When Steve Carell got his starring role in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, he had been making some marks on The Daily Show and SNL via the TV Funhouse sketches. With Virgin and The Office on NBC, Carell was ready for a big break. But it almost never happened. Carell stopped by Conan on Tuesday and talked a bit about how Universal wanted to pull the plug on the film with only a week of shooting completed.
It seems that the studio had been watching the footage and felt a little awkward about calling it a comedy:
“They said, ‘We’ve been watching footage’ — We’d only been shooting for five days! — ‘We’ve been watching footage and you look like a serial killer.’ “
Judd Apatow had only been shooting some reaction shots in the first week, with no dialogue. This makes Carell look like a weirdo walking around and looking at signs and acting like he’s never seen a boob. Luckily they kept the movie alive and it turned out to be a success. Not that The Office wouldn’t be a success too, it just might’ve taken a little longer. We also wouldn’t have gotten the joy that is Steve Carell getting his chest waxed for a film.
(Via Team Coco)
