Carell Gets Past First Base

Apatow thinks Carell is headed toward the bigger, better, like "Tom Hanks parts," he says. We suspect he means the "Splash" Hanks rather than the storming-beaches-at-Normandy Hanks.

He describes Carell as "a gentle man" and "not very demanding," who once said to him that he wanted to be nice to a casting director "so she'll hire me if this bombs."

And best of all: "He'll do anything," Apatow says.

In the movie, there is the scene where Carell as Andy has his mat of chest hair waxed. It is his real hair, and there is a lot of it, and it is really being waxed. They had to do the scene in one take because there's only so much hair.

Carell recalls the scene as "fun."

He uses that word a lot. We wonder, now that he is the leading man, has he begun to indulge himself? "Like letting the inner jerk out?" he asks.

At least make his personal assistant cry?

"I don't even have a personal assistant. I'll have to make my wife cry, I guess."

Or his kids.

Right. "This whole thing is like a dream," he says. "It sounds like such a cliche, but I think I've been dreaming. The whole last five years. I'm astounded it's going as well as it has. When I started out, I thought if I could make a living and support a family as an actor, I'd be way ahead of the game. And so the fact that I'm doing that and more and having fun . . ."

That word again.

So go ahead, be a jerk.

"I think it best to be humble," he says.