Steve Carell may have left the TV series "The Office" (in which he played the comically inept executive Michael Scott), but he has taken on the management leadership and financial responsibilities of producing movies. In the romantic comedy "Crazy, Stupid, Love.," (which is from his Carousel production company), Carell stars as Cal Weaver, a mild-mannered husband and father who is blindsided when his wife, Emily (played by Oscar nominee Julianne Moore ), suddenly asks him for a divorce.
Cal reluctantly re-enters the dating world under the tutelage of a local womanizer named Jacob Palmer (played by Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling ). Meanwhile, Cal is still pining for Emily, and with the encouragement of their 13-year-old son, Robbie (played by Jonah Bobo ), Cal begins to contemplate getting back together with Emily. I recently sat down with Carell at the New York City press junket for "Crazy, Stupid, Love," and he shared behind-the-scenes stories of what it was like to make the film as both a star and producer. Carell also commented on the casting of Emmy winner James Spader as the lead actor in "The Office."
What were some surprising challenges that you experienced a producer of "Crazy, Stupid, Love."?
I dont know if anything surprised me, but the fact that I could take part in the casting and could take part in the selection of the directors and refining the script. Being involved with it so early on was different for me. Because usually as an actor, you come in, the script is done, the directors are set, all the other actors are set, and you just walk in and do what you need to do.
So this was different in that respect and it was great because, in terms of casting, we got all of our first choices. Everyone we wanted to be in the movie also wanted to be in it. We got to talk to a lot of different directors and get their take on the script. And we went with John [Requa] and Glenn [Ficarra] because we just liked who they were and thought they had the shared the same idea of the movie, tonally. So it was exciting.
What was it about Ryan Gosling that convinced you that he was right for "Crazy, Stupid, Love.," since he isnt really known for doing comedy?
He isnt. I met with him and I thought wed have a half-an-hour meeting and wed just talk and get to know each other a little bit. Three hours later, we were still talking. And I thought he was a wonderful guy. And hes not known for his comedy, but hes hysterically funny. Hes very, very good at it and kind of a natural. Hes a great actor.
And we talked a lot during that meeting about his approach to comedy what he would want to do with this part, and he was exactly right. He didnt want to tell jokes. He didnt want to try to be funny. He just wanted the character to be such that you would follow along with him, youd laugh with him like any other character youd play.
We agreed that something very specific for me in a comedy is that the characters dont know that theyre in a comedy. Theyre not acting like theyre in a comedy. Theyre just in life. And thats an approach that I think [Ryan Gosling] shared.
Can you compare and contrast your characters in "Crazy, Stupid, Love." and "The 40-Uear-Old Virgin," since both movies are about a guy trying to get into the dating scene?
I think theres a similarity there, but at their core, I think theyre very different. Andy in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is someone who has not lived life, has shied away from an aspect of his life because it failed him early on and has closed off to that. Cal is somebody who has been living life and has become complacent at it and now just sort of exists in his life. Hes not hiding from anything.
I thought Andy had a lot of blocks, a lot of layers. Cal has just forgotten to care. I can see [similarities], in terms of getting out there and the whole makeover idea "This is what you need to do to be alluring to a woman." Yeah I can see that.
There was an early review of "Crazy, Stupid, Love." that said that Cal wasnt very likable. What are your thoughts on that?
One of the concerns with the potential director of the movie who didnt direct it was that Juliannes character would not be likable, because shes had the affair, and she would be the villain. So he [the potential director] thought that she should not have an affair. Thats not how this should go. And I completely disagreed because depending on the actor playing it, thats life, thats a human being a flawed human being, but it doesnt make them a villain.
I think I wasnt necessarily trying to make Cal likable or unlikable. To me, he seemed like someone who had fallen into a major rut, and he needed to have the rug pulled out from under him to wake him up. That was one of the potential titles: "Wake Up, Cal."
Are you carefully constructing your choices at this point in your career?
