Steve In Real Life

Steve Carell was born in 1962, the same year that Tom Cruise was. (Both men turned 50 in 2012.) But although Cruise would become famous as early as the 1980s, in "Top Gun" (1986), for example, the type of movies that Steve Carell-- and Judd Apatow and others-- would become famous for making later, did not really exist back then. (TANGENT: It is true that the careers of some, or a very few, at least, of the actors currently in comedy do extend all the back to the 80s-- Eddie Murphy, for example, made a stand-up comedy film "Eddie Murphy Raw" in 1987. But even a glance at his filmography should show, I think, the sort of, *limitations*, that a man like him faced back then, *as a comedian*, since that decade was certainly a very sparse feeding ground for anyone that did not want to do action-drama or to stare into the "Eye of the Tiger" (1982 song) generally. ("If you stare into the abyss...." .... "Thus do I counsel you, my friends....") Murphy's subsequent career picked up somewhat in the 90s-- most famously, "The Nutty Professor" (1996)-- and even more later, with the animated "Shrek" (2001, sequels later), and even "A Thousand Words" (2012).... as a comedian with a very long career-- roughly as long as Nicholas Cage's, for example, a drama actor-- he is an interesting example of the slow thawing of American cinema to that which is, in the words of the hit sitcom Seinfeld, "about nothing", or, more kindly, merely funny and relevant to the real world that we all live in.... But the reception and the attitude that some people had and have towards the work of Murphy and those like him also show how slow and even limited this thawing was.... The 90s was certainly a time in which the movie industry lingered long and carefully over the question of unfairness in our country, and it is good that such things were thought about deeply. But it also seems clear that a great many people did not really think about whether they were being fair in heaping praise on many films like "The Hurricane"--"His greatest fight was for justice"-- and scornfully mocking stuff like "The Nutty Professor"-- "Inside Sherman Klump, a party animal was about to break loose." After all, it is true that both Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy are from New York, but this idea extends far beyond the borders of New York State....) (So. Anyway.)

It is true that Tom Cruise later went on to make a character study, as some drama actors do. (Incidentally, Washington's 2012 film "Flight" can also be read as a character study.) Tom made "Jerry Maguire" (1996), which bears some interesting parallels, from the point of view of character, to his other 1996 film, "Mission: Impossible". (And it is interesting, when you think about America in the 90s-- "Seinfeld", for example, or George Costanza, and the sort of difficulty which people felt dominating their lives, such as in "The Chinese Restaurant" episode (1991)-- which is soaked in a sort of blanket feeling of futility.... this was the world in which a movie called "Mission: Impossible" was a wildly successful and popular film.) But Tom Cruise, as everybody knows, is not a comedian. He's more of a New Yorker-- to allow some of my Jersey prejudice to seep through. ^^

But Steve Carell is more of that Boston schoolboy kind of guy, who's recently learned to have alot of fun re-inventing himself.

It is true that the 80s (his twenties) would not have been such a great time for him in cinema: we can only imagine the sort of role the casting lady might have assigned him in a film like "The Breakfast Club" (1985). (And, for that matter, we can only imagine what role he might have received in "Mission: Impossible" {1996}.) But, on the positive side, he did earn a university degree in 1984, at the age of 22. It is easy to imagine Steve Carell as a very serious, studious young man. (We can only imagine the sort of dismissive things that The 22-Year-Old Carell would have said about "Twilight" if he had been 22 in 2008 instead of 1984.)

And eventually he became a famous actor. He's even been a producer, which means that he has a lot of money; he's even an investor, lol. Anyway.

