Steve Zahn and Jeff Garlin: Hot Daddies

Actors Jeff Garlin (of HBO's hit comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and t.v. series "Mad About You") and Steve Zahn (Riding in Cars with Boys, Joy Ride and Saving Silverman) join Eddie Murphy and take on a pint-sized army in the new comedy Daddy Day Care. Both guys told us about their wacky experiences with kids, both in the real and film worlds, and the different ways each actor approaches his work.

TeenHollywood: What's the worst experience you've ever had with kids?

Steve: Last week going to Florida with my kids. Let me tell you something, planes and kids... I've got a 3 and 1 year old, I don't wish that on anybody. Do you know what's worse than the plane ride is going through security. Why do you have to break down the stroller? That's hard, let alone take your shoes off and carry your kid through the thing.

Jeff: Okay, boy I have one. I was a Santa at the Broward mall in Florida and that was very hot and itchy and then a child peed on me. That was when I was probably 17. Back then, this was horrible so I quit.

TeenHollywood: Do you relate to kids as well as the characters in the movie? And was it hard working with all the child actors?

Steve: I like to think I do [relate]. I'm a good dad. I spend a lot of time with my kids. I got the breakfast gig from 6-9, and I take my boy everywhere. My daughter is pretty young still. So yeah, but it's completely different when it's not your kids and you're at work. You are still doing your business but with kids, you have to change. It almost makes it more of a true acting experience because you have to listen. We forget about listening. It becomes frustrating if you're trying to do something and you can't get the point across.

Jeff: These kids, and most of the kids I've worked with, were pretty great. Every once in a while you get kids who are very children's theater-y. They are very precocious. A lot of times you see kids at auditions because they haven't been filtered out yet, and you are like going, "Stay away from me. I don't want to be anywhere near you." The children that they hired were wonderful. I can't even think of one of them that even misbehaved or was more precocious. They were great kids, just really sweet, and fun to work with.

TeenHollywood: Steve, your character seems to be just an overgrown kid; on the same level as them.

Steve: I thought of the character as being that, this kind of older guy who is kind of by himself in his own world. And yet obviously the interesting thing is that he's the last person you want [watching kids] yet when they come out on the patio he's being funny with them. I remember that moment; I wanted that to be great. He's being this big fun guy, trying to figure out what to do. [Steve's character is putting on a Star Trek puppet show with action figures at one point].

TeenHollywood: Why do you think you are so often cast as the smart-ass guy?

Steve: (laughing) I don't know. I've played smart-assed guys, but there's also the dimwitted. I'm always attracted to the vulnerable character more than I am the superhero. That's not interesting to me. I don't know anybody like that. The things that I laugh at are crazy people, people who take themselves so seriously. The guy mad in the grocery store line is funny. Out of context, you put it in a movie and it's hysterical, if it's done right.

TeenHollywood: How hard was it to keep all those kids focused?

Steve: It was impossible. They were never focused; they were 4-year-olds. But that's the hard thing, how do you capture that and how do you take advantage of the time when they are there? With this film, it's little kids who are unaware, for the most part, of the business of Eddie Murphy walking on set every day. It's not like they were dressed up in a period costume on the Titanic. They were being themselves. They were just in a different environment, which at times, when kids get tired or whatever, they don't care. They are not on a set. "I want a cracker." You have to stop everything for a cracker. It's good to stop for that kind of thing. It's like working in Europe – teatime – except with adults. "We're going to take a nap now, right?" Take a nap, have a glass of wine, all right! These kids have the right idea.

TeenHollywood: Jeff, you had a wild moment in the film getting on stage and singing with "Cheap Trick."

Jeff: (brightening) Singing with "Cheap Trick" was really a dream. That was unbelievable. What was really unbelievable was the next night. When we filmed the scene of course there were cameras in front of me, but they said, "Tomorrow night we are performing at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Do you want to come sing 'Surrender' with us?" I said, "Oh yeah." The next night I did. It was sold out, it was packed, and at first they were like, "Who is the fat guy with 'Cheap Trick?'" Then I really got into it like the performance I did in the movie. I was jumping all around and they went nuts. It was like, "I want to be a rock star," except for the fact that I don't really have any musical talent and can't sing. Other than that, I'd be a great rock star. It hasn't stopped other people.

TeenHollywood: You play guitar in the film. Did you already play the guitar before making the movie?

Jeff: I took guitar lessons as well as I had a thing in my ear. I could hear myself sing so I sang along with myself, and strummed the guitar. I'm just pretending to play the chords; they don't match anything I'm playing. There's nothing you see on screen that even matches chord-wise. I was just moving my fingers so I don't look like an idiot.

TeenHollywood: Steve, you've done "Bye Bye Birdie" on stage. Would you like to do another musical someday?

Steve: Oh totally. I always wanted to do "How to Succeed in Business," but that was done. I always wanted to do that part but there's others.

TeenHollywood: Jeff, what was it like working with Eddie Murphy?

Jeff: I went into the movie thinking Eddie would be funny, but he was hysterical. He was beyond anything that I could have possibly imagined. He was great. In between takes he'd be funny. If we improvised on a take he didn't negate anything that I said. He went with it, and vice-versa. If he went somewhere, I went with him, too. It was great fun. Every take we'd improvise. We did the script as written. But they will let you improvise as long as you get one or two takes that are exactly like the script. They ended up using a lot of our improv stuff.

TeenHollywood: Steve, did you do much improv in this movie?

Steve: I don't usually do that because of my background with scripts and theater. Not that I think improv is bad. I have a very traditional background. I don't know. I do my homework. Literally, I read the script a lot and I learn it, no matter how big or small the part is. I put a lot of thought into it and I think about it constantly. Part of that is the kid in me, too. When I show up on a film set, I don't want to worry in my trailer about what I'm doing. I want to play PlayStation because I don't get to play that at home.