John Krasinski and Ryan Reynolds on why Steve Carell is most like his 'heartfelt' character in IF

Writer, director, and star John Krasinski's new film, IF, features an embarrassment of voice cast riches playing the movie's many imaginary friends, but one star in particular is most like their make-believe character: Steve Carell.

This is according to Krasinski and stars Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming, who gathered to chat about their new film for Entertainment Weekly's Around the Table video series. No one skipped a beat when asked which cast member most closely aligns with their imaginary friend character.

"I think Steve Carell," Reynolds says. "He is so close to Blue. Everyone kind of equates him with funny, but the man has also done some dark, deep, beautiful, emotional work. I think he's so, I don't know, just even sitting next to him in interviews, I feel lucky. I just adore this guy."

"It's true," Krasinski agrees. "When I was writing Blue, I was writing it for Steve as Steve, and Steve had no idea if he was going to say yes. And I wrote it because, yes, he's very funny, but it is true, he's so heartfelt and sweet and very vulnerable. He's willing to open himself up, and that's why I think the whole Blue scene might be my favorite scene in the movie."

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The family-friendly dramedy follows Bea (Fleming), a young girl who, after going through a hard time, begins to see everyone's imaginary friends — or IFs — who have been left behind after their real-life friends grew up. Reynolds' character, Cal, is the only other person who can see all the IFs, so the two team up to try to help the IFs by attempting to pair them with new kids...which may or may not be possible.

Carell's Blue is one such IF, a giant, fuzzy, purple — since his original child was colorblind — barrel of fun. "For a character that is so large and so purple, he has so much humanity," Reynolds says of Blue. "I mean, it's so much humanity. And also, Steve is genuinely — I don't think voice acting gets enough credit because he's creating micro facial expressions with his voice and it's pretty amazing. It's a pretty wild sight to see."

Apparently this was true behind the scenes as well. Krasinski recalls a time while he was working with his former Office costar on the film, when Carell finished a take but couldn't stop laughing in character. "[Carell] was laughing, and he just kept laughing as Blue, and he was like, 'Yeah, lemme do another one,' and he just started laughing [again]," the director says. "And I was crying laughing, having him just laugh on a microphone."

In addition to Carell, the voice cast also includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Keegan-Michael Key, Matthew Rhys, Emily Blunt, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Louis Gossett Jr., Christopher Meloni, Maya Rudolph, Blake Lively and more.

IF is now playing in theaters. Watch the full Around the Table with Krasinski, Reynolds, and Fleming, above.