No, no, no. I absolutely insist that you have the throne chair,” says comic actor Steve Carell as he nestles into more modest accommodation. It’s very nice of him, you know. Were I in his shoes with a fantastically funny film kicking ass at the US box-office ($20 million in receipts for the opening weekend alone), I’d not only keep the throne for myself, I’d be hiring people to ferry me about on a chaise longue.
“That is a good idea,” starts the star of 40 Year-Old Virgin. “You don’t mind if I steal it, do you?”
Despite the faintly hiberno-sounding handle, Mr. Carell is of Italian descent, the name having been chopped up as his ancestors passed through Ellis Island. “My actual name is Careselli,” he says. “It means ‘wild horses’, which is kind of cool.” Perhaps if the comedian had put that on a t-shirt he wouldn’t have struck out so often with the ladies during his youth. But then, without his sexual misfortunes at college, we might not have had 40 Year-Old Virgin.
“Now everyone knows,” he sighs. “I went to an all-boys school so I was shy around women for a while. As soon as a woman went from being a friend to a romantic interest, that’s when I’d lose the ability to speak to them. Actually, I did get the hang of it after college. I wouldn’t say I was a ladies’ man, but I didn’t strike out as often as my character. But I am going to take action just so everyone knows I’m a real man. I’m going to get bumper stickers made up with pictures of my wife and children. Or maybe one of those banners that fly behind planes”.
While 40 Year-old Virgin marks Mr. Carell’s first lead role, he’s been pottering away as a comedy writer on The Daly Show and Saturday Night Live for many moons. More recently, he stepped into Ricky Gervais’ shoes for the US reworking of The Office. Those are surely some big, funny shoes to fill?
“Those are huge shoes. Most daunting thing I’ve ever done. I had to change the character slightly, so that he’s still the clueless boss, but he’s not the same. I would have just looking stupid trying to impersonate the brilliant job he did. He’s an iconic character.”
Next up, Steve will take the lead role in the big screen version of Get Smart, but for now he’s thrilled to be astride the top of the box-office.
“It’s really cool,” he says. “It’s like this little movie with no stars. It’s exceeded all expectations. Who thought you could entice people to go to a Steve Carell movie?”
Well, he could always have used ‘the name means wild horses’ as a tagline.
“Oh yeah. That’s going to be my next movie – The Steve Carell Story. And then I’m going to get a room in my house filled with actual wild horses and a chaise longue. I’ll use money to clean up after them.”