00:00Hi, this is Mariah Goe from The Hollywood Reporter and I'm in studio with Steve Carell.
00:09Hello.
00:10Hi.
00:11Hi.
00:12Welcome to Marwan.
00:13Yes.
00:14How did you get involved in this extremely unique project?
00:18I don't know. It's just insanity.
00:21I saw this documentary called Marwan Call based on the life of Mark Hogan Camp and I loved it.
00:27And it got inside my head. I couldn't stop thinking about it.
00:30And I wondered whether it could be turned into a feature film.
00:33I wasn't sure whether it should because the documentary is so beautiful.
00:37And I thought if it's a feature film just redoing the documentary there's no reason to do it as a feature film.
00:44Then I found out that Bob Zemeckis had the rights.
00:48So out of curiosity I called him, got together and he explained what his vision for the movie was.
00:55Which was to take the fantasy world of this art installation that Mark Hogan Camp had created.
01:02To take that world of miniatures and to essentially bring it to life.
01:08And I thought that's a way in. I think that could be really cool and expand the world of Mark's.
01:15Yeah and that's very different than the documentary that like just you're looking at it with a completely new pair of glasses.
01:21Yeah I think so. Well the documentary depicts Mark doing you know his art installation and taking still photographs of these figures.
01:32And he tells a story through these photographs.
01:35But Bob thought that it would be interesting to show that world not just through the still pictures.
01:42But connect the story because they're really complicated intense story lines that Mark has in his mind.
01:49But he's only able to depict those single you know vignettes.
01:54And so Bob thought there's a lot of story that Mark's not telling you know through his images.
02:02And that way you know he could bring it all to life.
02:06And he's got obviously a background in motion capture which he thought would be a perfect way in to this doll world.
02:14Tell me what was it like to see a miniature of yourself?
02:17Really freaky.
02:19But fun because it's about 75% better looking than I am.
02:24So I'm like oh cool.
02:26I like that.
02:28That's good.
02:30I'm very, very flattered.
02:33But it's nothing I ever expected.
02:36It was fun.
02:37And playing the character of Captain Hoagie.
02:39We'll talk about Mark a little bit.
02:41But Captain Hoagie, how did you create that character?
02:45Well he's Mark's alter ego.
02:47He's the guy who Mark sort of aspires to be.
02:51It's his, within the world that he creates, within this art installation.
02:56He and all of his friends are depicted in this sort of heightened reality.
03:00And so Captain Hoagie is this swashbuckling, very self-assured, macho guy who really can take care of business.
03:11And it's an extension of Mark.
03:14You know, it's who he, it's like the idealized, heroic vision of himself.
03:20And why does he have so many female comrades, or only female comrades actually?
03:26Females in real, the real Mark Hogan camp told me that he's never been hurt by a woman.
03:35Essentially women are the only people that haven't hurt him.
03:38And they've always been his protectors.
03:40The person who found him after he'd been beaten up in a hate crime and left for dead was a woman.
03:47The people who nurtured him back to health were all women.
03:50The people who continue to take care of him were women.
03:53Women are the people that he trusts and empower him.
03:56And the people who he identifies with.
03:58So those are his protectors.
04:02And those are his best friends and advocates.
04:05Tell me about meeting Mark Hogan camp.
04:08He's the sweetest guy.
04:11He's exactly who you would want him to be.
04:14I've never met anybody who I'd seen a documentary about.
04:17So I didn't know what to expect other than who I had seen depicted in the documentary.
04:24And he was exactly that guy.
04:27He is without any sort of pretense.
04:31He lacks any sort of cynicism.
04:33He's earnest and self-deprecating.
04:37But he also has an understanding of how other people view him and his world.
04:42And he has a sense of humor about it.
04:44And he gets that it's quirky.
04:46He understands that.
04:47Yeah, I know.
04:48I know some people think this is so weird.
04:50Right.
04:51But he laughs about it.
04:52And it doesn't matter to him.
04:54So I think he's got a real nice level of self-confidence there.
04:57But he's also very shy and very private and doesn't understand all the fuss that's being made about he and his art.
