In the fourth season of “The Office,” hapless manager Michael Scott (played by Acton native Steve Carell) accidentally hit his co-worker Meredith with his car, sending her to the hospital. Lucky for Carell, when he suffered a similar fate recently while on a bike ride, he escaped with only some scuffed spandex.
Carell discussed the accident with Ellen DeGeneres during an episode of her talk show set to air on Wednesday, while there to promote his upcoming film “Welcome to Marwen.”
After admitting to DeGeneres that he’s “one of those guys” who rides their road bike decked out in Lycra and other cycling gear, Carell described how the incident went down.
“I actually got hit by a car a couple of weeks ago,” Carell said. “I didn’t tell you this. I was riding, and it was a pretty fast road. I made a turn, and I didn’t see the car behind me. And they hit me from behind. So I went up over the handlebars, and I — it’s a weird experience, because everything just slows down.”
Fortunately, Carell said he escaped the incident unhurt, and with that in mind, the reaction he got from the woman who hit him makes the story pretty funny.
“The woman who was driving the car jumped out, and she was distraught, obviously,” Carell said. “I went over to her, and my bike was sort of stuck under the front of her car. And she’s saying, ‘Oh my god! Oh my God! Oh my God! It’s Steve Carell!’ And she was so excited that she hit me. It was really kind of a fun experience, like a fun fan encounter.”
Carell also told DeGeneres about his preparation for “Welcome to Marwen,” in which he plays a male character who likes to wear women’s high heels. Carell said he spent months learning how to walk in them for the role.
“It was so hard. I could not believe it,” Carell said. “It was, I think, the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do for a movie.”
Carell said that producers sent him boxes of heels at home, and he started practicing wearing them months before filming the movie.
“I was walking around on stilettos eventually,” Carell said. “It’s one thing just walking in them, it’s another thing looking like you’re comfortable in them.”
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