Steve Carell opened up about the deeply personal moment on the set of his new HBO series. Rooster when he accidentally called his character’s daughter by his real daughter’s name, and how fatherhood has shaped everything about the role.
talking to The officerThe 63-year-old actor revealed that he had hired his daughter Annie, 24, as a production assistant on the show.
During an emotional scene, the line between fiction and reality was blurred in the least scripted way possible.
“I actually got her a job as a production assistant on the show, and when we were filming a scene, I accidentally said, ‘I would do anything for Annie,’ instead of saying my character’s daughter’s name,” he recalled.
“There was a big ‘aww’ moment, but it really lined up for me. Because I was thinking about my daughter while I was saying the phrase.”
It speaks to something Carell clearly feels with real conviction.
“Raising children is my favorite part of my life,” she said. “There’s no second place, it’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done.”
He shares Annie and his son John, 21, with his wife Nancy Walls.
For someone with one of the most recognizable faces in comedy, Carell has done everything she can to keep her children out of the spotlight throughout her life.
He has taken them to only a handful of red carpet events and rarely talks about them in interviews.
His reasoning is simple.
“It’s always just been a job,” he said of his career. “I’ve tried not to let it define me too much. But most of all, I didn’t want it to be strange to my kids.”
Annie and John made a rare joint red carpet appearance alongside their father at the Minions: The Rise of Gru will premiere in July 2022, a franchise that has accompanied much of his childhood, as Carell voices the main character Gru.
