Out of 'Office,' Carell turns focus to movies

Cast member Steve Carell arrives with his wife, Nancy Carell, for the premiere of his film 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' in New York July 19, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

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After memorably funny roles in "Bruce Almighty" and "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," 2005's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (which Carell co-wrote with Judd Apatow) catapulted Carell's movie career. The former Second City stand-out and "Daily Show" correspondent responded with a steady string of movies.

He has vacillated among blockbusters ("Get Smart," ''Despicable Me"), box-office flops ("Evan Almighty") and absurdist comedies ("Dinner for Schmucks"). But he's shown a respectable inclination for adult-minded comedies such as "Dan in Real Life," ''Date Night" and "Little Miss Sunshine."

But in the constant back-and-forth between movies and the mockumentary-style "Office," some TV habits were hard to break.

"The one thing that's hard getting away from is looking into the camera," says Carell, laughing. "This happened all the way through 'The Office,' when I would go off and do a movie. For the first week, I would continually look into the lens of the movie camera. I'd stop myself and go, 'What the hell am I doing? This isn't the documentary.'"

Directors have often praised Carell's ability to improvise on the spot, performing repeated alternative takes in comedies to twist a scene in different directions. An admirer of great actors such as Alan Arkin, Jack Lemmon and Peter Sellers, Carell has always favored character-based comedy and detests "jokey jokes."

"In real life, people don't walk around telling jokes to each other," Carell says. "That, to me, is not what's most funny about real life. Real human situations and responses are what really make me laugh. When you hear a joke — and it depends on the context and the movie — you feel like you're being set up that way and manipulated. I never like that in a movie. I would much rather buy into a character and laugh at what they're doing as opposed to how funny they're trying to be."

Julianne Moore, who has won Oscar nominations for roles in such dramas as "Far From Heaven," ''The Hours" and "Boogie Nights," believes Carell's approach works, regardless of genre.

"Steve has got a kinetic acuity like nothing I've ever seen," she says. "It is effortless — or seemingly effortless. ... He's great at connecting and noticing things that are going on around him."

"Crazy Stupid Love" is the first film produced by Carell's production company, Carousel Productions. As a producer, he picked the directors, contributed to casting and had input on keeping the tone of the movie as realistic as possible — using "treacle cutters," he says, to weed out sentimentality. In one low-point scene for his character, his wife leaves and it begins to rain. Carell improvised a self-conscious line: "Ah, what a cliché."

Carell is producing a documentary on the last six decades of comedy, to be hosted by David Steinberg. Upcoming acting jobs include co-starring with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones in "Great Hope Springs," another tale of marriage woes. He will also play a magician in "Burt Wonderstone," and he recently shot the independent romantic comedy "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" with Keira Knightley.

Carell, who hasn't been credited as a writer since a few 2006-2007 "Office" episodes, plans to write more now that he has time. He knows wistful emotions might kick in when, in a few weeks, "The Office" returns to production for its fall season without him, but thus far, he's relishing his new period — particularly his time with his kids. "

It's been great," he says with a smile. "It's been exactly what I hoped it would be."