… I remember going and sitting there and there my scene was in tact! I had so much fun doing it and it was sort of a dream,” he recalls nostalgically. “A couple years before I got the part I remember watching Liar Liar [also directed by Shadyac] and I was watching the outtakes and Jim Carrey was just making everybody laugh. Two years later I was doing Bruce Almighty and it was exactly that. And then I was in the outtakes! The chance to work with Tom again, sort of on a one-on-one basis was kind of a dream come true.”

As Evan Almighty has transitioned from the PG-13 rating of the predecessor to a family targeting PG, the sequel risks garnering the reputation of being a kids’ film. But Carell is quick to discredit the PG rating as a hindrance to the film’s brand of humor. “I wouldn’t say it’s a kids’ movie. I think it’s…” he pauses and changes his direction, “This is a fine line to walk… whenever I hear someone talk about a kids’ movie or a family movie it immediately has a negative connotation in my mind because I think, ‘Well as an adult I wouldn’t go see it by myself because it’s purely for children and it holds nothing for me. I don’t see the movie as that. I see it as having, I hope, a fairly broad appeal. I think it would be very funny for kids but likewise for adults… My goal was to make it funny without being preachy or overly sentimental or overly precious. I don’t think this movie crams any message down anyone’s throat. It does it with a very light touch.”

In addition to its family friendly certification, Evan Almighty has been garnering attention for being the first major Hollywood film in ages to openly and directly deal with the subject of religion. But

once again Carell is eager to deter people from getting carried away with an ideology or agenda. “I don’t see it as a biblical comedy. I see it as a fable. I see it as a comedy that is based upon a story in the Old Testament. I don’t see it as like a religious comedy in any way, shape or form… It’s a tale about a guy who has to make a huge leap of faith.” Carell stops to clear his throat. “In terms of my own beliefs or convictions… honestly, I think that’s such a personal thing that I don’t want that to kind of infuse my promotion of this movie. I also think that that narrows it. I think this movie really is for anybody. It’s for any faith or any non-faith.”

Working on Evan Almighty finally gave Carell the chance to meet co-star Morgan Freeman, having not had the opportunity to share any scenes with the Oscar-winner during the production of Bruce. “I never met him on the first one. I saw him from a distance at the premier but I was far too nervous and shy to approach him and say hi. And I was almost too shy to approach him on this one as well,” he jokes. “He’s just a presence. He walks around and people have a great amount of respect and reverence for him. He’s such a fantastic actor and all you want to do is be around him. He’s the type of actor, the best kind, because he makes everyone else better than they are. He’s great and could not have been sweeter and has an enormously good sense of humor about himself.”

Transitioning to a co-star of a different sort, the multitude of animals required to complete the Noah’s Ark premise, Carell reveals he didn’t quite have as much reverence for his furry friends. “The baboons were horrifying. There’s one scene when the baboons bring me

lemonade and on one take a baboon spilled the lemonade. I went off the book, I improvised and said something like ‘Hey man, what are you doing?’ I raised my voice maybe to that degree [he says in a normal indoor voice] and the baboon thought I was getting aggressive to it. It bared its teeth and it took a very aggressive stance and scared the hell out of me. After the take the trainer came and said, ‘You know what, don’t do that. Don’t talk to the baboon.’ Then he paused and said, ‘You know what, as a matter of fact, don’t look the baboon in the eye.’”

He did relish the opportunity to work alongside elephants and giraffes – animals he describes as “kind, sweet, gentle” – but he admits he wasn’t too fond of the camels, or to be more specific, their breath. “In an enclosed space, a camel’s breath can change the atmospheric pressure of a room… it’s so disgusting. It’s like they have eight stomachs, each is more rancid than the next and it just comes out of its mouth.”

As Carell becomes a bigger and bigger box office draw, or “internationally famous” as the actor says with mock pomposity, the challenge to balance work and family becomes greater and greater. But Carell seems to be able to pull it all off with remarkable level-headedness. When asked for his secret he responds quickly: “I use sport’s energy drinks. Highly caffeinated sports energy drinks is the answer.” He straightens and gets serious. “I’m the type of person who’s always waiting for the other shoe to drop. So, I’m not taking anything that’s happening now for granted. Essentially, I know that there’s a window of time when I’ll be able to do these things and I’m just trying to take advantage of that now. While at the same time, being very cautious not to let it interfere with my family life. That to me

is the line. If it starts to bleed over into time away from my family, it’s sort of not going to happen. But so far I’ve been able to balance those.”

Even though he’s achieved the cinematic echelons of headlining a $200 million-plus summer comedy, Carell expresses no desires to leave his role on NBC’s The Office in order to take on more film roles. “I love it. Just in terms of writing and value, nothing beats that. It’s such a smart group of people and people are really devoted to the show… that sort of group of people doesn’t come together very often in television or in movies. It’s sort of a brain trust in my opinion, especially the writing team. It’s really remarkable. I’m extremely happy and still very proud to be a part of it.”

Carell appears so fond of his role on the Emmy award winning series he can’t resist slipping back into his character’s mindset when asked what his television alter-ego Michael Scott would have done if he’d been contacted to build the ark. “Well, he probably would get Creed to come in and build the ark. And Jan would convince him not to do because she sort of rides rough shot over him anyway. Because in his mind, Jan might be more powerful than God.”