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Candid photos have just surfaced of Jason filming a scene with Rashida Jones for an upcoming movie. I think that they are filming My Idiot Brother which I had no idea Jason was a part of, but Rashida Jones is and the movie is currently filming. It may possibly just be a bit part as Jason wasn’t announced as part of the cast and he’s already filming How I Met Your Mother and The Greatest Muppet Movie Ever Made this month. Also in the film is Paul Rudd & Zooey Deschanel. The candids show Jason proposing to Rashida then they take a ride on a horse drawn carriage.

My Idiot Brother is set for release in 2011.

Principals involved with Disney’s upcoming live-action pic toplining Jason Segel flew to Pixar headquarters in Emeryville, Calif., on Wednesday for a table read of the project with the animation powerhouse.

The involvement comes just months after Pixar helped shape reshoots for Disney’s upcoming sci-fi tentpole “Tron Legacy.”

In other words, this is the second recent example of the animation house assisting parent Disney with a live-action feature.

Some of the members of the so-called “Pixar Brain Trust” — filmmakers John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Michael Arndt, Bob Peterson and president Ed Catmull — were there for the consultations. Docter is a particularly avid Muppets fan, so he almost certainly was one of the attendees. On the Disney side, Muppets director James Bobin and producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman were likely in the room along with Segel. Neither Pixar nor Disney would comment.

Beyond whatever advice might have come down for the project at hand, the fact that Pixar has its fingers in the Muppets pie suggests that Disney, under the new regime of Rich Ross and Sean Bailey, is intent on taking advantage of its subsidiary’s storytelling abilities.

Pixar are obviously a great source of knowledge, let us not forget that Pixar have yet to have a flop, and all of their movies have had mega returns at the box office. Of course Pixar is now a subsidiary of Disney, so they’re keeping it in the family. Hopefully this will make the Muppet’s movie even more awesome than it already is shaping up to be!

Read the full article at hollywoodreporter.com.

Segel discussed his experience making the film at a “Despicable Me” press conference in Los Angeles. Segel also talked about what the future may hold for his character in the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”

Can you tell us what it’s like to play such a delicious villain?
I was given a sketch very early, and I have a bit of a background in puppetry. So coming up with a voice to match this sketch I was given was my real inspiration. I had a few months to come up with a voice, and I came up with a few and I went in and they helped me choose. These guys are such geniuses. The one they ended up choosing was perfect.

Obviously, you look nothing like your character, but did you see any mannerisms that they picked up from you?
I’m going to answer that question two-fold. One, I was very excited, the whole thing that drew me to doing an animated film is that you’re freed from the physical limitations of your physical body. All of a sudden you get to be something that has nothing to do with the fact that I’m a 6′ 4″, kind of lumbering dude. And that was really exciting; puppetry is very similar. And then this guy is based almost wholly on insecurity. He just wants to prove to his dad that he’s worthy, in this case the most evil person alive.

So I kind of drew from there. It was very freeing. I think for all of the cast, you’ll probably notice, that nobody is doing their voice. Steve, myself, Russell [Brand], Julie [Andrews] — no one is talking like they normally talk and it’s because all of a sudden you’re freed from the physical limitations of how you look, which is amazing.

Vector kind of looks like Bill Gates …
He does a bit like Bill Gates, yeah!

Did you see what Vector looked like before you formulated the voice? Did the character’s looks change at all in the process?
I got a sketch very early on, and he ended up looking [the same]. I came up with two voices: the one we used and one that was totally counter to the way he looked, which was [he says in a deep, sophisticated voice], “Hello, what do you think you’re doing here?” And we ended up choosing the one that was appropriate. I couldn’t be more proud of the way the producers and directors made this film. It’s beautiful.

Which one of Vector’s gadgets did you love the most and the one you wished could be real?
I wouldn’t mind the shrink ray, because I’d like to make a lot of foods bite-sized so that I could eat them constantly.

