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STEVE CARELL on 'DAN IN REAL LIFE'
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
September 30, 2007
In the romantic comedy Dan in Real Life, advice columnist Dan Burns (Steve Carell) finds himself in need of a few pointers on life and how to live it when he has an emotionally turbulent time at a family reunion. At the heart of his problems is the fact that he is a lonely widower falling for the latest girlfriend (Juliette Binoche) brought home by his brother (Dane Cook). Meanwhile, his three daughters present their own set of challenges: the eldest (Alison Pill) is desperate to finally get behind the wheel of a car; the middle one (Brittany Robertson) is convinced she has already found true love with a local boy; and the youngest (Marlene Lawston) is looking for affection he can't readily express.
In this interview, Steve Carell talks about working on Dan in Real Life, following up his big-scale summer comedy Evan Almighty, and getting uplifting fan response from his work on projects like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and TV's The Office.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: After The 40-Year-Old Virgin, you must have been approached with a lot of scripts. What attracted you to this movie?
STEVE: Let's face it: people know where romantic comedies are going. It's not brain surgery to figure out the end of a romantic comedy. To me what was intriguing was the story, was the journey that these people take, and that it surprised me. It didn't go the way that I think sort of a typical romantic comedy might go. And also [director] Peter Hedges. I think he's just a smart, warm person with a huge heart, and that's the kind of movie I thought he'd make.
Were you surprised to learn that an actress of Juliette Binoche's stature was to be your leading lady?
Well, "daunting" I think is more like it. I met with her before we started shooting and I could not have been more nervous and more intimidated. But within moments, she had completely disarmed me. She's just so charming and so kind and self-deprecating and funny. She's really funny. She has this huge laugh. And I felt at ease within moments. And I think she just has that sort of effect on people. But if three years ago you said, "By the way, you'll be playing Juliette Binoche's love interest in a movie," I don't think I would have believed that.
So how was the shower scene with her?
[deadpans] Fantastic. It's the only reason I did the movie.
Now we get down to the real reason!
[laughs]
So how comical or awkward was the shooting of that scene?
Well, we laughed a lot. Obviously. It's such a ridiculous set-up. And again, she has an incredibly good sense of humor about herself. And I think she understands what makes things funny, because she's just very real. She's just very truthful. And I think ultimately, when you believe somebody is going through a situation and it's either awkward or ridiculous, but you believe it, that can be funny.
While preparing for this role, did you read any advice columns?
That's always been sort of a guilty pleasure, I think, to read Dear Abby, and generally criticize the advice that these columnists give people. Because there always seems to be some red flag that goes up. "My kids are eating too much chocolate. What should I do?" And then the columnist says, "Well, you should substitute grapes and carrots for their chocolate!" [dumbfounded] What? That's the dumbest...That doesn't help at all! Kids don't eat carrots and grapes. They want chocolate for a reason: it's like crack. So it's funny to read some of them, and the kind of very simple logic that goes behind. But on the other hand, some of the advice is actually quite good. The best advice I've gotten has been from my parents, I think.
How familiar and intimate did you have to get with the stack of pancakes to make the Dan in Real Life movie poster?
I still smell like Vermont maple syrup and butter. You know, it's funny. Like the 40-Year-Old Virgin poster and this poster, you never really know, tonally, what they're looking for. And I know Disney wants to, obviously, sell the movie and they want people to be interested in coming to see it. I like it. I think it's certainly very...I was going to say "jarring." I don't know what's exactly the right word to describe the poster, but I think it captures people. And it's just so funny because it's a really small, kind of incidental scene in the movie that they take the pancakes from. But it seems to be working. People seem to be liking it.
Speaking of the 40-Year-Old Virgin poster, was there any chance of using that picture of your character Andy as Dan's headshot for his newspaper column?
That would have been...Maybe Dan... [pauses] No, actually, I don't see Dan like that at all. [laughs] See, I think the character of Andy [is] sort of wide-eyed in terms of the possibilities of life, and yet he's kind of given up on one element of what life might bring. But he just has a very cheery, upbeat disposition which kind of belies his situation. And I think Dan, on the other hand, is a bit downtrodden and trying to get through. There's--at least in the beginning of the movie--not a lot of light in his eyes. So I think to see that light coming through a newspaper column photo would be a little disconcerting.
So what do you like about Dan?
I think that he's honest. I think he's a caring sort of character. He really loves his family a lot, and loves his kids. And he is willing to give up his potential happiness to preserve his relationship with his family. And that, I think, is a very kind thing to do, and very selfless, but also kind of shortsighted. And it's something that I definitely understand--that when you put other people, including your children, so far ahead of yourself and don't take care of your own needs, then you're shortchanging them as well, because you're not giving them the best version of yourself that you could. And that's sort of what I liked about him...One of the things.
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How much are you like Dan?
