Steve Carell thinks a parent's "heart is always breaking" for their children

He told Extra: "Based on my life experience with my own daughter, and it's such a cliche at this point, but as soon as they're born, you start worrying about them.

"And I don't think that ever stops... Your heart is always breaking for them, and full and you know, watching the world through their eyes, even when they're adults."

Steve is set to play fictional author Greg Russo in new comedy Rooster, which focuses on the author's complicated relationship with adult daughter Katie (Charly Clive) as she navigates a personal crisis.

The show comes from Scrubs, Ted Lasso and Shrinking creator Bill Lawrence.

Steve added: "He has a special knack for combining things that are really funny with things that are true and honest and emotional."

In the show, Katie's husband Archie (Phil Dunster) has been having an affair with a grad student played by Lauren Tsai, and Katie's reaction is to burn his house down - leading to Greg agreeing to join as a guest lecturer as long as his daughter keeps her job.

Steve previously told The Hollywood Reporter: "I read the script and it was one of the best comedy pilots I've read - period.

"Pilots are the hardest to write. You're creating a world, you're introducing it to an audience and you have to do it quickly, efficiently, without feeling like it's all backstory - and be funny at the same time."

After he finished reading the first episode, he told his wife Nancy that he was "in".

He has also been impressed with the way Bill has handled his cast and given them freedom to explore their own characters.

He added: "Bill told all the actors at the first table read, 'Within a couple of weeks, I want you all to have an exponentially greater percentage of ownership of your character.'

"He invited people in to make the characters their own, to make them feel lived in and really breathe life into them... and each week the show changes and it gets a little more complex and a little more nuanced and the relationships become deeper and richer and funnier."

Rooster launches on HBO on March 8.