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.
Speaking to L’Officiel, the 63-year-old actor revealed that he had hired his daughter Annie, 24, as a production assistant on the show.
During one emotional scene, the line between fiction and reality blurred 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 one scene, I accidentally said, ‘I would do anything for Annie,’ instead of saying my character’s daughter’s name,” he recalled.
“There was this big ‘aww’ sort of moment, but it really lined up for me. Because I was thinking of my daughter as 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 his wife Nancy Walls.
For someone with one of the most recognisable faces in comedy, Carell has gone to considerable lengths to keep his children away from the glare of the spotlight throughout their lives.
He has brought them to only 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 did make a rare joint red carpet appearance alongside their father at the Minions: The Rise of Gru premiere in July 2022, a franchise that has run alongside much of their childhood, given that Carell voices the lead character Gru.
