Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig have great comedic chemistry, and audiences are going to get a double dose of the duo this year as they team up for "Despicable Me 2," opening Wednesday, July 3, and the highly anticipated "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues," which hits theaters this December.
Moviefone caught up with Hollywood's new comedy "it" couple (too soon?) to talk about "Despicable Me 2," their roles in the "ridiculous" "Anchorman 2," Wiig's "absurd" new miniseries, and the possibility of combining forces with the "Fast & Furious" franchise for "Despicable Me 17."
What is the hot mess that is Gru?
Steve Carell: What is he? Who is he? He is an ex-supervillian. I think the tagline for the first one was "super-bad to super-dad" or something along those lines. That is all he cares about, but he is trying to maintain his dignity as a former villain and so he definitely wants to keep some sort of career goal in mind, which I think is difficult for him.
Kristen, it's very clear that your character, Lucy, is a career woman who's very much into spying. But there's something missing...
Kristen Wiig: I think she feels that she has her life all figured out and she's very excited about her job and she's very positive. And I think when she meets Gru, something sort of sparks -- in the same way when Gru meets her -- and it's, "Oh, yeah. Maybe I should sort of do something about my personal life." When they meet each other, I think they are sort of reminded of what life is really about.
She does love her weapons.
Wiig: Wouldn't you? I mean, if I had lipstick that made people convulse and pass out ... just kidding. I would not use it! [Laughs]
There's a "Minions" movie coming out next year. What about another "Despicable Me"?
Carell: There are going to be at least five more.
Wow.
Carell: I am totally kidding. [Laughs] I don't know. Wouldn't it just be great to say that we'll do...
Wiig: Seven
Carell: That's as far as we will go, but then we'll combine with the "Fast & Furious" franchise and do another ten. We'd love to do a third one. I think they could; there are definitely more stories in there.
You guys teamed up for "Anchorman 2." How was that?
Carell: Kristen Wiig is really funny in it.
Wiig: Maybe because she's playing opposite Steve Carell. We're very excited.
Carell: It's exactly in the same vein as "Anchorman." It's ridiculous.
Kristen, what can you tell us about your miniseries, "The Spoils of Babylon"? The cast is huge (Tobey Maguire, Michael Sheen, Tim Robbins, Jessica Alba, Will Ferrell, Val Kilmer).
Wiig: We're in the middle of shooting that right now, and it's pretty crazy.
It sounds like "Dallas" meets "The Borgias."
Wiig: It's like "Falcon Crest" meets "The Thorn Birds" meets "Naked Gun."
How did you get involved?
Wiig: Andrew Steele, who is one of the writers, used to work at "SNL," and he had sent it to me and told me that Tobey Maguire was doing it. I read the first episode out of six and I was like, "I'm in." It's really up my alley. It's absurd and super fun.
It also looks like "Arrested Development" will continue. Will you stay with it as Young Lucille?
Wiig: If they ask me to do it, I will absolutely come back. It was the most fun, and those guys are so incredibly smart. I was such a huge fan of the show.
Did you get any advice from Jessica Walter before you started?
Wiig: No, I've never met her actually! I'm a huge fan. I've watched her a bunch before I had to play her, which is always daunting. But I haven't met her yet. I hope to.
Steve, "The Office" has wrapped, but with so many fans, do you think they will ever do a movie?
Carell: No. I think it's done. I think the story is told and over. And, yeah, I think that they wrapped it up nicely and I have heard nothing to that effect.
Steve, what's the one thing you learned or took away from working on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"?
Carell: That was a hard show to be on because it wasn't really being an actor. It wasn't really about being an improviser. It wasn't really being a journalist. But it was kind of being those things. And it was scary because there's no way to train for something like that.
At least when Stephen [Colbert] and I were on it, no one knew who we were so we would come in and pretend to be these correspondents and play these characters. So I guess what I would take away from it was a sense of abject fear, going out on the field and bushwhacking people. I've never used that word in an interview.
Wiig: You're going to use it in every interview from now on.
Carell: I know. ["The Daily Show"] doesn't really fit with my personality, either, and so it was an incredibly difficult, challenging thing for me to do -- exciting at the same time.
It opened up a lot of doors, too.
Carell: For a lot of people, too. The show's been a great jump-off for so many people, and Jon was so supportive of all of us from day one. It was fun, and it was as close to live TV as you can get besides being on "SNL" because we'd think of something to do that day and we'd shoot it that night and it would be on later that night and it was pretty much live. Unless something went terribly wrong, they would never edit it.
Steve, do you still hang out with people you've worked with?
Carell: Definitely. That will sound so good in print because people always understand irony in print.
