Movies such as Wedding Crashers and The 40-Year-Old Virgin are credited with introducing the wave of popular bromantic comedy films that swamped theatres in the late 2000s. The 2005 comedy was produced and written by Judd Apatow and stars Steve Carell as Andy Stitzer. Stitzer is a middle-aged virgin sales representative at an electronics store who is compelled to engage in his first s-xual encounter by his coworkers.
The movie went on to have tremendous success and is still regarded as one of the most important comedies of the 2000s. It was Carell’s first significant major role, which he transitioned into after giving a solid performance as the beloved Brick Tamland in Anchorman. Moreover, he was honored with the MTV Movie Awards for ‘Best Comedic Performance’. But did you know Carell’s physique at the time almost killed the project?
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The Studio wanted to shut down the project over an issue with Steve Carell’s look
As iconic as the movie was, The 40-Year-Old Virgin had to face a lot of issues at the time of production. Even though it sounds a bit absurd but during an interview with EW, The Office star Steve Carell revealed how his physique at the time created problems since the studio thought Carell looked like a “serial killer”. Carell said,
“We were actually shut down after the first week of shooting because the studio was freaking out, Universal saw the dailies and thought, ‘This guy looks like a serial killer.’”
Referring to what the studio thought after looking at footage of Carell riding a bike, the actor revealed,
“They said, ‘We’ve been watching the footage, and you look like a serial killer … You, Steve Carell, look like a serial killer.’”
A week later, after appealing to the studio, the movie was back in production and it went on to become one of the most iconic comedy films of the 2000s.
Steve Carell reveals how he came up with the idea for the movie
The legendary comedian Steve Carell explained how the plot for his 2005 hit film The 40-Year-Old Virgin came to be. The 59-year-old actor and comedian recalled his time with The Second City, a group of comedians and actors that included Bill Murray, John Belushi, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, in an interview with Jimmy Fallon. One proposal for a sketch that Carell came up with that was rejected had a plot that was quite well-known.
“There was one character I was working on and it was a poker scene. The guy and all of his friends are talking about sex and they’re trying to regale each other with all these stories of sexual conquest,”
He added,
“My guy didn’t have any sort of context, no frame of reference, and obviously was trying to lie. And that became ’40 Year Old Virgin.’
The movie turned out to be quite significant for Steve Carell’s career by helping his popularity grow massively in Hollywood. Known for his comedies, Carell went on to do quite hilarious films such as Crazy, Stupid Love, Evan Almighty, and the animated Despicable Me series.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin is available on Amazon Prime.
Source: The Things
