Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen in on a press Q&A call for The Office with executive producer Greg Daniels and star John Krasinski. The guys talked a lot about the show—from casting to filming the final episodes. It was great hearing the praise Daniels had for Krasinski and his acknowledgement of the big part he played in the show becoming such a success.
The (at least) one-hour series finale airs May 16, and there will be original hour-long episodes airing every Thursday from tonight through then.
I know fans got pretty nervous when Jim and Pam started experiencing marital problems after several seasons of bliss. Greg, what made you decide to explore that route in the final season, and John, what was that like to play?
Greg Daniels: Well, this – for this one, I want to compliment and share credit with John and the cast, who were – the cast who became producers this year, John and Jenna and Rainn and Ed. And this was something that, you know we wanted to do, but the bones of it came a lot out of something from his brother.
Do you want to tell the story?
John Krasinski: Yeah. I – you know my favorite thing about the show has always been how, especially with the Jim and Pam story, how real the writers have always been to a relationship in that yes, they’re incredibly blissful times, like you were saying. But, there’s also times where, you know the world around them can stall out and feel like it’s not enough or that it is enough, or feel bland or more exciting from time-to-time.
And so, you know my whole pitch to Greg was that, you know we’ve done so much with Jim and Pam, and now, you know after marriage and kids there was a bit of a lull there, I think, for them about what they wanted to do. And the idea of Jim’s ambition was always one of my favorite things from the early seasons that it seemed like between, you know Australia and trying to being the boss at corporate and NYC. And, you know I think that all those things for me were really exciting that Jim always felt like there was something that he could be doing more of, and then I wanted to explore that.
And the idea of him going to another city came from my brother actually. In his work at the beginning of his job, he was traveling a lot all over the country for all his different clients and, you know it was definitely a strain on the family in a very new way. Obviously, not a strain that was as dramatic as what we did on the show, but it was a thing where sort of seemingly simple things like basic spending time with your children and in the same city was becoming more and more difficult, and putting a strain on – you know just harder to do and – mentally.
And so for me, it was can you have this perfect relationship go through a split and keep it the same, which of course you can’t. And I just thought – I said to Greg, “It would be really interesting to see how that split will affect two people that you know so well.” You – I think the exciting thing was to know that the audience would sort of take a guess at what Jim would do and what Pam would do, and so to run those numbers on this relationship was really, really interesting to me. Rather than like, you know, introducing a – you know an affair or something like that, which I think, you know and a huge credit to Greg and the writers. They’ve never gone the easy route. They’ve always gone the very realistic route and I’ve always really, really admired that.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, and I was just very attracted to the idea of doing something that would matter, and that – where there – where people would feel very involved, and I think that there are a number of moments this year where, you know you really become involved in what’s happening. And in order to get that feeling of involvement there, you know, you need some ups and downs.
And are there any Finale spoilers that you might be able to tell us about. I know it’s a one-hour one this year.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, it’s a one – it may be even bigger than the one-hour one. We’re trying to get more time and the network’s being very creative about scraping some more time together for us without, you know having us start the Finale in a weird time that will cause half the audience to miss the first ten minutes or something. So, we’ll see how we’re doing, but we’re still hopeful to get slightly more than an hour too.
Going back to the Jim and Pam stuff, the last scene of last week’s episode seemed to say that they’re going to be okay. Can you talk a little bit about how things play out over the last few episodes for them?
John Krasinski: Yeah. I mean, I think the last episode for me, the one that just aired, you know I remember Greg saying very smartly, you know we have to give the audience something, as far as, you know trying to see light at the end of the tunnel, but I don’t think it necessarily answers all the questions as to how they’ll solve it. I think that there’s a romantic, as always with Jim and Pam, there’s a romantic hope that everything will be okay at the end of that episode.
And now, there’s going to have to be a little bit of – a little bit more brass tact, if you will, as far as getting to understand how this will work, because you know Jim needs to figure out what he wants to do with Billy and Pam needs to figure out how she feels about Jim doing this for her. And so, it’s an interesting thing that I think Greg was really smart to say, like we can’t just, you know hold this out to the last episode and have people almost getting terrified to the point where they wouldn’t enjoy the Finale.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, because we have – you know we’re going to end up with 203 or 204 episodes, and it feels like all these characters and storylines, you know my hope is that people will treat the last several episodes as the Finale and not, you know force us to do everything in the last episode. So, you know, yeah, we didn’t want there to be such anxiety over Jim and Pam that you could think of nothing else during the last episode.
John Krasinski: I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t laugh though, thinking about people being so terrified that they just sort of blacked out for the first part of the premier – or the Finale rather.
The logline for the Finale says it takes place a few months after the documentary has aired, was that idea influenced at all by Ricky’s office Christmas special where it sort of looked at David Brent and what he was trying to do afterward?
Greg Daniels: Well, probably. The – it – we didn’t start off with that as the Finale. This year, the plan was to air the documentary in Episode 17, and as we got closer and closer to that point the, you know writers and I would have furious debates and got – you know we ended up having promos air for the documentary at that point. And we kind of, I think, got the best of what we were looking for, in terms of the characters seeing old footage and everything.
