Steve Carell vows not to ‘play it safe anymore’

Steve Carell. FACEBOOK PHOTO

NEW YORK—Steve Carell’s performance in “Foxcatcher” has been hailed as one of the most extraordinary of the year, one that is immediately inducted into the rich history of comedic actors veering into dramatic territory.

Carell, who was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the year by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, is considered a shoo-in for a Best Actor nomination.

“It’s definitely darker than most anything I’ve ever done,” Carell admitted. “The fact that they had faith in me to do it, that was a reward in itself.”

Bennett Miller, the director of “Capote” and “Moneyball,” was attracted to the idea of casting the character of John Du Pont—who was convicted of murdering Dave Schultz on his family’s 800-acre Foxcatcher estate in Pennsylvania in 1996—with not an overtly villainous actor. Instead, he was drawn to Carell for his unthreatening demeanor and reputation.

“I believed in my heart that, if it could work with Steve, that would be the best for the film,” says Miller. “I couldn’t imagine something working better than if that could work. I did have glimpses of it in just talking to Steve about the character and hearing his commitment to do it.”

Since Carell’s big-screen breakthrough in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” the 52-year-old Second City alum has regularly mixed comedy and drama in films like “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Dan in Real Life” and “The Way, Way Back.” AP