SteveCarelll Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Above: Rainn Wilson lets his hair down for The Rocker.

Fans of Rainn Wilson's offbeat, hilarious and strangely endearing performance as Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office might expect him to transition into film work with straightforward comedy, and The Rocker confirms that suspicion. However, they might not realize the serious professional motives behind his choice. In the movie, directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Grown Monty), Wilson plays a grown-up dolt named Fish with a scary fixation on classic rock. Abandoned by the band Vesuvius in his teens -- before they became a commercial phenomenon -- Fish spends the next twenty years working deadbeat jobs and wishing things happened differently. Naturally, he gets a second chance: When the opportunity rolls around to drum for his nephew's high school, Fish goes for it. Ageism and slapstick humor ensue.

While not exactly a classic, The Rocker proves Wilson has the charisma to carry a movie. The script could use some polishing, but Wilson manages to play a completely dysfunctional human being without ever becoming an annoyance. It's a testament to his skill as an actor with calculated timing. The humor emerges from the naturalism of his performances, which make you believe in the outlandish characters he portrays. In a conversation with Cinematical recently, Wilson elaborated on his particular strategies as his career advances, reminisced about his days as a New York theater actor, and shed some light on a few upcoming projects.

There is just something about Steve Carell that makes him damned perfect poster material. With just a few subtle (or not so subtle) facial expressions, he can turn a normal pose into something much, much more. He did it with The 40 Year Old Virgin, just sitting there smiling -- making a simple pose flipping perfect. Then the Apatow gang tried to do it again with Seth Rogen, who rocks in his own sense, in Knocked Up, but it just wasn't the same. Well, now, Coming Soon has got Steve's poster for Dan in Real Life, and he's done it again. Mind you, it's not quite as perfect, but it's just got that thing -- making those pancakes look like the perfect pillow.

It's been a while since we've covered the flick, so let's catch up. Dan (Carell) is a widower and parenting columnist trying to raise three girls. The current plot outline says: "A widower finds out the woman he fell in love with is his brother's girlfriend." Last year, it was three brothers competing for the woman's affections, so maybe that will still happen too. And yes, oh yes, Juliette Binoche is the lucky lady, with Carell, Dane Cook (her boyfriend) and Norbert Leo Butz playing the brothers. Between Carell and Binoche, there's no way I will miss this. I last saw the French actress in the drama Quelques jours en septembre, and while the topic was serious, her snarky French agent was just great. The woman can do it all. If you need more reasons to look into it, try John Mahoney, Dianne Wiest and Emily Blunt. The flick comes out this October, and in the meantime, there's an E! news clip here and trailer here.*

*Edited to add trailer.