How would you compare and contrast voicing an animated character to voicing a puppet?
Well they’re very similar experiences. Like I said, the thing that ties them together is the idea that you’re not tied to your physical body. So being able to voice a character that looked nothing like me was very exciting. If I did that voice as an actor, you would call BS. You would say, “No, that’s not what he sounds like.” But all of a sudden I could be 5′ 3″, wear an orange jumpsuit, and be nerdy. [He says jokingly] You know, in real life I’m, like, super good-looking. And so to all of a sudden play a character that was nerdy was very exciting to me.

Where does “Despicable Me” fit in with your sense of humor, as far as the improv style you use, like you did with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”?
Well, what’s cool about doing this animated film – this is the only one I’ve done, so I have no other frame of reference – is that you go in for three hours every few months. I probably went in six times over two years, something like that. And I think the goal is, from their standpoint, for me to give them as much material as I can possibly come up with, and they choose the funniest and the best and the most on-story. So every time it was just three hours of intense effort, trying to be as funny as I could and be on story and improv and give them as much material as I possibly could.

Does it fit with your sense of humor?
Yeah. I actually am more proud of this movie than anything else I’ve ever done. There’s something very special about the idea of a family being able to go to a movie and everyone enjoying themselves, genuinely. It’s something “The Muppets” did beautifully and “The Simpsons” kind of does it, but parents aren’t placating their kids when they take them to this movie. They’re enjoying it as well. So there’s something really great about the idea of a family walking out of a theater and everyone’s had a really great experience and is enjoying themselves. I think a family getting along for a few hours is a special thing, funny enough.

When are we going to get a chance to hear your music again?
[He says jokingly] I’ll play it for you later, tonight. [He says seriously] I wrote some of the music for “Get Him to the Greek.” I wrote “Bangers and Mash” and “Supertight.” You know, that’s a real side job for me but I enjoy it. I taught myself to play piano when I was 17 to pick up girls. When you try to pitch a real musician these songs, they write them too musically, and when you try to pitch them to comedians they write them too funny. And I somehow found a middle ground because I’m not that good a musician and I’m not that funny. So it ends up being perfect.

Did it work to pick up girls?
Well, I remember the first thing I did was I found a really not-that-intelligent girl and I told her that I wrote “Your Song” by Elton John. I was like, “I wrote this for you.” And then I lost my virginity.

Do you think that animated movies are like an actor’s workshop, in a sense?
It’s a very unique experience in that you’re not working with any of these actors in any of these scenes. You’re alone in a booth. To me it felt like a test, if I could be funny and good and on-story. On-story, to me, is a big part of improv. It’s very easy to come out and say funny lines that you’ve thought of the night before, but to be on-story is the real challenge.

So you’re in there for three hours trying to give them material they can actually use. I have a million jokes I could say, but to try to make it on story and valuable to them was something that was a challenge, and I really enjoyed that idea. It’s just you alone, which is kind of awesome because a lot of the time, other actors really slow me down, because they’re not quite as good as me.

We heard you did a conga line at a “Despicable Me” promotional event with Miranda Cosgrove and Steve Carell. Can you tell us more details?
Yeah, we got to play with the Minions a bit, who I think are the cutest element to the movie. The Minions are Steve Carell’s/Gru’s assistants, kind of the architects of his plan. We did a little conga line with them. It was a bit awkward, because, to be honest, it’s midgets in outfits. And at one point I had to come up with something funny and I said, “Hey, can I throw this ball off of your head and see if it bounces back to me?” And one of the guys in the outfits said, “You’ve got to remember I’m a real human being.” And then I felt really awkward.

Would you talk about the music in this movie that was done by Pharrell Williams?
The thing about this movie in general is that everything has been done to perfection, to some extent. With the exception of me, they hired the best actors that they could possibly imagine, the best comedians. The music is perfect and the story is so beautifully written.

You watch this and you kind of expect a kids’ movie. It’s about villains fighting, but there’s such an underlying sense of heart to this movie. I cried at the end. I’m not a real cryer, but at the end of the movie, Gru — Steve Carell, who did his part to perfection — reads a story to these kids, and part of the theme is that even the coldest heart can be melted by love. That really got me. The movie is perfect.