That's hard to say. I have kids. I struggle with that. There are times that I've felt sort of lost within that. I don't know. I think that character is like a lot of people just trying to get by at a certain point in their lives, and there's obviously something missing, but there's no way of really knowing what that specific thing is. And the irony of the fact that he is an advice columnist who clearly needs advice more than most. The analogy I use is a doctor trying to diagnose his own illness. That's a hard thing to do. And I think he struggles with it. And I think people just struggle--people struggle to get by, but don't wallow in self-pity either, and just do their best.
You've shown that you can handle both comedy and drama equally well.
Oh, thanks. You know, I guess I don't look at them differently, so that's part of it. I don't approach something as a comedy or as a drama. I don't think there's like a switch that you flip and you go into your "dramatic face" or you go into your "comedic face." I think it's sort of all one. You know, you just try to figure out what sort of tone the director's looking for, and try to listen to the other people there and get a sense of where you are and who you are.
Does that approach come from your time in Second City?
I think. Yeah. I mean, I think one of the tenants of at least decent improvisation is to listen, first and foremost. And in terms of anything that I deem truly funny, it's never...In my mind, what's the funniest are...I'm really not phrasing this well. [starts over] I find things funny that aren't self-aware--that don't know they're funny. And I think the same can hold true for drama. If you think you're in this tragedy and you play it for tragedy, there's a self-awareness there that I think takes you out of watching it. And I believe it cuts both ways.
Would you rather do comedy like Dan in Real Life than something broader like Evan Almighty?
Not necessarily. I mean, I think there's a place for both. It's just a different thing. Just a completely different tone, you know? They're based in different realities. This is a much more muted and subtle reality. And a broader comedy...I think about somebody like...And I don't compare myself in any way to this person, so don't get me wrong, but Peter Sellers could do incredibly broad work, and yet at the same time, you believed what he was going through. There was always a sense of honesty to his characters, even if they were outlandish. And he could do very subtle work, like Being There. So I think he straddled both sides of that. I guess they're just kind of different muscles to try out.
Evan Almighty was tagged as the most expensive comedy to date...
[deadpans] No, Dan in Real Life was the most expensive comedy. Can't you see the production value? They built that beach house, and it was actually floated out... [laughs]
Do you think the high cost set it up for failure?
Well, I think the movie got a lot of criticism because of the price tag. And a lot of the reviews that I had read of that mention how much the movie cost, which I found interesting because I think in a lot of ways, that movie was criticized based on how much it cost. Had it been a lower budget movie, it would have been considered a hit because it made over $100 million, which is a lot of money by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that it cost so much made it into something else. So I think it's a matter of perception in that way.
In a situation like that, do you feel responsible for how the movie performs?
Well, I can't say that I do. I feel like I did the best job that I could, and I tried to bring everything that I could to it. But you never know. You never know how something's going to turn out. You never know if people will embrace it or if it'll be embraced critically. And at that point, it's completely out of your hands as an actor, you know? And the same with this movie. After I shot it, there's no way of knowing whether people are going to like it or not. I saw it two months ago with an audience and it seemed to go really well, so I was encouraged.
Pre-release audiences seem to be liking it...
Oh, that's nice. That's good. I mean, it's nice when things work. Things aren't always going to work. And I think even that, too, speaks back to the freedom to fail, which is something that I had on The Daily Show, something that I think we have on The Office. And you sort of have to take chances. And if you don't, then I don't think you're capable of doing anywhere near your best work.
You've had success with a wide range of projects. When you're approached by a fan, can you tell what work of yours they like before they say anything?
No, I can never tell. It's almost impossible. You would think a fan of The Office would be someone possibly in their early to mid-30s who works in an office and completely relates to that environment. And more often than not, it's a 12-year-old girl who loves watching the show. I got a fan letter from a 6-year-old girl who plays The Office with her parents. And she plays Pam, and she plays it like somebody would play house or Barbies. She plays Office! And she has all the characters. And it wasn't a line either. She sent a picture and her parents wrote a note behind it, and she wrote her own letter to me. So no, I'm always surprised. When I worked on The Daily Show, the only people who watched that show when I was on it were baristas at Starbucks. I swear! That's the only place we were ever recognized--by someone making coffee at Starbucks. But in terms of now, no, I can never [tell]. Not that it happens all the time, but no, that's impossible.
So it's possible for an 80-year-old woman to come up and congratulate you on The 40-Year-Old Virgin?
Yeah! Truly! You know, that has happened, that older women have come up and said, "That was so dirty and I loved it!" So you never know. Which is pretty charming...And Evan Almighty, it's been kids, it's been adults. Different things just strike people differently. And it's so subjective, too. Because what makes one person laugh won't make others laugh. I don't know. I guess it's kind of checkerboarded.
Thanks for your time.
Thanks, nice seeing you.
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