BURBANK, Calif. — Drew Carey has always been sort of a regular-guy sitcom star, if that's possible — confident but modest, talented but self-deprecating, down-to-earth, friendly and honest in interviews.
If that seems unlikely, how about Carey as the singing, dancing star of a big-time TV movie musical, playing no less than the title role in "Geppetto"? His wouldn't seem to be the first name that would come to mind when casting Disney's first-ever original musical for television, but he was pursued by Oscar-winning composer Steven Schwartz ("Pippin," "Pocahontas," "Prince of Egypt") and scriptwriter David Stern.
"At first I didn't want to do it," Carey said in an interview with the Deseret News on the set of his ABC sitcom. "I told them I probably wouldn't do it and I wasn't that interested, that I don't sing that well, that I'm not that good an actor, and blah, blah, blah.
"And so they came by to give me the pitch . . . and Steven Schwarz played the songs, and they were so great. And when he got to the last song — the tearjerker song at the end where Pinocchio turns into a real boy ('Since I Gave My Heart Away') — he started to cry. And I was looking down at the script that he gave me and I started to tear up. And I didn't want to look up, because by then I wanted to do it, and I thought if they saw me cry it would cost me money."
They gave Carey a CD and left him to think about it.
"I played it in my trailer right after they left my agent's, and after the first couple songs, I said, 'I'm doing this movie.' I just couldn't turn it down," he said.
"Geppetto," which airs Sunday at 6 p.m. on ABC/Ch. 4, is a live-action retelling of the story of Pinocchio. Carey plays the 19th century Italian toymaker who longs for a son, and young Seth Adkins plays the puppet who longs to be a real-life boy and is brought to life by the Blue Fairy (Julia Louis-Dreyfus of "Seinfeld").
And it has all the trappings of a big-time musical the way they used to make them — elaborate sets and costumes; a large, colorful cast; eight original songs; lavish production numbers; the whole bit. ("Geppetto" cost upwards of $15 million to make, an enormous sum for a TV movie.)
"I was so happy they offered me this. I was really flattered and everything," Carey said. "I get offered all these goofy comedies. Like a fat guy who wants to do better. Dumb comedies, and I didn't want to do any of them. This is the first big project I've taken since 'The Drew Carey Show,' actually."
Not that he has any trouble recognizing how goofy the story of Pinocchio really is.
"When I see him for the first time, he's already a wooden boy. And the town says nothing about it," Carey said. "I walk down the street with a wooden boy, and they think, 'Hey, good for Geppetto.' "
Actually, that may be the hardest thing for Carey to overcome. His image as the smart-mouth guy in the sitcom is so powerful that you almost expect him to step out of character and comment on the absurdity of "Geppetto" in mid-scene.
And he acknowledges that, even in a wig and wire-rim glasses, he's more than recognizable as Drew Carey.
"The first thing I say is, 'Buon giorno,' when I come out of my toy shop, and it gets, like, an unintentional laugh. Me in a wig saying, 'Buon giorno,' " Carey said. "But then once you get used to it, it's no problem."
Carey sounds a lot like a big kid when he talks about "Geppetto."
"It's really great," he said. "I really never brag on myself much at all, but I'm telling you this 'Geppetto' thing has just knocked me out."
He was excited enough about the project to spend months taking voice lessons in preparation. Then, as soon as his sitcom wrapped for the season in the spring of 1999, he went into the studio for a week to record the songs. That was followed by three weeks of rehearsals and six weeks of filming. (Your average TV movie shoots in somewhat less than three weeks.)
"As soon as ('The Drew Carey Show') ended, man, it was sing, sing, sing. Then rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Then film, film, film," Carey said. "By California law, you work 10 hours a day. I usually worked 12, 14 hours a day."
He was working alongside some familiar faces. The cast includes Brent Spiner ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") as Stromboli, Rene Auberjonois ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine") as Professor Buonragazzo, pop star Usher as the Ringleader and Wayne Brady ("Whose Line Is It Anyway?") as the Magician.
And, despite his own continuing misgivings, Carey is good in "Geppetto."
"I know I got hired because I'm famous," he said. "They could've had a better singer and a better actor, but I can do comedy, which is important to this movie because it's light-hearted. It needs to be played with some kind of heart to it. And I can do that pretty well, I think, so there's a good reason they picked me and I'm glad they did."
The movie itself is also good — fun and colorful in a light way.
"I'm really proud of it," Carey said. "I know I'm not the greatest actor in the world or the greatest singer and stuff, but this is really great."
You can reach Scott D. Pierce by e-mail at pierce@desnews.com