Steve Carell's career can more or less be divided into his "early" (or, broadly-speaking, his "suck-y" ka-rear) career, and his later-- real-- career. And the dividing line is very clear: it comes with the release of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" in 2005. (Also the year that the TV comedy "How I Met Your Mother" went on the air, as well as the publication of a certain novel who's title eludes me somehow.) His early career can be further divided-- sorta-- into his *very* early career, before 1999, when he became a correspondent on "The Daily Show", which some people do remember. (And although it is true that one guy from "The Daily Show" got the one job in 2010 undoubtedly thanks to his previous acquaintance with Carell, if you think about what Steve became.... it is unlikely that Jon Stewart ever gave him advice.... ever was his Ryan Gosling.) His work in the 90s is basically very.... fragmentary; it tends to be the sort of just jobs, odd jobs and stuff, which is even weird to mention next to his real work. (Although he did get married in 1995, at the age of 33, to his wife, Nancy. Such is the stuff of real life, but as far as The Outside World is concerned, he was probably about as well known to.... do we have a word like 'foodie'? Are we like Anthony Bourdain?.... as she was.) [~ *flicks hands* 'Your movies mean nothing to me. Nothing.' Remember Murphy's Law? Well, Eddie doesn't want you to believe that-- that must have been his father that made up that rubbish.... Although sometimes I think: the show-- uh.... the *bad people* died out in Hollywood, not during the 80s, but after the 80s.... so the 80s, that was it.... well, maybe during the 90s, they must have died out during the 90s.... and Clintie is really old, and you know, and at least he's the *really cool one*, ('only the truly great show--*cough*, uh, *bad people* may still....'), not like.... *face falls* Shit. Tom Berenger is still making movies?]

In Steve Carell's late-early not-quite-real career, from 1999-2004, (or even in early 2005, before August) he occasionally got noticed, most famously as part of the cast of "Anchorman" with Will Ferrell. But it's interesting to note that his next job after this was "Sleepover", a small comedy where he plays as an extra. (Also, it's interesting to note how little comedy was actually made in 2004: it is true that Ben Stiller was in "Meet the Fockers" and Ryan Gosling was in "The Notebook", but aside from that there is really very little else-- and especially if you do not count animation.) And all actors have roles where they are "uncredited archival footage" or something like that (or Matt Damon as an extra in "Field of Dreams" in 1989), and, to me, at least, for Steve Carell in particular, some of these very early films that he was in do not really seem, to me, a fan, like they are really 'true' Steve Carell movies. In "Anchorman", a Will Ferrell movie, again Ferrell in pre-August 2005 with "Melinda and Melinda" and "Bewitched" or even Jim Carrey, another one of these from-the-80s comedians, about whom we can at least say that he's not Will Ferrell, I guess.... he was merely that crazy disturbing guy from "The Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind".

A personal note: my name is Ted, and the idea of Patrick Stewart being the narrator of my life, as he apparently is in "Ted" (2012), is something that I find deeply disturbing, on the level of 'the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind' disturbing.

The idea that there is an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" called "Ted" is also faintly disturbing (to me!), although I am happy to report that Ted Mosby from "How I Met Your Mother" is, if I may be so bold, a valid Ted. (I am a gift!.... Je suis *ein Gift*.... and I even have a poster too-- THEODORE BEAR. Someone was trying to throw him away! But I saved.... me.)

(And so too-- one day, Steven Spielberg will feel the power of the true Steve!)

(I actually have an Uncle Steve too-- my mother's brother. Kinda funny....)

Anyway, from 2005 on, Steve Carell would have a brand new day, and his work would now be part of his real work. You might call this 2005-2012 period, Seven Years With Steve. And I think that it is amazing what he would accomplish in just seven years. (And later-- more!)

And, at the very least, he would show anyone who was even faintly paying attention, that he was a rather different sort of man, than Will Ferrell.

Or, indeed, perhaps also different from that which he had been....

.......

I mean, all that I can say is that if Steve Carell played golf (with Paul Blart), then.... he wouldn't play golf.... *he would destroy it*.

(With a really old gun.)

"I'm a big man in Boston, but Boston's a small town."

*much later* *alone* *implied mocking*

" 'I'm a big man in Boston.' "

.... You know, there used to be a lot of Irish in Boston or something-- "Faile {fawlty} go mBoston" {moston}/Welcome to Boston-- so maybe that's why I, Mr Keating, feel this deep racial connection with Steve Carell....

.... Or maybe it's that we both have that hard 'k' sound at the beginning of our last name.

........

Tom Cruise: And I want everybody to see you for what you are.... you are-- *sees fortune cookie slips, picks them up*-- you are the man.

*looks at fortune cookies, reads them aloud* "Friendship is an ocean, that you cannot see the bottom." *smiles* " 'Some dudes might have the coin, but they'll never have the "kwan": it means "love".' " *smiles* That was a good movie.

*reads the other fortune cookie* "The wise man is the one that makes you think that he is dumb." *starts laughing* " 'Don't worry, I'm not going to do, what you all think that I'm going to do, which is just, to *flip out*....' "

" 'We're gonna be okay.' "

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