Only in Hollywood
Steve Carell’s red carpet and men’s room stories
By Ruben V. Nepales
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:42:00 03/13/2008
LOS ANGELES, California—“BE GENTLE with me,” Steve Carell joked at the beginning of the press con. And then he proceeded to include some amusing anecdotes while answering the reporters’ questions.
These include the actor’s stories about his experiences on the red carpet, the men’s room, and how to improve the Oscar Awards show.
Steve provides the voice of the Mayor of Who-ville, a city inhabited by the microscopic Whos, in the movie adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ beloved “Horton Hears a Who!” As is the case with animation films, Steve never saw his co-stars, which include Carol Burnett and Jim Carrey, do their voice work. They all recorded their lines separately.
Still, Steve—whose first film was in Jim’s “Bruce Almighty”—was glad to be in a movie again with his fellow comedian. “I would love to work with Jim again where we are actually acting in the same place and at the same time,” Steve said. “I hold Jim in the highest regard. He and Carol [Burnett] are such icons. I pinch myself and I feel like a Who, a little speck in between these two massive talents.” Excerpts:
How have you adapted to the glamorous side of your career—the red carpet walk and all that?
Frankly, that’s such a strange world to me—the red carpet, the glamour and the glitz. My wife and I just laugh at each other the entire night because we don’t feel like we’re really part of that world. The first big one I went to was the Golden Globes. It blew my mind. It was so unlike anything that I had ever done in my life. It was exciting and there were stars all over the place. I was like, how did I get invited to this thing?
I love to watch the red carpet and see people make fun of themselves and wear things that are crazy or not crazy. It always seems more glamorous from a distance than when you’re there. You’re in the men’s room next to John Travolta. It puts things in perspective—they’re just people who have to pee like everybody else (laughter).
I’m glad to hear that John Travolta goes to the restroom like everybody else.
Yes. Oh, incidentally, Ricky Gervais and I were together in the men’s room at the SAG Awards. This is another men’s room story (laughter). We greeted each other. I was at the urinal and he was at the next. He peered over the little partition and actually said, as loudly as he could, “I knew it!”—in this packed men’s room. I was like, “Thanks, great.” (Note: It appears that the brilliant Ricky’s verbal prank was to leave everyone in that men’s room wondering whether his comment was complimentary or insulting to Steve.)
Your acceptance speech when you won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical Series in 2006 remains one of the funniest ever. You said your wife (comedian Nancy Walls) wrote it for you. Who really wears the pants in the family?
Boy (laughter). She will occasionally wear a skirt if we’re going out but for the most part, we both wear pants. I wear bigger pants but the whole idea for that speech was hers. I didn’t think in a million years that I would win. But I thought I should have something literally in my back pocket so I don’t make a complete fool of myself just in case I get called. She said, “Well, you should just thank me over and over.” So we came up with this idea that she wrote the speech and that she had written my thanks to her into the speech. So I sat down and typed it out in about 20 minutes and read it to her. She was like, “Yeah, if you win, just read that” and that was that.
The recent Oscar Awards show, where you were a presenter, got poor reviews and its ratings went down even further. TV critics called for drastic changes. What changes do you think should be made?
More nudity (laughter). You just pay the fines. You know how much you could sell ad time for like full frontal nudity in the Oscars. I don’t know because no matter which way you turn with something like the Oscars, there will be people who object. If you change it too much, then some people will say it denigrates the award. If you don’t change it enough, then some people will say it’s stuck too much in tradition. The Emmys tried something new—a stage in the round just to mix it up. I thought it was a horrible idea because I sat for three hours behind
everybody, watching people’s butts.
When did you first read Dr. Seuss’ books?
I first came across Dr. Seuss when I was four or five. My parents started to read to me and then I began reading it myself. I loved the books because you could start reading them. You could read and understand them. I loved the images. I loved how different it was. All of the characters were from this person’s imagination. It makes a little kid think a little less linear. It helps expand a child’s imagination.
In this movie, the book’s theme comes down to one line: A person’s a person no matter how small. It is a very rich, deep sentiment that is not lost on the children. It’s very moving in that regard. It’s funny, silly, imaginative, and I got it as a kid. The great thing about Dr. Seuss is that you learn without feeling like you’re being taught.
To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, do you always say what you mean and mean what you say?
No. That would probably be a good rule to live by, but I tend to be a little sarcastic. I probably use that as a defense more than anything.
Since you lend your voice as the Mayor of Who-ville in the movie, what kind of mayor would you be if you were one?
I would be a terrible mayor. In real life, I don’t think I have the stomach for politics. To become a politician, you have to have a certain muscle, an ability for politicking, for ingratiating yourself to people and for making tough moves. That’s just not in my nature.
You are probably the hardest working actor in Hollywood today, making one film after another.
It is abject greed (laughter).
But when did you consider yourself successful?
I deemed myself successful when I stopped waiting tables and made money full-time as an actor in 1988. If I’m able to do all the things that I want to do while maintaining a family life and it’s still fun, then by all means I should do it because frankly, who knows how long any of this will last? I don’t presume that it will continue at a breakneck speed. I don’t have that ego to assume that I will always be given these wonderful roles, so I figure I might as well take advantage while I can.
If this is as much success as I will ever achieve, if it all ends tomorrow, I consider myself luckier than most people.
Having said that, I still want to do things that I think are potentially good and something that I’ll be proud of. I don’t want to turn out a bunch of junk and get a paycheck. Because if my kids decide to go to college, that’s already paid for.
Are you aiming for higher levels of success?
I’ve never looked at it in terms of levels. As soon as anyone does that, they lose sight of where they are. So when I was working at The Second City in Chicago, I wasn’t thinking, ooh, I need to be on “Saturday Night Live.” Or when I was on “The Daily Show,” I wasn’t thinking, ooh, I need to be doing movies. As soon as you put yourself too far ahead of where you are, you’re no longer doing the best work you could do at the time.
Despite your success in the movies, you’ve managed to stay in your TV series “The Office.” Any plans of quitting that show?
We are under contract for another three years so as long as there’s an audience for the show, I’ll stay. It’s a really fun show to do. The writing is great. Everybody in the show gets along well so there would be no reason to leave.
Since you and your wife are both comedians, is it always funny in your house?
It’s not a goofy house. I do have to say that my daughter already understands sarcasm. She has given it back as good as she gets it. She understands irony which is a pretty advanced comedic form for a 6-year-old to get. But we keep it light. I don’t try out new characters on my kids, let’s put it that way. I’m their dad first. I don’t want to be their clown dad. But we do laugh a lot.
And since you and your wife are both busy, how do you share the parenting responsibilities?
We split it up as much down the middle as we can. Because the kids wake up before we would normally wake up, we also split the getting up duties. I’ll take one day. She takes the next. I drive the kids to school; she picks them up. But I don’t see it as a chore. There’s something really special about those early morning hours with my kids before the lights come up. I make pancakes for my daughter. I get cereals for my son. We sit down and we might watch a cartoon. We just kind of share the morning. It’s just a really cozy warm time. I love it.
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, “The Nepales Report,” on blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.
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