Despicable Me: Wickedly good
The villainous Felonious Gru unleashes his feminine side in 'Despicable' sequel and disarms Kavita Daswani
Steve Carell knew the first Despicable Me film had something singular going for it after he witnessed the reaction of an unlikely viewer.
"I saw a preview with a friend, a guy in his early 40s - no kids, not the demographic the movie was targeting," the actor says during an interview in Beverly Hills. "He loved it. He cried, and he's not a super emotional guy, and he laughed, and it really touched him. That made me think that something special might be afoot."
You don't want to let the fans down and you want to give them what they want but also you have to go somewhere new
Carell was not wrong: the 2010 animated feature film, for which he supplied the voice of the villainous main character, Felonious Gru, earned almost US$550 million at the global box office - which immediately made it a candidate for franchise-dom.
Three years later, Despicable Me 2 reunites Gru with his henchman, Dr Nefario (again voiced by Russell Brand): Gru is now a reformed man, a father of three adopted girls, and their household is a rambunctious mass of small, yellow, multi-tasking, gibberish-speaking creatures known as Minions.
There are new characters too - including those voiced by Benjamin Bratt, Steve Coogan and Ken Jeong - but the story still revolves around the tall, broad and bald Gru.
Gru's new family life is replete with comedic possibilities, says scriptwriter Cinco Paul.