Steve Carell: Beyond "The Office"

The big screen star's not quitting his TV day job. Yet.

Last month, he was a mayor (in the movie adaptation of Dr. Seuss' "Horton Hears a Who!"). In two months, he'll be a secret agent (Get Smart). But this Thursday, Steve Carell is back to his day job as everyone's favorite paper supply company regional manager. Fans of "The Office" will be delighted that the award-winning show returns to NBC April 10 at 9 p.m. ET, but things aren't going so well for Carell's character, Michael Scott.

"Michael throws a dinner party, and things go awry," Carell says. "As for Jan and me, we're having some difficulty in our relationship. I would say that darkness looms." Uh-oh.

Next, Carell will go from dopey office worker to dopey secret agent in "Get Smart." The film, which opens June 20, is "a comic version of The Bourne Identity," Carell says. "I wanted it to be a spy movie that was also funny, as opposed to a spy spoof or something just silly. I wanted it to be based in some sort of reality. That way I thought the comedy would come through a little more crisply."

Like Peter Sellers in "The Pink Panther"? "I can't even talk about him in the same breath as myself," Carell says. "I'd love to do 10 more "Get Smarts", and off into the sunset I go. After "The Office," it's probably the most fun I ever had."

When he's done having fun on set, Carell, 45, returns home to his wife, actress Nancy Walls, and their two kids, Elisabeth Anne, 6, and John, 3, whom Carell credits with helping his acting. "Fatherhood shifted my priorities completely. Once you've had a child, that has to be the focus of your life," he says. "It helps your career because you have other interests, and you become a more diverse person. I know that I started auditioning much better once we had Annie. I cared less about pursuing the goal of a career and more about pursuing the goal of raising a child. People can smell desperation, and once you're not desperate anymore, it frees you up."

That sounds like advice Michael Scott could use.

Nancy Mills