After Office Hours with Steve Carell and His Fellow Office-Mates

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Steve Carell, star of NBC’s The Office, has never watched the BBC show that inspired his hit series. Castmate Rainn Wilson, on the other hand, has watched every episode of the British original, to gain insight into his character, eccentric paper salesman Dwight Schrute.


“I had to find a way to make him come to life,” Wilson said. “I was a theater actor, so for me it started with the haircut and picking the glasses.”

Revelations such as these came to light March 18 when an overflow crowd descended on the Television Academy’s Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre for “Inside… The Office,” a panel featuring twenty members of the cast and creative team.


In addition to Carell and Wilson, the panel included castmates John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Ed Helms, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Kate Flannery, Angela Kinsey, Oscar Nuñez, Phyllis Smith, Paul Lieberstein, Mindy Kaling, Creed Bratton and Craig Robinson; executive producers Greg Daniels and Jennifer Celotta; director of photography Randall Einhorn and editor David Rogers. (Three of the show’s producers are also in the cast: Lieberstein is an executive producer, while Kaling and Novak are coexecutive producers.)


Moderator Andy Richter made sure that every participant had the chance to share an insight or a story, beginning with Daniels’ account of developing the American version, set in a Scranton, Pennsylvania, paper company called Dunder Mifflin.


“I got a tape of the British show and thought it was cool,” he recalled. “I didn’t think it would ever get on [U.S.] television, but I thought it would be cool meeting the creators [Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant]. It turns out they were fans of American television and had seen an episode of The Simpsons I had done.”


Ben Silverman, now co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, had the rights to the show, and took it to NBC, where it premiered in 2005. The following year it won the Primetime Emmy as outstanding comedy series.


Carell, who was suggested for the role of branch manager Michael Scott from the outset, said that the audition process “was different than any other show I’ve done. 

"It was more like a workshop," he said. "There weren’t people weighing in from the network. It was [director] Ken Kwapis and other cast members and a camera; he shot it like a documentary.”


That’s because, Daniels explained, actors usually audition before “stone-faced” network execs, projecting their lines. 

“This show is so small and real and subtle, the other way favors the theatrically minded," Daniels said. "Part of this show is improvisational; we could see how these people would work together.” 


Carell chose not to watch the BBC show, he said, because then “I’d try to emulate Ricky Gervais, and I wanted to bring a clean slate. I won’t watch till we’re done, because I know Ricky is so terrific, he’ll make me sick.”


The show, shot mockumentary-style, portrays office hijinks and politics as well as romance. 

When Richter characterized Fischer’s receptionist character Pam and Krasinski’s sales rep Jim as the show’s “romantic engine,” Fischer noted that there were actually several romances: “It’s a comedy, but all these people are struggling for love and connection.”


When she’s with her real-life boyfriend, Fischer added, fans will come up and compliment her, then turn an accusing eye to him: “They’ll say, ‘You’re not Jim.’ They get really mad!”

 The writers get some of their ideas from real life, but then “re-create it to be horrifying!” Kaling said. When Daniels once pulled off his fleece outerwear and revealed his naked torso, for instance, the scripted incident became someone accidentally catching a glimpse of Michael’s privates.


Actors’ ad-libs also make it into the scripts. And though the atmosphere as written is supposed to be oppressive, d.p. Einhorn noted, “There is beauty there — in the people.”


The show airs its 100th episode in May, as the fifth-season finale. What’s next? “Syndication!” Celotta quipped.


The evening was a presentation of the Academy’s activities committee, chaired by Rocci Chatfield; Pete Hammond is vice-chair. Robert O’Donnell is director of activities for the Academy; Melissa Brown is activities manager.