Steve Carell
"I don't have a mental manual of how I'm raising my kids."
by Justin Clark
June 13, 2007
Still, you're getting to be quite a movie star.
[Laughs] I'm internationally famous.
How much more time will you give yourself to do The Office?
I'll give them twenty minutes every day for five days straight and that will be it for the season. So, whatever they can get, that'll be it. No, I love it. In terms of writing and value, nothing beats the show. It's such a smart group of people, and people are really devoted. The actors, I think, are fantastic — that group of people doesn't come together very often. It's sort of a braintrust in my opinion, especially the writing team.
On that same note, how do you think Michael Scott would handle the same task that God gives your character in Evan Almighty ?
I have no idea! He'd probably get Creed to come in and build the arc. He wouldn't want to do it himself. And Jan would convince him not to do it because she sort of rides roughshod over him anyway. He probably wouldn't end up doing it, because in his mind, Jan might be more powerful than God.
What was the most difficult scene you had to do in Evan Almighty?
It was early on. I think it might have been the birds. They were on my shoulders for a few days straight and that was real — it wasn't a computer generated flock of birds. They would literally not get off me — I don't know how they trained them. And frankly,
The baboons were horrifying.they were very well-fed before shooting. So that posed its own set of difficulties.
What were the most lovable animals, and the least?
Loveable? Giraffes and elephants. Very soulful faces, kind, sweet gentle. Reprehensible? The baboons were horrifying. There's one scene where the baboons bring me lemonade, and on one take the baboon spilled the lemonade. So I went off book and started improvising and said, "Hey man, what are you doing?" I raised my voice a tiny degree, and the baboon thought I was getting aggressive with it. It bared its teeth and it took a very aggressive stance with me and scared the hell out of me. After the take the trainer came and said, "Really, don't do that. Don't talk to the baboon. As a matter of fact, don't even look the baboon in the eye." I was like, "What? Why didn't you tell me before we started shooting not to look the baboon in the eye?"
So yes, they were a little ornery. Then there was the camel's breath. In an enclosed space, a camel's breath can change the atmosphere of the room — not only just the smell, but literally they seem to change the atmospheric pressure. It's so disgusting, it's like they have eight stomachs, each more rancid than the next.
©2007 Justin Clark and Nerve Media
About the Author
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A recent graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Justin Clark has written for L.A. Weekly, Psychology Today, Black Book, Architecture, Fuse, and The Fader, among other publications. He is currently researching a history of the American child prodigy, and writing a mystery novel set in Los Angeles. |
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