The Tao of Steve Carell
PREMIERE’s July/August issue, on sale now, is all about what’s funny in movies, and who better than The 40-Year-Old Virgin’s Carell, Hollywood’s new king of comedy, for the cover. PREMIERE.com presents an excerpt of the cover story and an exclusive first look at Evan Almighty.
By Brooke Hauser
In person, nothing about Steve Carell screams, “Look at me!” He wears his short hair combed, with a side part—a style often found in men's catalogs. He is neither tall nor short, and though he is broad-shouldered and hairy-chested, he doesn't seem burly. With the exception of his thumbs, which are cartoonishly wide and flat and appear to have been bludgeoned by a large rock (think Fred Flintstone, after an incident at the quarry), he is entirely inconspicuous. He could be your dentist, your waiter, your next-door neighbor.
What Steve Carell is not is the kind of guy who is used to doing nude scenes in multimillion-dollar productions such as Evan Almighty, a spin-off from 2003's Bruce Almighty. Sitting fully dressed in a director's chair on a soundstage in Waynesboro, Virginia, the 42-year-old actor relives the moment a few days ago when his character, Evan Baxter, discovers the first sign that God (Morgan Freeman) has chosen him to become a modern-day Noah. Baxter embraces his new image by walking into his yard in nothing but his birthday suit and a long beard.
“I had to wear a pouch held together by a string, not unlike the string that holds on a party mask,” Carell says, his hands folded like a second-grader's above his lap. “I asked Will Ferrell about it, because he tends to do things like that. You can't seem to have any sort of inhibition. Or shame. Or absolute horror at your own physical presence. I know I'm not a woman's fantasy man; I don't have to uphold this image of male beauty, so that's kind of a relief in a way.” He cocks his head to one side and smiles. “I don't know if that's the right word for it. It's very sad . . . I'm a character actor—that's what it comes down to.”
Carell is one character actor who is quickly scaling Hollywood's A-list, thanks to last year's $109 million-grossing The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he starred in, cowrote, and executive-produced.
Although he has the comic chops to go big-top broad, he is perhaps better known for being disarmingly subtle, in roles such as Virgin's Andy Stitzer or minorly tragic paper-plant boss Michael Scott (for which he won a Golden Globe) on NBC's The Office.
Given the enormity of Evan Almighty—which finds Baxter promoted from newsroom bully to New York state congressman—it's hard to believe that just a few years ago Carell warned friends and family that his scenes as Bruce's nemesis might get cut. The Evan set itself is nothing short of biblical: On a dirt lot in the small town of Crozet, the production team has erected the wooden ribs of a 450-foot-long ark, complete with a barn loft and working wheel. Base camp, an endless maze of trucks and tents, is practically visible from the moon.
To read the rest of this Steve Carell cover story, pick up a copy of the July/August 2006 issue of PREMIERE, on sale June 20.
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