QUESTION:   What about you, Jim.  Are you surprised by that kind of success you've attained?  Obviously it's huge.

JIM CAREY:  Well, you know, I'm – you know, myself – it's hard to have a perspective on it from inside myself.  I just kind of feel like I could be working in a factory again in – you know, a month, or something like that.  Loading trucks.  Is kind of where I started out.  No, honestly, I don't have perspective on it.  It's just kind of, one thing to the next.  It's trying to do work, and trying to have fun with what's in front of me.  I mean, even today, you know, I think to myself, you get that – "Ugh, it's a junket," kind of thing.  [LAUGHTER] You know, kind of thing.  And then I have to go to that place of, "I'm gonna try to enjoy every person who's in front of me in that moment, and try – and live that way.  That's what I do."  So I don't really think about iconic anything.  I just try to do work and have fun doing it.  Hopefully that translates.  But I do watch other people, like Steve, and I can sit back and go, "Whoa, man, that guy's good."  And I'm much more impressed with other people.  You know, and I – you know, and – we've got an amazing cast in this.

STEVE CARELL:  Yeah.

JIM CAREY:  I mean, the people that this project gathered is kind of incredible.  It's like a who's who of comedy across five generations.

QUESTION:   Who's who.

JIM CAREY:  Who's who.  Yeah.  And so it's really exciting.  Seth Rogen, and – and Jonah Hill, and Carol Burnett, and – so I'm amazed by them, you know?  I sit and I watch Knocked Up, and I go, "Wow.  That's great work, man.  These guys are doing incredible stuff.  I wish I could be them."  You know.  It's all your perspective.  Just feels good to be in it. 

QUESTION:   I'm just curious, Jim, since this your second foray into Dr. Seuss world, and of course, your first.  Were there any stories that you have a hankering to do, either of you?

JIM CAREY:  The Steve Carell Story.  Hoping they'll come to me with that. 

STEVE CARELL:  In terms of Dr. Seuss?

QUESTION:   In terms of Dr. Seuss, yeah.

STEVE CARELL:  I don't know.  I'd love to do Green Eggs and Ham.  I think I could do a lot with it.  [LAUGHTER]

JIM CAREY:  We could work in a box for Fox.  [LAUGHTER]

STEVE CARELL:  It does sound ridiculous to even talk about it, doesn't it?  But ultimately, though, you know, you think about – "So you're doing Horton Hears a Who?"  You know, it's – it sounds sort of odd.  You know?  You're in the movie version of Horton Hears a Who.  And then you see it, and you say, "Of course."  You know, it completely makes sense.  So maybe Green Eggs and Ham is a blockbuster of the future.  You never know.

JIM CAREY:  That's an epic.  That's an epic, for sure.

QUESTION:   Question for each of you, from kindergarten class in [INAUD], Pennsylvania.  They want to know, Jim, how do you become an elephant?  And Steve, how do you become a Who? 

JIM CAREY:  Well, myself, I've thought of peanuts.  Peanuts on my breath.  I figured – you know, I have the sweet smell of peanuts on my breath all the time.  I thought – I thought – I wanted to be the type of elephant that didn't realize that he was enormous and bulky.  He was lighter – light as a feather, as he puts it.  You know, he was – he was like a dancer.  He was in his head.  He's not – you know, he's not bigger than anybody else.  That's kind of where I wanted to come with that character.  Is that, he's – maybe it's an inferiority complex, I don't know.  But he doesn't feel like he's bigger.  He could do a lot of damage if he wanted to, but he doesn't feel like – you know, he has that power.  He feels equal to everybody.

QUESTION:   And Steve?

STEVE CARELL:  Imagine – have the kids in your class imagine their world where nothing goes wrong, ever.  That everything is always happy, everyone always gets along, and everything – it's always good, and the sun is always shining.  And them have them imagine that something goes wrong.  And how you would react to that.  That's kind of what being a Who is like.  Especially – in this story, that's what being a Who is like.  This perfect world in which nothing ever goes wrong, suddenly is turned upside down.

QUESTION:   Steve, have you been back at work on The Office?  And what sort of interesting things are going on there?