[He says jokingly] Its all a master plan. [He says seriously] No, there really isnt a master plan. Theres not like this strategy. I sort of go with scripts that appeal to me and seem like they have something to say and might be funny, might be moving, might be enjoyable. So its really a matter of that than anything else. It would feel pretentious for me to say, "Oh, now I want to move toward more dramatic work and show that I can do that."
Do you feel youre more in control of your career?
I do, but I dont know how long Ill be there, but Im thankful for it. It feels kind of strange to have that luxury. And for producing as well: to see a script and say, "Oh, Id love to produce and be in that." Again, I have to strike while the irons hot because I dont know how long theyll let me do that.
The thing I liked about ["Crazy, Stupid, Love."] is that its very human. And for the first thing our production company is doing, that was important to me. Its not cynical. Its not unkind while being funny at the same time.
I dont think something necessarily has to be mean or cynical to represent edgy. I think "edgy" can mean a lot of different things. And its part of the reason why we got John and Glenn on board, because I think their sensibility is a little edgier than some, and I like their take.
Whats the craziest or stupidest thing youve ever done for love?
I dressed up as the Easter Bunny and hopped around my girlfriends apartment. It was really not sexy. It was more stupid than crazy.
Did it work?
I dont even know what "working" would have been. I thought it would be funny. And she thought it was funny. It was just a stupid. I didnt get arrested.
So this was with your wife, who was your girlfriend at the time?
Yes.
How was it filming the apartment scene with Marisa Tomei?
She is wild! She is so great. The first scene that she shot was a scene without any dialogue. She was just sitting in the bar, kind of scoping for men. And she said so much without saying anything just the camera following her eyes. And shes primping a little bit and checking other people out and slightly uncomfortable but completely open to advance. Shes so funny and such a good actress, and she just went for it in the story.
In "Crazy, Stupid, Love.," Cal jumps out of a moving car and he gets slapped multiple times by Jacob. Was that you who really fell out of the car or was that a stunt double?
Its interesting what they did. They used that same technique with that scene in the bar: that montage that the camera kept following with no cuts that scene where the camera just follows me in every part of the bar. They used that same technology in the car. So I roll out of the car, but on the side of the car, there was a ramp that I would roll out onto. But they did it on I guess stop motion or something. Then, essentially, they had stunt man do the same thing and they connected the two things, so it looked like I actually went out on the street.
So in terms of suffering for your art, where does "Crazy, Stupid, Love." Rank, compared to "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which had that famous scene where you got your chest waxed?
Well, if that [chest-waxing scene in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin"] was a 10, ["Crazy, Stupid, Love."] was a 2. I didnt suffer too much with this one. I mean, I get to make out with Marisa Tomei, and Im married to Julianne Moore. Theres no pain involved with that.
Can you talk about casting Julianne Moore in "Crazy, Stupid, Love."?
She was just the first person that came to mind for that part. Shes a great actor. Again, it was a tricky character because she could have easily been construed as the villain and completely unlikable but I knew that theres such a soulfulness about her and theres such depth to her acting that you would know that this is just a person who is having trauma and [is] very human. Its a human condition, as opposed to somebody whos a bad person.
The word "villain" has come up a lot. Did you feel there was a villain in "Crazy, Stupid, Love."?
No, I didnt. I think there was some concern, based on the script, that [the Emily Weaver] character might have been construed that way. That was never a concern of mine. I didnt think there was a villain. And thats one of the things I liked about it: people making bad choices, but theres gray area in life.
People arent right or wrong. A relationship isnt one persons fault or another persons fault. Thats one thing that I stressed in the rewrites: Both people are culpable.
I think in most relationships that have problems, theres fault on both sides. And in order for it to work, there has to be some common ground thats shared. And its not just one person making amends. So I thought on the surface, "Oh she made the bad choice," but he clearly was responsible for the relationship not working as well.
At the end of "Crazy, Stupid, Love.," its revealed that Cal and Emily had gotten married as teenagers. Why was that information revealed at the end instead of the beginning of the story?
