Fun Times With Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, & Despicable Me 3! ⋆ Brite and Bubbly

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Hey All!

I recently had the awesome opportunity to attend a Despicable Me 3 media day event and press junket thanks to the amazing folks at Universal Pictures. This incredibly fun event was also co-sponsored by Bounty, Yummy Spoonfuls, and Kellogg’s. It was not only a media day to interview two of the stars, it was a full on Despicable Me themed event filled with food, friends, and lots of Minions fun! The day started off with a Despicable Me Minions themed breakfast, in which we ate banana pancakes and Duff Goldman made a fun Minion Bounty themed cake and minions cupcakes. The day ended with an advanced screening of the film and an interview with Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig about the film. Here’s how the day went and what Steve and Kristen had to say about the film!

Duff Goldman was hanging out and raving above his awesome cake and how he couldn’t wait to see the movie.

Duff then showed kids at the event how to make their own Minions cupcakes.

I had a blast catching up with my friend Camila Alves, who is one of the owners of the amazing company Yummy Spoonfuls. They make delicious organic and all natural baby foods. They were making little smoothies with the baby food at the event. You may also recognize her, as her hubby is Mathew Matthew McConaughey! We go way back!

The awesome Tori Spelling showed up with her family, working some very purple hair! I love Tori!

It was the perfect way to start the day! Who doesn’t love minions, friends, and fun tasty treats? I know I do!

After the breakfast, we got to see an advanced screening of Despicable Me 3! The movie was so much fun and there are so many unexpected throwbacks to the 80’s, which I loved! Gru (Steve Carell) is fired from the Anti-Villain League for failing to take down the latest bad guy to threaten humanity, Gru finds himself in the midst of a major identity crisis. But when a mysterious stranger shows up to inform Gru that he has a long-lost twin brother. Together they try to stop an 80’s obsessed villain named Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), who wants to destroy Hollywood after the show he starred in as a kid was canceled. I won’t tell you everything about the film, you’ll just have to see it!

After the film, we got to chat with Kristen Wiig and Steve Carell. First we wanted to ask about how they manage expectations for the movie and in life with their friends and family? The character Gru in the film has to manage a lot of expectations from his family, so we wanted to know how they related.

Steve Carell:

I think it’s something that every parent has to navigate. And one of the dilemmas, I think–and Father’s Day is coming up, so I’m being reminded this week of all the foibles of being a dad–is telling them the truth, because I always want to tell my kids the truth. And sometimes when you try to couch the truth in something less than the truth, it doesn’t come out as the truth. And I think sometimes we worry that our kids aren’t as resilient as they are and that they can handle it, and it’s–that it’s better that they ultimately understand, you know, the truth of something. I think there’s a way to finesse that without scaring them or hurting them, but–or hurting them as much. But I guess what I like about that scene is that he ultimately has to just tell his daughter the truth. And it’s really painful, but ultimately more painful for him than it is for her.

Kristen Wiig:

That was a good answer.

Voice acting can be a very different experience. We wanted to know how did they like the voiceover process this time around and how did they get into character?

Steve Carell:

You’re giving us way too much credit, I think. It’s just fun.

Kristen Wiig:

We just read. It is very different, though. I mean, it’s nice to have someone else to act against and respond to and talk to. It’s–it is very–it’s like a different muscle. And I wish that we could record together. We actually don’t ever record together. We’re sort of in small cold booths by ourselves.
But getting into character, I don’t know. I mean, this one’s pretty easy.

Steve Carell:

It is. It’s just fun.

Kristen Wiig:

It’s so fun.

Steve Carell:

They’re so collaborative, and they encourage us to play around and improvise and try different things. So, there’s really none of these lofty expectations. There’s really no pressure. It’s just let’s explore and see if we can find something funny, and make the sentimental moments not treacly, you know, and something that resembles humanity.

Ms. Kristen Wiig:

Yes!

Steve Carell:

And they’re really good about the writing there too, I think. When some moments are more sincere, they don’t push them too hard and they don’t try to elicit a response. They’re just kind of part of the storyline.

Since this was their third film, I was curious to know if they get any kind of input as to how the stories for the films are created?

Kristen Wiig:

I mean, no, but only because they do such a great job writing the scripts and they’ve got such amazing writers and animators. It’s–we’re happy to just sort of like do a trust fall into these films because we’re in such good hands. We don’t–I mean, they’re collaborative in the sense of, like, lines sometimes. We can play and do different versions, or they’ll ask if we have an idea for something. But for the most part, you know, we’re just sort of doing what’s there.

Steve Carell:

But if they are having a problem, if they’re–especially like character arcs and things like that, they will–you know, they will come to us and say, “What do you think?” “Would you”–?

Kristen Wiig:

Yes!

Steve Carell:

“Do you think Lucy or Gru would do something like this at this point?” And in the first one, when they initially pitched the whole idea and they had all of the artwork for the characters, Gru looked extremely different. He was very angular faced, very, very sinister looking, and then they decided to back off of that and make him a little more funny looking. And I weighed in and I said, “Now I think you’ve gone too far to the other side,” because I think he–there does need to be a sinister quality to him while at the same time be kind of funny. And so, what they ended up with was something sort of in between, something that you could laugh at but also that is kind–a little bit spooky…

Steve Carell:

But won’t totally scare them, but I think–and I agree with the creators that kids like to kind of push the boundaries there. I think they like a little danger.
In the first one, there’s–is it the iron maiden closes? And then you see red fluid coming out the bottom. And it opens again and a spike is stuck in her juice box. I mean, until you’ve seen that whole sequence, that is a terrifying moment. But kids, I–you know, kids know. Kids know that–especially with the series at this point, that they’re in good hands and it’s not going to go too far into a dark territory. But I think they kind of like it, too.

Steve voices Dru and Gru in the film, so we want to know if he drew on any experience with his own sibling relationships when he was voicing the characters.

Steve Carell:

Dru was fun to do because I hadn’t done it before. And it was fun to just come up with a different voice that was similar to Gru’s voice but not exactly the same. And I differentiated, or tried to, more in their demeanor than an accent. I think Gru is kind of a grouch, and Dru is really effervescent and silly. I lost track of what the first part of that question was. I’m sorry.

Steve Carell:

Oh, yes. Well, my siblings are five, seven, and nine years older, so there wasn’t really any sibling in close proximity age wise. But in terms of like best friends and that fun that you have, you know, on walkie-talkies at night, I definitely related to that. And I thought about a child who has never had that, you know, and not to get too heavy or deep with the character, but, you know, this guy has never had that kind of relationship, certainly not a sibling relationship. And I think you would yearn for that if you had never experienced, especially if it was then offered to you. So, yes. And there are things that you can say and do to your brothers that you can’t say or do to anyone else in the world, and there’s stuff you can get away with because you know you’re still going to be brothers. There’s that underlying love. So, you can just attack each other, and you can say terrible things to each other that, you know, you could never take back, but it’s water under the bridge because you’re brothers. So yes, there is that sensibility to it, I think. And you always get more mad at your own family than other people, I think.

Kristen Wiig:

That’s true.

Steve Carell:

They irritate your more than anyone.

Kristen Wiig:

Right. That’s true.

It was so fun to chat with them about the film. They were kind enough to take a picture with us at the end of the interview.

We also got to take pictures with the Minions too!

Thanks again to Universal for such a fun day to celebrate the release of Despicable Me 3! Despicable Me 3 hits theaters June 30th! Get tickets here: unvrs.al/DM3-Tix

Check out the trailer below: