A Table for two crack-ups
Your RSVP for a chat with Paul Rudd and Steve Carell, the stars of the summer comedy Dinner for Schmucks

by DeMarco Williams

The chemistry that Paul Rudd and Steve Carell cooked up in two contemporary comedic classics, Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, isn’t lost a bit in their latest dish, Dinner for Schmucks. With Rudd as the promotion-obsessed tight suit going to dinner and Carell as the, well, schmuck we’re supposed to be amused by, the guys effortlessly bounce laughs off each other all night. The two Northeast natives keep to the same levels of chuckles-per-minute during a press conference covering everything from movie parts to our obsession with male sexual parts. And even when somewhat meatier issues go from Rudd, 41, always playing the straight-laced fellow to Carell, 47, calling it quits on The Office next May, the guys manage to still serve plenty of laughs over a side of sarcasm.

What is the most challenging think you had to do in this picture because it was a different role for you, Steve, and a broader role for you, Paul?

Steve: The most challenging aspect of this? We shot the scene where Paul had injured his back, and essentially we shot it for about a day and a half. And I had to hug Paul for a day and a half. That can be challenging for anyone, and to lift him and…because he was giving me nothing.

Paul: No, because the only way to sell it is to go dead weight.

Steve: So, that was probably the most physically challenging part of the movie. Uh, terrible, terrible answer. Don’t write that.

Paul: Boy, you know, just to try and sustain a performance and not make it [feel forced], it’s always challenging. Anything you work on is challenging to just try and be real, and to show up and look like I’m not plain acting everything. So, just trying to be the character is always work.

Now, Paul, to follow up on that, talk to me about the challenge of playing a straight man in a situation like this where Steve seemingly gets to have more fun.

Paul: It’s a challenge not to ruin a take by laughing. I didn’t rise to that challenge on many occasions.

But you’ve kind of built a career on playing straight men.

Paul: Well, you know, it’s weird. My definitions of comedy and drama and straight men and… they’re all blurry for me. I don’t really think of it in those terms. It is true that the character that I’m playing has some horrible stuff happen to him, things we’re not planning. So, there is a bit that has to be reacted, but hopefully not passive so that it’s constant reaction. That’s tough to sustain over the course of a movie. It’s finding moments, relationships. I’m thinking the movie as a whole and not so much in terms of joke, but just character driven stuff. I just tried to operate from that.

And secondly, what’s with the beard?

Paul: Well, I’m getting ready to start a movie on Monday…

Steve: That’s a lie!

Paul: So, I’m just kinda doing it for fun. I came in this morning and they applied it with spirit gum and hair from my back. It took about an hour. It was just like, “What would be fun to wear in the summer heat?”

Steve, what was it about this story and your character that persuaded you to sign onto this project.

Steve: Well, working with Jay [Roach, Dinner For Schmuck’s director], working with Paul. Those were enormous factors for me. And I liked the storyline, too. I thought it was funny, a little weird. It had a heart to it, and I tend to like things that have a grey area to them. Like the character that Paul plays. Here’s a guy that’s very conflicted. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s at a moral impasse in his life. I think that’s a really amazing aspect of this story. I thought it was a really intriguing story line and I think it actually said something very kind ultimately and that’s what I responded to. I think it’s a very kind story and a great relationship between these two characters.

Paul : [I chose it because of] the people involved. I thought it was really funny, and that was really it. It was kinda a no-brainer. I was so excited to get offered that part… yeah that’s it really.

Steve, could you talk about your last season of The Office?

Steve: Uh, yeah, this will be my last season on The Office but it will be Season 7 and my contract expires at the end of the year. I always wanted to honor my contract and I feel like now is a good time for the character to move on and for me to move on personally. I want to spend more time with my wife and kids. That’s really the impotence behind the decision there.

Paul: And, actually, Steve will be playing for the Miami Heat next year. This is a very exciting time in his life.

Steve: Yes, and Scranton is burning my jersey.

Paul, you have an upcoming movie with Reese Witherspoon called Everything You’ve Got. Can you talk about what character you play?

Paul: Yeah, It’s called Everything You’ve Got right now, but I don’t know if it will change. It’s changed a few times. It’s with James Brooks who directed. I play a character named George whose whole life is kinda falling apart and I meet Reese Witherspoon on the worst day of my life and it’s also the worst day of her life. We have this blind date and I immediately fall in love with her. I don’t think the feeling is quite reciprocated. But that’s the idea behind the movie—two people that meet on the worst day of their life.

Can you tell me what the word means?

Paul: Penis! Right? Is that what you’re looking for?

That’s correct.

Paul: Pardon the way I just said that. I think it's one of those things like putz? I remember growing up thinking putz was such a funny word and I always thought putz was an idiot. I remember my dad saying it actually is a penis. What’s up with all the words, by the way, for penis? But it always took on not so much a specificity as it does just a general “Aw, you’re being an idiot,” or “You’re being stupid,” or “Quit acting like a schmuck.” So, It was strange being Jewish and knowing that there are some people who might take offense because I read too. It was called Dinner for Schmucks but it wouldn’t have even crossed my mind that somebody might find that offensive because I don’t associate it, being Jewish. But also Dinner for Wieners didn’t test well. It means Hot dogs!

Steve, do you have any plans for projects later this year or 2011 where you kinda create the project yourself, you know, do more screenplays and personal projects?

Steve: I just completed a movie with Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore [called Crazy, Stupid, Love] that’s the first movie that my production company is producing and that’ll come out sometime next year. So yeah, I hope that I am able to start writing again as well. Once The Office is over, that should free me up to be able to do some more writing.

Can you name your favorite Jay Roach film?

Steve: Austin Powers was one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen and it was such a surprising movie. 

Paul: One of the things that I think is amazing about Jay is how versatile he is. He’s done so many funny movies. He’s just such a smart guy that it’s a horrible thing to do to somebody but I will often sing his praises because he has all of this talent and yet he is the most self-effacing guy and stealthy with his humor, his abilities to write and edit.

What special quality or talent do you possess that, if you really believed in it, might get you invited to a dinner for schmucks?

Steve: I play the baritone horn, so that could get me invited to one of these dinners. Baritone Horn is like a mini tuba, and it’s probably the least sexy instrument that you can play. And when people ask whether I can play a musical instrument, I generally say that I don’t so I don’t have to acknowledge that I play the baritone. And I also play the fife which is no more sexy than the baritone, so those both might qualify me.

Paul: I can do this with my tongue. (He begins moving his tongue in a rolling fashion.) I think I know I’d get the trophy. And I also play baritone horn.

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