How did you get involved in “Despicable Me”?
John Cohen, one of our great producers, he came to my house and he told me the story. And he gave me a sketch of Vector, and I was hooked instantly. Like I said, the story was so beautifully told, there was no doubt that I was going to do the film?

What from “Despicable Me” has informed your work on “The Muppets,” and how’s it coming along? How terrifying is it to have to live up to Jim Henson’s legacy?
Well that part is very intimidating. What I do think is if I approach it with a real sense of respect… I’m very earnest about the way I approach it. There’s no sense of irony with me, going into “The Muppets.” I don’t think it’s funny that I’m doing “The Muppets.” I truly love them.

But what I learned from this film is the idea of a family being able to bond over seeing something together, and walking out with everyone in a great mood. It’s a very special thing, for a family to walk out of a film satisfied and happy, and then go have lunch or dinner together feeling happy and talking and laughing — it’s a very rare thing. Family dynamics aren’t easy, so the notion of anything drawing them together, especially a movie like “Despicable Me,” I think is a very special thing.

What did you have to do to find your inner dork to play the Vector character? Did you have to remember your teen years?
I’ve been 6’4″ since I was 12. I was 6’4″, 100 pounds. I looked like Jack Skellington. Kids used to stand around me in a circle. And one by one, they’d jump on my back and chant, “Ride the oaf! Ride the oaf!” It’s true. You either become funny — which is hopefully what I did — or you become a villain, which is where I got the idea for Vector. It’s a guy who is horribly picked on, and this is where he’s ended up.

When you go back to work on “How I Met Your Mother,” what’s in store for Marshall and Lily?
I don’t know the storylines. Allegedly, from what I’ve heard, I’m going to get even funnier. Which seems impossible. But that’s the plan. I think there might be a kid in our future, if I had to guess, but I’m truly guessing. I always pictured myself and Marshall a bit like the Abominable Snowman from the Bugs Bunny cartoons: ‘I’ll hug him and squeeze him and kiss him all over.’ I picture me holding a baby upside down by the leg, shaking it. “You OK?”

Are the “How I Met Your Mother” producers amused by your idea for a post-apocalyptic finale?
I just think, if the narration takes place in the future, there should be a reveal where they open the window, and it’s horrible out there. I just think that’s a hilarious idea. But no, they’re not amused by anything I do. A lot of these ideas come from the fact that I’m a bizarre human being.

Gru and Vector have parents who are hard to please. What do you think about those parental issues?
I think they [Gru and Vector] could be siblings. You only see Gru’s mom and you only see Vector’s dad. “Despicable Me 2: This Time It’s Personal.”

Do you have any favorite charities?
The charity I’m most associated with is the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which I think is a beautiful association

In “Despicable Me,” you and Steve Carell play nemeses. In real life, who is your celebrity nemesis?
[He says jokingly] I think it’s probably Ryan Reynolds, in that we have very similar comedic tastes and all that, and our bodies are so [similar] that it’s basically a rivalry over who can be in better shape. At this point, I think I’m winning.

What’s your best advice for writing comedy?
To write a drama. I’m not joking. That was the first advice I got from Judd Apatow, and I think it’s why his movies are so brilliant. He told me when I was writing “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “‘I want the first draft you give me to be a drama. We’ll make it funny. It’s going to be funny because we’re funny, and we’re going to add jokes, and the people you cast will be funny. The reason people will see it — and see it again and again or connect to it — is because there’s an underlying drama.” So that’s the best advice I can give when you’re trying to write a comedy: first write a drama, and then make it funny.

So how do you write a drama?
You go from real experience. Almost everything I’ve written is somehow tied to something I’ve gone through. You try to hit a universal theme. “Sarah Marshall” is about how complicated break-ups are, which everyone has gone through. The next thing I’m writing is about engagement and love, and everyone has gone through that. Hitting a universal theme, this movie does it perfectly. The idea of somehow opening yourself up to something in your life is universal, and that’s what everyone relates to.

Growing up, did you have a favorite animated film?
That’s a good question. I was really drawn to the early Disney villains, and funny enough, this movie is about villainy. They managed to be really terrifying without scaring kids. If you think about Ursula from “The Little Mermaid,” that’s a terrifying character! The “Cinderella” witch — they’re all witches, for the most part in the Disney [universe]. But they’re really, truly terrifying, these terrible and intense for the heroes, but somehow your eye was always drawn to them.

