Steve Carell has 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.
speaks to L’Officielthe 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 blurs in the most unscripted way possible.
“I actually got her a job working as a production assistant on the show, and when we were shooting a scene I accidentally said, ‘I’d do anything for Annie,’ instead of saying my character’s daughter’s name,” he recalled.
“There was this big ‘aww’ moment, but it really stuck with me. Because I was thinking about my daughter when I said the line.”
It speaks to something Carell clearly feels with real conviction.
“Raising children is my favorite part of my life,” he said. “There’s not even a close second, it’s the most satisfying thing I’ve done.”
He shares Annie and son John, 21, with wife Nancy Walls.
For someone with one of the most recognizable faces in comedy, Carell has made a significant effort to keep his children out of the limelight throughout their lives.
He has only worn them to a handful of red carpet events and rarely discusses them in interviews.
His reasoning is straightforward.
“It’s always just been a job,” he said of his career. “I’ve tried not to let it define me too much. But mostly, I just didn’t want it to be weird for my kids.”
Annie and John rarely appeared with their father on the red carpet Minions: The Rise of Gru premiering in July 2022, a franchise that has run parallel to most of their childhood, as Carell voices the main character Gru.