It was done by design. I think as the movie unfolds, thats what I like about it. The script is economical in that way. It doesnt necessarily tell you everything that you need to know.
I think that helps with some of the twists and turns, too. People start to believe the movie is going to be one thing and then it turns into something else. I think when you first start watching it, its a guy about a wingman and a guy whos going to get out in the dating pool, and its going to be a wacky thing about this fish out of water learning how to date in modern society.
Thats the entrance into the movie, but I dont think its really what represents the movie. I think it twists there, and then it twists later on, and then there are a couple more. And thats what I liked about it too.
As I was reading it I thought, "Within the first couple of pages, he jumped out of a car? She gives him this bit of information and he jumps out of car!" And I thought, "That Id never seen."
And I think that was so indicative about that character. That told me so much about that guy, like where he was an his unwillingness to connect. And going back to the comparison to "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," this guy [Cal] just doesnt connect with anyone but doesnt realize that he doesnt connect. That really resonated with me.
What made you choose Kevin Bacon for the role of David Lindhagen, Emilys co-worker with whom he has an affair?
Im just a fan. I think even [David Lindhagen] was likable. The way [Kevin Bacon] played that, I think the actors made really smart choices: not the obvious "Im going to be the jerk." [David] really likes [Emily], and is sort of unapologetic about it. Theres a kindness to his character.
And his exchanges with the kid who plays [Cals] son [Robbie] are great because its not so easy to hate him, but you can see the hatred in coming through [Robbies] eyes at him. And I just think its funny because the guy is sort of vulnerable around this kid.
What were some of the script revisions? And as a father in real life, did you have any feedback into how kids and parents realistically talk to each other?
I think Dan [Fogelman, the writer "Crazy, Stupid, Love."] did a good job with capturing that: how a kid talks to his parents. And [Robbie] is fairly precocious and smart and a little bit beyond his years, in terms of his awareness of things. One of the things I liked about that character is the fact that the movie is not condescending of the love that a 13-year-old boy would feel. Its easy to disregard and to think its cute. And I dont think the movie paints it that way. That kids love for his slightly older babysitter is just as real and just as powerful as any other love in the movie.
In terms of script revisions, some of it was done in advance; some of it was done on the spot, as we were doing scenes of things that felt right or didnt, we could just kind of shift and improvise a little bit and restructure some scenes. One thing that comes to mind was theres a scene where I have a blowout fight with Julianne, and she leaves, and Im very unhappy, and it starts to rain. And I improvised a line: "What a cliché."
Because again, youre always looking for ways to keep the movie from feeling kind of treacly. We wanted to keep away from the clichés. So we felt a little red flag of "This might feel a little cliché." We tried to twist it somehow.
Ryan and Emma improvised a lot too. Theyre both great improvisers. What I liked about how they improvised was they improvise in character on story and they dont have to improvise to say funny things, which I think is a common mistake. Its the kind of improvisation that I like t do in a movie: not necessarily to be funny but to discover things. And its not to try to one-up or to say something or to say a funny joke, but its all on point.
Ryan Gosling is getting a lot of attention for baring his abs in "Crazy, Stupid, Love." What do you think about all of that attention to his physique n the movie?
I think he is slightly embarrassed by all the hubbub about his physique in this, because hes a really good actor. And the reason why he worked out because theres a line in the movie where [Hannah] says, "You look like youre Photoshopped."
So he took that and said, "Oh, OK. Well I have to look, when I take off my shirt, that good." Hes just not that guy. I think he thinks its silly, honestly. He looks great. He looks fantastic.
And it works perfectly within character. And its exactly how that character, I think, would look. But I think [Ryan Gosling] is a little shy about it. And I think its also a little unnerving to him, all the recognition that its getting, because its just something that he did, and its not something that he revels in.
What do you think of James Spader being cast as the CEO of Dunder Mifflin in "The Office"?
I think its a great move. Im a big fan of his, and I think hes going to be great on the show. I think its a good thing because itll be an infusion of fresh energy. Im looking forward to it.