STEVE CARELL:  We go back to work this week.  This Thursday's our first day back.  And the first episode involves a dinner party that Michael Scott throws.  And it's – it's – I think maybe the funniest episode of the season so far.  Our table read before the strike was great.  So, I – the storm cloud – in terms of Michael and Jan, I would say storm clouds loom.  [LAUGHTER]

JIM CAREY:  Such a great show.  Amazing show.  Really one of the greats. 

QUESTION: The screen actor’s guild is currently negotiating with the industry. How is that going and do you think it’ll be resolved?

JIM CAREY:  Go ahead, man.

STEVE CARELL:  Well.  [LAUGHTER] As a member of the Screen Actors Guild, I would just – I would have to go with whatever the vote is.  I have no idea what's happening specifically, in terms of – of the strike, or potential strike.  So I don't know.  But if the union decided to strike, I would have to as well.

JIM CAREY:  I hope the writers get the respect they deserve.  I mean, writers – you know, are the backbone of the business.  And they deserve a piece of the action, and they deserve good things.  They deserve good things.  They don't – you know, there's a lot of new revenue streams happening, and I think they should be a part of all of it.

QUESTION:  What about the Screen Actors?  Process of negotiation of the Screen Actors?

JIM CAREY:  I'm sorry, I can't –

QUESTION:   The Screen Actors Guild.  May be going on strike.

JIM CAREY:  Yes, yes, right.  Well, I'll be sitting on my duff if that happens.  If we go on strike, that'll be – I'll be with it. 

QUESTION:   In the film, Horton keeps saying, "A person's a person, no matter how small."  Do either of you have, like, a motto that you kind of refer to now and then?

JIM CAREY:  Always turn your wheel in the direction of the skid.  [LAUGHTER] That's been my motto all along.  That's really what I do.

STEVE CARELL:  Be sure to use a washcloth?  Because that's a good way to exfoliate.

JIM CAREY:  Brush your dentist twice a day, visit your toothbrush twice a year. 

QUESTION:   Jim, are you scared of the dentist?  I hear that you are the one that thought of that – he's going to the dentist while –

JIM CAREY:  I just went to the dentist yesterday.  I love the dentist.  I do.

QUESTION:   Did you come up with that bit, though, in the film?

JIM CAREY:  I don't remember.  They say I did, but I don't really remember.

QUESTION:   So you're not afraid of the dentist.  Okay.

JIM CAREY:  No, no.  Not at all.  Not at all.  I enjoy the dentist.  I enjoy trying to communicate with, like, half a dozen instruments in my mouth.  Cuz they always want to talk to you.  There's like, 100 different things in there, and, like, "So, how's the family?"  [INAUD] Somehow they understand.

QUESTION:   This is probably heavier than anybody really wants to go, but Steve, listening to your explanation before about some of the philosophy, and the attitude – it struck me watching this film that may be we're viewing it differently in a post-9/11 world.  Do you think there's a political overtone that -- any of you guys see something in there that might be kind of a lesson for us to take to heart, the fact that – you know, when you crush a speck, you're destroying somebody else, that they have a right to exist as well?

STEVE CARELL:  I think that's valid.  I think I – you know, it's always hard when you talk about a post-9/11 world, because I honestly think this – the theme of this movie would have resonated before that, had it never happened.  But perhaps because of that, people's general awarenesses are higher.  But I – you know, I think – and again, without getting too deep or too heavy with it, because after all, it's a family movie, it's fun, it's funny, it's exciting, it's silly – but within that, there is a very true and pure theme to it. 

JIM CAREY:  There is a butterfly effect to everything we do.  And I believe even to raise your voice has an effect that goes far beyond the room you're raising your voice in.  You know?  I mean, everything has an effect that way.  I mean, we've seen it politically through the last few decades, you know?  This – there was an odd thing that Charlie – I forget what is, Charlie's War, whatever, the Tom Hanks movie?  Yeah, Charlie Wilson's War.  I looked at that movie and I go, "Didn't he create Osama bin Laden?"  You know?  But they left that out, you know?  The fact is, that every time we go and try to mess with things, and figure it out, and squash somebody, we create somebody else.  Is – the act of fighting these fears we have, creates more fear, and creates more – aggression. 

