Steve Carell recalled a literally painful memory from shooting his iconic 2005 comedy film The 40-Year-Old Virgin where he almost got seriously injured because of one waxing scene. Actors sacrifice a lot to deliver their roles perfectly, and sometimes, it comes to a point where their health is put at risk.
In the case of Carell, his chest almost got mutilated and he remembered seeing blood. This is already too much for one small scene in the film, and his willingness not to use prosthetics definitely took a setback.
Steve Carell Remembers One Bloody Incident on The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Steve Carell plays an electronics store stock boy, Andy Stitzer, who goes on a quest, with the help of his friends, to find a girl and lose his virginity. In one of the scenes, the gang accompanies him to a waxing salon to get his chest smooth and ready. The actor wanted to make it look real, thus opting not to use fake skin.
The process was supposed to be quick and easy, but the actress portraying the waxing lady turned out to be an inexperienced esthetician. It seems like she forgot to apply a protective coating first on the actor’s chest, but since she didn’t know this, she went ripping hairs off Carell’s body.
In his interview with Heart Radio, Carell confessed he almost lost a n*pple.
That waxing scene on The 40-Year-Old Virgin, one take. For real, you can see blood! The pores were ripped open and you can really, really judge it by the way the other people in the scene are reacting.
His costars reacted to the scene with real emotions because they saw the horrendous outcome of the hair removal procedure. Carell said the actress wrote in her resume that she is a professional waxing artist although she has never done it before.
This is an insanely excruciating story to hear, and surely, it won’t be the same again watching The 40-Year-Old Virgin knowing how much Carell sacrificed for the movie to make it look realistic. We can say that his effort paid off after it grossed over $177 million against a budget of $26 million.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin Almost Did Not Happen
Like many comedy films, The 40-Year-Old Virgin saw Andy Stitzer accomplish his mission and Carell later became an icon. The movie instantly propelled him to stardom as a Hollywood comedian; however, in his interview with The Believer, he recalled the production getting shut down in its first week because the executives were not impressed with the dailies.
“They thought it looked weird. They thought my character looked creepy,” he shared. Carell said they liked the script but did not believe it would be a successful project. Still, he and director Judd Apatow stuck with it and the rest is history.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin is currently available to watch on Max.