05:06Were you able to identify a lot with his character or with his personality?
05:10I mean, it's such an extreme character.
05:13Yeah, I mean, identify with, it really affected me.
05:18I think the themes of his story moved me in a really deep way.
05:27His story is all about love and hatred and acceptance and perseverance and, you know, and will.
05:37There's just a real joy to his story.
05:41And after I saw the documentary, it made me feel uplifted and good.
05:47And I just wanted to hold it, you know, because you just he's just felt like a the whole thing felt like a beacon of light to me.
05:53And that's why I wanted to be a part of this, because that his story and and how he took something so ugly, really, this this terrible hate crime and turned it into art, turn it into something beautiful.
06:10Hmm. And where did you while you were filming, where did you feel the most joy?
06:16Was there any particular scene or moment?
06:19When others are coming into his world for the first time and he's explaining who who these people are in his world and inviting inviting a stranger in to witness it for the first time.
06:39I think there's a sense of joy there because once once you get the world, once you're invited in, I think you are at least I felt this way when I went and met him.
06:51I think you are sort of overwhelmed by the sense of joy and spirit and sense of goodness to him.
06:58Mm hmm.
06:59It's just he's not a cynical person.
07:01And I think we live in such a cynical world that to have someone that just doesn't that that doesn't exist within him.
07:08It's really refreshing.
07:10And I don't know, it's it was a it was a spirit that I I felt like I was longing for.
07:17Mm hmm.
07:18And it's just nice to see a real a real guy like that.
07:22Mm hmm.
07:23And when you had to play Mark's trauma.
07:25Mm hmm.
07:26There's a lot of special.
07:27Was it difficult to to feel the trauma and then know it was kind of going into this other world or.
07:34It's so hard to tell what is happening as an actor in this movie, because so much of it goes between these two different worlds.
07:44And one of the worlds obviously doesn't exist when you're filming the first part of it.
07:49So it's all it's all imagination, like what you're looking at, what where where it's jumping in and out.
07:58And I just relied on Robert Zemeckis to kind of walk me through, you know, what was happening.
08:06You know, your Mark, you know, feels like he's in the middle of this this ambush and he's imagining all of this mayhem around him.
08:18And even though it's not really happening, you know, I just have to kind of visualize it.
08:23And some of it was was actually practical. Sometimes the things that happened, you know, were were actually demonstrated as we were doing it.
08:36But for the most part, it was all imaginary.
08:38And yeah, I mean, it was a challenge, but it was nice to have a storyteller like like Robert Zemeckis, who could lay everything out.
08:46We actually did a table reading, everybody, you know, you go to table reading thinking, we're all going to sit and read our lines and he'd read the stage direction.
08:53And then we'd move on. It was an early day of rehearsal.
08:57And we sat down and I'd never experienced this before.
09:00He sat down and he read us the script.
09:03And the table read was him reading the script and taking time out to explain the stage direction, where we're going in and out of the different worlds, what things look like.
09:15So it really was his table read for us to kind of paint the picture of the film.
09:21So there's something special about working with Bob Zemeckis. He has a special quality.
09:26For sure. Yeah.
09:27He's it's you could feel it the first day of the first day of shooting.
09:32There is a sense of reverence. He walks on the set.
09:35But he casts that aside instantly because he's so approachable and nice, friendly to everybody and treats everybody the same way.
09:43Really. I mean, actor, producer, dolly grip, camera operator, makeup doesn't matter who you are.
09:52He treats everyone with the same level of respect. And it was really nice because everybody felt like they were part of something on the same team.
09:58Did you enjoy the the Easter eggs that Bob Zemeckis put in some homages to his other movies?
10:05Yeah, for sure. Yeah, he has fun with that. And there's so many. I mean, there's so when you start looking at his body of work, it's incredible and so impactful.
10:17Like certainly in my growing up, like they're touchstones of my childhood, so many of his films.
10:25And that's another thing, you know, you get on a set with somebody like that, you can't help but be in a little bit of a sense of awe when you're working with him.
10:34And it's evident instantly why he has that reputation, why he has the body of work that he has, because he's so precise.
10:43The way he handles the shooting, he has such a steady hand and has a really specific vision of everything that he wants to be achieved.
10:55But again, he does it in such a delightful and low key way. It's very impressive to watch and be a part of.
11:04Yeah. You've played a lot of vulnerable characters. That's been something that's been throughout your career.
11:11Any character particularly challenging to you? Was there any character?
11:15In terms of the vulnerable characters? Yeah.
11:18I think Last Flag Flying was challenging because it was the first film that I did after my mom died.
11:27And the subject matter really wasn't, I mean obviously wasn't exactly what it just, what I was going through on a personal level.
11:39But it was about loss and loss of a loved one. And so that was a bit of a challenge because you have to separate what you're processing in real life and what the character is processing in the film.
12:00And there's bound to be overlap, but you, you know, it's a different person going through a slightly different thing.
12:06So that was a bit of a challenge, I think, at least in recent years.
12:10And you played a character that's not very vulnerable, Donald Rundsfeld, this year in Vice.
12:17Not that you know he's vulnerable. I mean...
12:19Did you find some vulnerability in him?
12:21Yeah. I think toward the end you see a little vulnerability in him.
12:24Do you ever miss being on the forefront of political humor?
12:28Being on The Daily Show? You know what? I talked to Jon Stewart about that, you know, because I, when he was getting ready to, to retire from the show.
12:37And I asked him, and I know he'd been asked this a lot, are you going to miss it?
12:40And, and I felt the same way in terms of what, what he related was that, yes, but also it's really hard work to do it well.
12:52And, uh, so after doing it for a few years, it, I, I felt like it was time to kind of move on.
13:00But, um, yeah, it was really fun. It was a really fun, exciting time.
13:04I can only imagine what it's like over there now. I mean, they have a very full plate for sure.
13:09Yes, they do. Um, so you started off this year with Beautiful Boy and you've ended with Welcome to Morrowind.
13:17Is there anything about the nature of addiction that you've learned from both of those movies?
13:22Well, that it, I guess the main thing is that it doesn't discriminate. It can really happen.
13:27And I knew that going in, but it became very evident.
13:30And in, in talking to, to people and we, we've, you know, especially for Beautiful Boy, we did a lot of, uh, question and answer sessions and going out into the community and, and talking with people about addiction.
13:45And the more I found out, the more that became evident that, that it doesn't, you know, it can, it can really happen to anyone at any time.
13:56And also that there is a, a stigma attached to it that, that shouldn't exist, but does. And, um, and I think it's something that, that people have to fight against that, um, it's, it's a disease. It's not a choice.
14:12Yeah. Yeah. Last question to you. Um, did you play with miniatures when you were a kid?
14:18Sure. Yeah. I played, I played with some, I don't remember having, I think I had a friend who had a GI Joe with the Kung Fu grip and we used to, I don't think I ever had a GI Joe. I don't remember having a GI Joe, but we did have, you know, those little green army men.
14:37Yes.
14:38We had, we had barrels full of those and we had, we came up with our own game, um, in our living room at home.
14:46We'd line up the army men. We both, we, you know, but we did have, you know, those little green army men.
14:52Yes.
14:53We had, we had barrels full of those and we had, we came up with our own game. We'd line up the army men. We both, we, you know, if playing with a friend, uh, on opposite sides of the room and some you could see and some that you couldn't see.
15:09And the way we would attack one another is we would try to guess how far away from this guy is that guy.
15:20And so if like you had a bazooka, you had a 10 inch circumference of where you could, you know, take somebody out. And so if you guessed the right, like, Oh, that's 72 inches. And you were within that. So way too long.
15:35So they're taking out the measuring tape.
15:38They get out the measuring tape and it seems like a really boring game to play, but we loved it. It was really fun. So yeah, we had those little green army men.
15:46Did you ever try to melt them with a magnifying glass?
15:48Yes, we did.
15:49And did it work?
15:50Of course.
15:51Amazing.
15:53Steve Curl.
15:54Thank you so much.
15:55The movie is Welcome to Marwen.
15:58Bye.
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