Talking with Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner about Their New Movie #VeryBadDayEvent

I was invited for an expenses paid trip to LA by Disney to cover the #VeryBadDayEvent and #DisneyInHomeEvent in exchange for my posts of the trip experiences. All opinions are my own.

While in LA I got to see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day movie. I loved the movie, it is a great family film. I will be posting my review on Friday so stay tuned for that.

One of the most exciting parts of the trip for me was being able to sit down with Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner. They play the parents (Ben & Kelly) in this upcoming movie.

Talking with them was AMAZING! Steve is so hilarious and witty, he had us laughing the entire time we talked with him. Jennifer Garner is such a sweet woman. I mean you can just feel her sincerity, honestly you can’t fake that kind of nice. I was so impressed with both of them, making me an even bigger fan of them both.

When they entered the room Jennifer gave us a little shout out saying; “These are my people! I brought him (Steve) along but let’s chat.”

How did you both get involved with the project?

Steve: Um, I was asked to be in it, and I said yes (he said sarcastically). 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. And the fact that Jen was going to do it was a huge draw for me, because I’d been a huge fan of hers for a long time. It’s true. We met a few times over the years, but just sort of in passing. And you know when someone not only lives up to, but exceeds expectations, of everything you’ve heard about them? That was her. She’s just–

Jennifer: Steve Carell!

Steve: — the nicest person. She is. She’s the nicest person ever.

Jennifer: Well, he’s fibbing a little bit, because he was actually on this movie first, so I was the one who knew he was doing it and said “Oh, yeah I’ve been dying to work with him forever.”

Were there any days on set that were really bad days, just like in the film?

Steve: There was one that we kind of point to. There was a scene where we were outside, around the car, talking after the driving test. And it must have been — well, like it’s been the last week here. Like, 105 or something. And so that was probably the most arduous day, physically.

Jennifer: You know, I think it was tough because the baby got upset.

Steve: [Laughing] Well, yeah.

Jennifer: You know what that does (she says pointing to us moms), I mean, that practically made me lactate. It’s like, “Whaa –!” And there’s nothing you can do.

Steve: You know what? We can set her off just by going “Wahh!” (he said this in such a funny way)

photo courtesy of Disney

How many shrimp did you have to catch? (for the restaurant scene, see below for a clip)

Jennifer: He did that.

Steve: I caught the shrimp (he said in a very excited voice).

Jennifer: He caught the shrimp. I mean, they were saying “We will CG it” 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 that eye-shrimp coordination.

Steve, Lisa Hensen told us you did the fire scene yourself, so I just wanted to hear about that– (see video below for a clip of the scene)

Jennifer: So exciting.

Steve: Jen was like, petrified.

Jennifer: I was so nervous. Even though I had been set on fire before, you know what it’s gonna be, but I was so nervous to watch —

Steve: Very protective.

Jennifer: — Steve be set on fire, and I didn’t want the kids to see him be set on fire, like, our movie kids. It was very, very tough on me. But they put gel on you, and 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 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.

And it was the first time? You did it perfectly?

Steve: Once or twice.

Jennifer: I feel like it was twice.

Steve: Yeah. I think we did it about twice.

What was your favorite scene to film?

Jennifer: I liked when we were all together.

Steve: That’s what I was gonna say. We were all together for most of the movie.

photo courtesy of Disney

Did you ever play pranks on each other to make things fun?

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 (she said sarcastically).

Steve: We won’t tell this story a lot.

Jennifer: We don’t need to tell the whole story.

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, like, 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. I kept going further and further, and he’s just totally a man. He’s so oblivious. Right?

Steve: I am clearly just a self-centered jerk (he said jokingly).

Jennifer: At the end, I called Nancy, his wife, and I said, “I’m not psycho, can I stash a Denison chair, with Denison engraved in the back, in your house?” It was his last day. And see how long it takes him to find it.

How long did it take to notice the chair?

Steve: Like, two weeks. And she (my wife) could hear me from downstairs. I started laughing, ’cause it was upstairs, like, in a corner, and I had been passing this chair for weeks, and it just registered that it was a Denison University chair. I think I immediately texted you (Jennifer) my thanks and “well done.” Kudos on a trick well played.

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At the end of the interview we all hopped in a group photo with these two awesome people! Meeting them was an awesome experience that I will forever remember. What remarkable people they are!