QUESTION:   Steve, I just saw the latest trailer of Get Smart.  It seems that there's a lot more action in that movie than I guess I would have expected.

STEVE CARELL:  It's all in the trailer.  That's it.  There's no more.  [LAUGHTER]

QUESTION:    Was it fun being an action star?  And Jim, how are you preparing to play Scrooge in this new Christmas Carol?

STEVE CARELL:  It's incredibly fun.  It's all I – being an action star is all I ever hoped to be.  [LAUGHTER] I ultimately knew I would be an action star.

JIM CAREY:  He's packing right now.  There's a lump back here, I see it.

STEVE CARELL:  That's right.  I have one stuck in my boot, as well.  Yeah.  It was just fun and silly, and again, ridiculous, and I'm hanging from wires, off of buildings, and underneath planes.  And it was fun.  I'd do it again in a second.

JIM CAREY:  Yeah.  Ebeneezer is such a great thing for me, because again, I get to play all kinds of different roles in the film.  And first of all, the process is so fascinating.  You're literally in an empty warehouse with cameras around you.  And you have – maybe a frame of a fireplace, or something like that.  And then you rehearse, and they go, "Can we take this away?"  And you're sitting on a chair.  And you have to create the entire world in your head.  And not only that, but you're working with other actors, and you're in this ridiculous mo-cap suit with balls all over it, and a hat with pincers that come down, with cameras in your face right here.  And so the real work of it is transcending all of this – the lack of stimuli, and this stimuli that's right in your face.  You have to transcend all of it, and create the reality of the piece.  And also, it's kind of a classical version of A Christmas Carol.  Oh, it is, very much.  And so I'm playing Ebeneezer Scrooge at four different ages.  So there's a lot of vocal things, a lot of physical things I have to do.  You know, not to mention doing the accents properly.

QUESTION:   With an English accent.

JIM CAREY:  With English accents, and Irish accents, and –

QUESTION:   How are you playing the –

JIM CAREY:  I'm also playing past, present, future, the ghosts.

QUESTION:   All of the ghosts.

JIM CAREY:  Yeah.  So there's a lot of really wonderful – you know, work in it, and challenge in it.  And plus, I want it to fly in the UK, you know?  And I want it to be good, and I want them to go, like, "Yeah, that's for real."  You know?  So we were very true to the actual – to the book.  So. 

QUESTION:   My favorite book.

JIM CAREY:  It's beautiful.  It's an incredible film.  And – you know, if you're lucky, at some point in your life, you have that kind of Christmas Carol moment, you know?  And I certainly have, where things were kind of going south, and I had the opportunity to see how horrible things could have gotten, without them actually going there.  And I can't get into specifics.  But I had my ghost of Christmas Future, you know, at a certain point in my life, that I went, like, "Oh, wow.  Okay.  I gotta really start caring about the right things here."  And it's just a fantastic story.  It's a fantastic story.  Beautiful literature.

QUESTION:   Is that – next year, right?

JIM CAREY:  That will be 2009, actually.  Christmas, 2009.

QUESTION:   Who's your dialect coach on that?  Because we're doing a story about –

JIM CAREY:  Oh, Barbara Barkeley.

QUESTION:   Quick question.  Are you still gonna do the Tim Burton project?

JIM CAREY:  I don't know.  I mean, that's – it's definitely still in the works.  Maybe a little ways off.  But we're still talking about it.

QUESTION:   So what's your project after this?

JIM CAREY:  After Christmas Carol, I'm doing a film called I Love You Philip Morris.  Yeah, about a gentleman who fell in love with his cell mate, in Texas, and escaped from prison four times to try to find ways to get his lover out of prison.  So that's – it's an out-there concept. 

QUESTION:   Has Jenny had a chance to see the film yet?

JIM CAREY:  No.  No. 

QUESTION:   Great work.  Look forward to Christmas Carol.

JIM CAREY:  Yeah.  It's gonna be fun.  It's really gonna be amazing, I think.