Does your height ever hinder you in getting roles?
Not now. It hindered me when I was a kid. I remember when I was 18, I was allegedly really close to playing Dustin Hoffman’s son. I knew I wasn’t going to get that part. I’m like eight inches taller than Dustin Hoffman! I might be a foot taller than Dustin Hoffman. It just wasn’t going to happen. So it hindered me then, when I was playing a boy. Now that I’m playing a man, it’s a bit easier. Girls have heels. Dustin Hoffman in heels isn’t a good look.

Being the important bad guy that he is, Gru has an army of minions and a mad scientist sidekick, Dr. Nafario (Russell Brand) at his disposal. When their combined best efforts fail to help Gru capture the shrink-ray gun he needs to pocket the moon, Gru adopts a trio of adorable orphans to (unwittingly) help him with the heist. Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher) are the three sisters from the Home for Girls, run by Miss Hattie (Kristen Wiig), whom eventually make Gru realize that being super bad isn’t half as rewarding as being a super dad.

Despicable Me is as sunny as it’s minions are bright yellow. There are plenty of jokes for the adults, a cleverly placed “Formerly Lehman Brothers” sign will go over the kids’ heads, but there are also kid-friendly characters and gags that all ages will embrace and enjoy. Young Elsie Fisher steals the show with some spot-on improvised lines, like when she sees the stuffed unicorn of her dreams and squeals, “It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!” But what will keep you bouncing along throughout the movie and for hours after is the music. Grammy Award-winning artist (and my fellow Virginia Beach native) Pharrell Williams brings the whole movie together with a number of Gru-vy original songs and a score he completed with Heitor Pereira.

LAist recently sat down with Steve Carell, Jason Segel and Miranda Cosgrove, who shared with us what it’s like to become a character that’s only three-dimensional when you’re wearing special glasses. They also gave us some tips on what fans of the T.V. shows they each star in (“The Office,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “iCarly,” respectively) can expect in upcoming seasons.

LAist: What was it like to play an animated character?
Jason: I was very excited. The whole thing that drew me to doing an animated film is that you’re freed from the physical limitations of your physical body. All of a sudden, you get to be something that has nothing to do with the fact that I’m a 6′4″, lumbering dude, and that was really exciting. Puppetry is very similar. And then, this guy is based almost wholly on insecurity. He just wants to prove to his dad that he’s worthy and, in this case, the most evil person alive, so I drew from there. It was very freeing. You’ll probably notice that nobody in the cast is doing their voice. No one is talking like they normally talk and it’s because, all of a sudden, you’re freed from the physical limitations of how you look, which is amazing.

Steve: It’s an imagination exercise, more than anything else, because you have to not only imagine what your character might be going through physically and emotionally, but also what he might look like, what your surroundings or what your world might look like, so you have to close your eyes and imagine what might be happening around you. And, on top of that, because of all the other characters, you have to give different types of line readings that might fit in with what all the other actors are doing as well. So, it’s fun and very freeing because, ultimately, you don’t have control over any of it. You’re just giving them many, many puzzle pieces that they then go off and fit them together.

Miranda: You know, it’s funny because I thought that doing an animated movie was going to be easier, for some reason, than a T.V. show. But, I think it’s a lot harder because I didn’t have anybody with me in the room. It was just me in this little sound booth. I got to see pictures of the characters, which helped a lot. I got to see a picture of Gru and the minions and my character, Margo. That helped me to imagine the whole world while I was in the little booth.

LAist: What was the process like as far as being “on set?”
Jason: What’s cool about doing this animated film – and this is the only one I’ve done, so I have no other frame of reference – is that you go in for three hours, every few months. I probably went in six times over two years, or something like that. And, from their standpoint, the goal is for me to give them as much material as I can possibly come up with, and they choose the funniest, the best and the most on-story. Every time, it was just three hours of intense effort, trying to be as funny as I could, and to be on story with the improv, and give them as much material as I possibly could.

