The 40-Year-Old Virgin

STEVE CARELL IS A COMEDIAN ON THE RISE
By Sandra Kraisirideja

Forget Saturday Night Live, the best source for comedic talent is “The Daily Show,” and at the head of the pack is Steve Carell, who makes his leading man debut this month in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” which he also co-wrote.

Carell stars as Andy, a nice guy who’s OK in the looks department, but just happened to miss his chance in the sex arena and just gave up trying.

Carell, dressed in a khaki colored suit and dark blue shirt at the Four Seasons, is quick to point out that he lost his virginity some time ago and has two kids with wife Nancy Walls, who also has a bit part in “Virgin.”

Before he became a movie star, Carell had his share of awkward moments when it came to the opposite sex.

“Up until eighth grade I went to an all boy's school. By the time I hit high school I was a bit freaked out by women in general. As soon as I went from being a friend and started looking at a woman as a potential love interest I could not even talk to a woman. I was pretty bad,” said Carell, who once mixed together 10 of his mother’s perfumes to give as a gift to a girl next door.

“Virgin” is directed by Judd Apatow, who also directed Carell in “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Fellow alums from “Anchorman” who are also in “Virgin” include Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen. It’s surprising Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell don’t have cameos in “Virgin” since the movie continues in the tradition of “Old School” and “Wedding Crashers,” which were both rated-R comedies aimed toward men.

Carell said Universal insisted the movie be rated R and that he and Apatow “earn it” by not pulling any punches or softening the humor. “The objective wasn’t to make this more of an R. We just wrote what we thought was the funniest. We wrote for the characters and we wrote for the situations and we didn’t really think about, well, we have to make this dirtier or less dirty – we just wrote it the way we saw it. So it was nice in that…we never felt like we had to censor ourselves,” Carell said.

He pitched the idea for “Virgin” to Apatow based on “a guy desperately wanting to keep up with these other guys who are telling these great sex stories and it quickly becomes apparent that he's out of his element,” Carell said.

While Carell did not interview any real 40-year-old virgins in researching the script, he did read case studies documenting middle-age virginity that were provided by Universal.

“What we found to be the case, more often than not, was that they are just normal people who, for one reason or another, just never did it,” which is very similar to what his character experiences, Carell said. “What we found just reinforced what we had originally imagined. This is just a guy. This isn't some incredibly damaged human being. This is just a guy who for a number of reasons kind of missed the boat.

“I identify with [Andy] in the sense that he is trying. He's doing his best to get through life and keep a good aspect and disposition going, but I think there is an underlying sadness to the character, which in fact there is to me,” deadpanned Carell.

Nothing could be farther from the truth for Carell. His star is definitely on the rise. His goofy image in the poster for “Virgin”—reminiscent of a high school yearbook photo from the ’70s—is everywhere.

Recalled Carell the first time he saw a billboard for the movie: “We'd been out of town for a couple of weeks so when we left none of these billboards were up and we came back and they were every 100 yards, and I kept pointing them out to my wife, ‘12 o'clock. There's one at 2 o'clock, look at the bus!’ It's strange, it's weird and I love it. Universal is really promoting it.”

Carell realizes the future of his career may be riding on this film, but he wouldn’t change the journey.

“All the way through shooting it I just kept thinking if this is the last movie I ever do, this has been great. Being able to help create and be the lead in a movie is way beyond any expectation I ever had. So, I’m pretty happy with what has happened so far, and honestly, if this… if this it, if it all comes crashing down tomorrow, I’m still pretty happy.”

Source: Originally printed in Entertainment Today