An amateur taxidermist (Steve Carell) is invited to dinner following a car accident, which occurred while he was retrieving a dead rodent in Dinner for Schmucks.

LOS ANGELES—As arduous filmmaking goes, the physical trials that Steve Carell faced in Dinner for Schmucks were a mite devilish. “We shot a scene where Paul had injured his back,” said Carell, who plays the comedy’s central schmuck, referring to his costar Paul Rudd. “And I, essentially”¦had to hug Paul for a day and a half.”

Rudd, sitting next to Carell at a Los Angeles news conference, decided it was a good moment for some repartee. “That’s challenging for anyone,” he said, interrupting.

Off-screen badinage has no doubt become commonplace for Carell and Rudd, who also acted together in the comedies The 40 Year Old Virgin, in which Carell played the titular innocent with nerdy conviction, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.

In Dinner for Schmucks (which opens Friday [July 30]), Carell plays Barry, an IRS employee and taxidermy hobbyist who creates intricate dioramas using dead mice dressed in tiny costumes. Rudd’s Tim is a financial analyst bent on climbing the ladder at a private equity firm who hopes his girlfriend will finally accept his marriage proposal. He is mulling an invitation to an exclusive dinner at which company executives vie to see who can bring the biggest idiot, or “schmuck”, when he accidentally hits Barry—who has run into the road to snag a dead rodent—with his Porsche. Getting a load of wacko Barry and an accompanying mouse diorama, Tim realizes he’s struck gold. The two of them careen through L.A. in a series of absurd misadventures, all before supper.

In the film, Barry sports a village idiot’s haircut and a sweetly maniacal grin, and exhibits a buffoonery so persuasive you might imagine the actor to be a prize schmuck off-screen as well. In real life, Carell was thoughtful and funny, and didn’t look bothered when asked repeatedly about his recently announced decision to quit his role as boss Michael Scott on mockumentary TV series The Office. Taking on Schmucks, he found himself thinking about things beyond the schmucky.

“It had a heart to it, and I tend to like things that have a grey area,” he said. “The character that Paul plays, you know, here’s a guy who’s very conflicted. He’s not a bad guy, but he’s at a moral impasse in his life. I thought it was a very intriguing story line and a great relationship between these characters. It says something very kind, ultimately, and that’s what I responded to.”

That kindness required Carell to engage in an apartment-demolishing battle with a woman (Brit actor Lucy Punch) who is stalking Rudd’s character. He performed all his own stunts. Wine bottles were thrown at him, and dexterity was needed. “I didn’t catch it on the first take, mind you. But I did catch the bottle,” he said. “I just tried not to act surprised that I actually caught it.”

A battle of brains, relatively speaking, with actor Zach Galifianakis—who plays a rival IRS agent who has stolen Barry’s wife—was also on the agenda. Carell couldn’t contain his perplexed amusement when a reporter told him the scene resembled an imaginary showdown between two decidedly inexplicable performers. “Marlon Brando and Andy Kaufman?! I’m trying to figure out who’s who!” he said. “Now I can’t get that combination out of my head. I want to see that movie!”

He admitted to being “astounded” by the exquisite mouse dioramas but then pretended to not want to elaborate on his “not so secret” enjoyment of Barry’s hobby. “I’d rather not go into details,” he said. “But I would love to have a mouse diorama in my own home, displayed proudly.”

There was an uncomfortable confession to be made about his own possible schmuck factor. “I play the baritone horn,” Carell said. “So that would definitely qualify me to get invited to one of these dinners. The baritone horn is probably the least sexy instrument you could ever play.”

Those pesky questions about The Office persisted. He didn’t want his leaving the show to be misunderstood. “I thought it was a good time for the character to move on and for me to move on, personally,” Carell explained. “I hope that I’m able to start writing again.”

“Actually, Steve will be playing for the Miami Heat next year,” Rudd said, referring to the recent controversy surrounding pro basketball player LeBron James. “It’s a very exciting time in his life.”

“And Scranton [Pennsylvania, where The Office takes place] is burning my jersey,” Carell said, getting in the last word.