Miranda: It was interesting because they did the animation in Paris, so every single time I would go into the sound booth, I’d be talking to them on iChat. There’d be a five-second delay, so I’d say the lines and then I’d have to wait five seconds to see if they laughed and to see if they liked it. They helped me a lot with it because they’re really great animators. They just said, “Put everything into it. Just really go crazy and have fun.” It was nice because they let me improv a lot. They’d say, “Do the line three times the way it’s written, and then just go crazy and do one for yourself.”

Steve: The voice actors in this are just one paint color that the artists are painting with. You try to give them as great a spectrum as you can, but it’s ultimately their job to take it and create something wonderful out of it. It’s such an ego thing, too, because you go and see the movie, and it’s fantastic because of everything that they did, and you’re just this little tiny part of it. But also, at the same time, you feel so proud because you’re part of this greater process.

LAist: What did you draw on for inspiration?
Jason: I’ve been 6′ 4″ since I was 12. I was 6′ 4″ and 100 pounds, I looked like Jack Skellington. Kids used to stand around me in a circle and, one by one, they would jump on my back and the rest would chant, “Ride the oaf! Ride the oaf!” It’s true. So, you either become funny, which is hopefully what I did, or you become a villain, which is where I got the idea for Vector. He’s a guy who was horribly picked on, and this is where he’s ended up.

Steve: With Gru, here’s a guy who has his life set up the way he’s accustomed to, and then is introduced to these three little girls who essentially turn his life upside down. They change all of his patterns. They change everything about what he thinks is important and, generally speaking, that happens when everyone has kids. You try to explain it to people who are about to have children, but I don’t anymore because you can’t. It’s something you understand once it happens. Everything changes. It’s such a diametric change that you really can’t explain it. For me, at least, all of my career goals, all of my focus and everything just shifted, and the importance was my children. That’s where all the joy came from as well, and that’s what’s touching about the character. It doesn’t’ change him, but it taps into a part of him that was always there, and that he didn’t know about, which is what happens when you have kids.

Miranda: Margo is really protective of her two little sisters and in real life I don’t have any siblings. My best friend has a little sister, so I tried to use her a little bit because she’s always trying to make the right decisions and she’s always helping her sister. I am like Margo because she’s pretty strong in the movie and she’s not afraid to stand up to Gru. I’m a little like that. Especially when I was younger, like 10 or 11, I’d always try to get my way, and she does that a lot in the movie.

LAist: What do you think audiences will enjoy about seeing Despicable Me?
Jason: I am actually more proud of this movie than anything else I’ve ever done. There’s something very special about the idea of a family being able to go to a movie and everyone enjoying themselves, genuinely. It’s something “The Muppets” did beautifully and “The Simpsons” does it. Parents aren’t placating their kids when they take them to this movie because they’ll enjoy it as well. There’s something really great about the idea of a family walking out of a theater after everyone has had a really great experience and enjoyed themselves. I think a family getting along for a few hours is a special thing.

Steve: The one thing about this movie is that I don’t think it’s condescending to children. I really think kids see it, and can feel it, when they’re being spoken down to. For the same reason, it’s appealing to adults because it then doesn’t seem like a kiddie movie. It just seems like a movie with a story that anyone can enjoy. It’s fun to watch a movie in 3-D with your children, or with a group of children, because, from time to time, you see little hands reaching up to grab things that they think are right there. It’s remarkable and it does, obviously, add another dimension, literally, to the movie. It’s fun with things like this because you feel like you’re stepping inside of a world. It’s remarkable. The technology is pretty amazing.

LAist: Steve, with the news that the seventh season of “The Office” will be your last with the show, why is now the time to move on?
Steve: Well, my contract has always been for seven seasons and I just feel like now is the time for my character to move ahead. It just feels like time, to me. I have no doubt that the show will continue, and continue to be really strong. I think it might actually be a benefit to the show because any time you shift the dynamic of a show like that, great things can happen and you can find new avenues to explore. I look at it as just one piece of an ensemble drifting off. I was actually surprised that anybody thought it was any big deal because, to me, the ensemble is what was always important about the show.