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Wednesday
01Jul2009

Steve Carrell Here for Billy Mays!

DateWednesday, July 1, 2009 at 4:11PM
It's too early to know for sure if this is even going to be a movie, but a Billy Mays bio-pic wouldn't have seemed illogical a week ago, so why should it now? In bad taste, perhaps, but no less viable.

The Daily Stab reports that Steve Carell is the rumored front runner in a movie about the late pitchman, and that's either great casting or great scuttlebutt. The search should end right there. In addition to being a very good comic actor (emphasis on the "actor," or have you not seen the wonderful Amy Poehler struggle mightily to execute the Michael Scott routine on Parks and Recreation?), Carell conveys a full range of emotions pretty well. That's what makes Michael Scott such a great TV character.

Now, how all that translates to Billy Mays is hard to say at this point. But a combination of Brick Tamland's volume and Michael Scott's undying earnestness is about the right formula for the TV persona Mays projected.

The Stab says the movie idea being negotiated is called Billy Mays Here and would cover the pre-Oxiclean days in Mays' career, traveling across the country hocking whatever for whomever. There's also some whispers that Owen Wilson would make a cameo as Mays' Pitchmen co-hort, Anthony Sullivan, but you know, one thing at a time on this, please.

Carell could definitely pull it off. But I wonder how serious these discussions are or would become. Because of his TV commitment, it's unlikely Carell could be available to shoot until a hiatus, simply because of how involved his character is on most episodes of The Office. Plus, he'd have to grow out that beard again.

SocioFluid
AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment3 Comments |

Reader Comments (3)

The Daily Stab needs to get a life...

Thursday, July 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKXB

I just slapped my forehead! Probably the first time I've ever done so. I had a tiny little dream that Carell was cast in a Billy Mays biopic this morning. It was one of those in-between-asleep-and-awake dreams that only lasts for a second, but it was there. IF they were to make a biopic about Mays (which, as you said, doesn't seem unlikely) Carell would be PERFECT!

Thursday, July 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJeremy

The trailer alone would be worth it.

Friday, July 3, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJohnny

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