Disney provided me with an expense paid trip to Los Angeles for the #VeryBadDayEvent and #DisneyInHomeEvent in exchange for my review of the events of the trip. No other compensation is given. All opinions & experiences are my own. Photos courtesy of Disney.
I was very excited when I received the invitation for my first Disney press trip but my excitement tripled when I learned it would include interviews with Jennifer Garner and Steve Carell. Seriously, could it get any better than two huge stars, one that is super sweet and another that is really funny? Our interview started out with bang but not courtesy of Steve as you would think, but rather Jennifer! As they walk in we hear….
Jennifer: “These are my people! I brought him (Steve) along but let’s chat”
It was so awesome that she immediately identified herself as a mom, just like everyone else in the room. Before I share parts of the interview, I want to make sure you know a little bit about the movie, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, VERY BAD DAY!
I think both Jennifer and Steve were perfectly cast as the parents. After screening the film, I can’t imagine another set of actors playing the parts as well.
Lisa Henson on Casting Steve and Jennifer
Well we did have Steve in mind and he attached himself to the property before it was setup at Disney. So we worked with him in the, in the film in process. He was, he’s been sort of entangled to the, to the movie. And then, Disney introduced us to Jen, and she had just done The Odd Life of Timothy Green with them. And, you know, she’s such a marvelous person, and a wonderful mother, and, you know,she’s just perfect for the part, I felt so lucky to get her.
Steve’s newly discovered talent
Jennifer: He caught the shrimp. I mean, they were saying “We’ll CG” and Steve said, “I’ll give it a go.” He did it. We were very excited.
Steve: Yeah, secret talent.
Jennifer: Did you know you had that talent?
Steve: I didn’t.
Jennifer: Until that moment?
Steve: I didn’t know that I had eye-shrimp coordination.
When Steve got “unfunny’ according to Jennifer
Steve: It really wasn’t scary. I think it — I hope it looks scarier than it
Jennifer: Steve, you got very, very unfunny
Steve: I got focused. I got focused.
Jennifer: You got unfunny and very focused. You couldn’t say that you did not — you were not aware that you were on fire.
Steve : I was aware that I was on fire, and I prepared to be on fire. And with the stunt coordinator, we prepared to light me on fire and then I was on fire. And it’s the type of thing you don’t want to do a lot. You don’t want to do 25 takes of the Steve on Fire scene. So, you just try to get it right that first time, so you can move on. (It ended up taking two takes)
Steve and Jennifer on NOT laughing during scenes
Jennifer: And there were times where I just couldn’t. I could not not laugh with him. I don’t know how anyone — I defy you to be in a scene with him and not laugh.
Steve: The same from my perspective. The scene where she’s screaming at the car in front of us. I mean, that’s a side of her I had never seen before, and it was crushing me. It was so, so good.
Steve on breaking down his last day on set
“On my last day, Dylan and Kerris did a song for me that they had written. And Ed, the three of them sang this song. But I think the two of them wrote it and the three of them performed it, and I — I broke down.
Steve and Jennifer on playing set pranks
Steve: I didn’t play pranks. But someone at this table played pranks —
Jennifer: I didn’t play any pranks. I don’t know about pranks.
Steve: We went to the same college at different times. So, early on before we even started shooting, apparently Jen bought a bunch of Denison University paraphernalia.
Jennifer: Everything they made.
Steve: And throughout the shoot, a Denison cookbook would be in the background on the shelf, or some of the production assistants would be wearing Denison University hats.
Jennifer: Or, truly, the whole crew would be wearing sweatshirts and sweatpants, and he never noticed any of it. It was amazing. It was — I kept going further and further, and everyone would be like, and he’s just totally a man. He’s so oblivious. Right?
Steve: I am clearly just a self-centered jerk.
Jennifer: At the end, I called Nancy, his wife, and I said believe me I’m not psycho — “Can I stash a Denison chair, like, with Denison engraved in the back, in your house?” It was his last day. And see how long it takes him to find it.
It ended up taking two weeks for him to discover it. 😉
Steve and Jennifer on Signing on to the movie
Steve: I was asked to be in it, and I said yes. I just, I liked the script, I thought it was funny, and, inventive, and different. I feel like I hadn’t really seen this kind of family movie in a while. A the fact that Jen was going to do it was a — a huge draw for me, because I’d been a huge fan of hers for a long time….We met a few times over the years, but just sort of in passing, and I — you know when someone not only lives up to, but exceeds expectations, of everything you’ve heard about them? That was her.
Jennifer: Well, he’s fibbing a little bit, because he was actually on it, on this movie first, so I was the one who knew he was doing it and said “Oh, yeah, we — I’ve been dying to work with him forever.”
Jennifer Garner and Steve Carell gave a great interview and their chemistry to have fun was evident. I hope you can get a feel for how fun the interview was, it was a really an amazing experience! You definitely need to go see them play Kelly and Ben Cooper in Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, VERY BAD DAY.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, VERY BAD DAY opens in theaters nationwide on October 10th!
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