But, we thought it would be difficult to have a bunch of episodes afterwards after it had aired, and so we kind of ended up pushing it off and off, and then it ended up being more close to the British show, which goes to show again how brilliantly they can (unintelligible) of it all, you know in advance in a much more compressed time period, and after attempting to beat that ending a number of different ways. I think we kind of ended up very similarly.
John, what you’re going to miss most about playing Jim?
John Krasinski: Wow, big question. You’re trying to get tears and I appreciate it. I’m saving my tears for Barbara Walters. But, I mean, there’s so much to miss. I mean, for me, and I think probably more than the other cast members, I mean I was a waiter before this show, so what I miss most about this character is way too complexly entwined in my real life. So to me, this was a winning lottery ticket, except with a winning lottery ticket you just get money, and with this you get a whole change of your life. And everything about my life has changed and become better, and I feel so lucky to be where I am.
So, it’s hard to separate the two, because I’m so sort of meshed in the experience. But for sure, you know I will say, and I don’t know if this a good answer or a bad answer, but I will say I think the thing I’ll miss most is playing a character that people believe in so much and attach themselves to in various degrees. There are some people who think they are Jim. There’s some people who are looking for Jim. And, you know I think to me, and I know to Jenna playing the Jim/Pam relationship and realizing how important it became to so many people was such a incredible honor that Temple-Inland think that there was a small part of my brain that really didn’t want to let anyone down every single week.
And that was actually really exciting. I felt like I was given a tremendous responsibility, and that responsibility I really will miss because it’s just so much fun to play a character that people are watching and rooting for and loving. So, I really appreciate that.
John, are going to miss being able to look at the camera, since Jim was really one of the characters that utilized that throughout the show?
John Krasinski: I wish I could say I was professional enough to never look at a camera again on another job, but that’s already been blown several times. And bizarrely, on movie sets they don’t really dig it when you look in the camera, which is a bizarre fact.
I will miss it very much. I think that I – you know going back to the other question, I think one of the best things about Jim is that, you know he’s one of those characters, and there are a few others in different television shows, or I guess movies too, but you know I remember talking to Greg in the first week about how he saw Jim as the window for the audience into this office that everyone could watch this office. But, they needed someone to tell them that it was okay to laugh at everything, and to see everything as a little bit ridiculous, and to me that was so much fun to play.
And I remember the first time reading the script that I had to look in the camera. I – you know that’s very stressful, because you don’t want to blow it and overdo it. And, you know I always joke that there’s a number. You know, my favorite thing was our DP, Matt Sohn, was like, “So, on this scene when you look to Jenna, give me the number four.” And I always loved thinking that I had somehow got it down to a catalog of different looks.
So, I will miss it very, very much, and hopefully can leave it on The Office set and not blow any other professional opportunity by looking down the lens.
Greg Daniels: I was watching this morning, there’s going to be this NBC news special, I think, on the night of our Finale, and they requested footage from the cast auditions. And I was watching John’s audition this morning and – in New York.
John Krasinski: Oh, my God.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, it’s really interesting. It’s fun. And I asked you to do some improv about your favorite fruit…
John Krasinski: Oh, my goodness.
Greg Daniels: …so that we – do we – we kind of went off the – you know the script and you were talking about Pomegranates being your favorite fruit, because you know you only get them once a year or something. And I kept saying, “Be more sarcastic about it.” And then, you tagged it with this amazing look right into the camera of the – you know the audition camera, and you know it was so funny. It just made people laugh. And so, John was just the absolute best Bugs Bunny at getting those looks across.
John Krasinski: I’ve never been compared to Bugs Bunny, and that’s amazing. Thank you. By the way, it should be noted that that audition tape you were watching today was right after I told, what I thought was a nameless person, who asked me if I was nervous to be auditioning. I said, “I’m not nervous for the audition, because you either get these things or you don’t. But, I am nervous for the people making it, because we have a tendency in America to screw up all the good shows that come over from England, and I don’t see how you’re going to make this work.” And he said, “Hi, I’m Greg Daniels,” and I threw up in my mouth.
So, the video that Greg was watching this morning was probably seven minutes…
Greg Daniels: Yes, exactly. That was only ten minutes after that you brushed your teeth.
John, you did have some credits before you got the show. Were you waiting because you were good at it, or were you waiting because you still didn’t have enough work to get by at that point?
John Krasinski: I definitely had fun being a waiter. I can’t say for sure that I was a good waiter. I think that I made people have a good time. I probably couldn’t tell you what was in any of the plates I was serving, so probably not great for the house. But no, I was – by being a waiter 100%, I think I was a lot like any other actor in New York, I had credits because, you know I’d work, you know lunches during the week, and then on a Wednesday would go be lucky enough to be in a movie like, Kenzie, and go shoot for a day and come back. So, it was one of those things where I definitely was lucky enough to have a few jobs and few commercials. But no, not anything that would allow me to claim that I was a working actor and didn’t need another job.
Greg, what was it at the time that made you realize this was the guy? And also, what was your reaction when he told you, “I didn’t know how it was going to work,” before he knew who you were?
John Krasinski: Basically what he’s asking, Greg, is what the hell were you thinking?
Greg Daniels: Yeah. I mean, I remember that happening. It didn’t – you know he wasn’t the only person saying that, so it didn’t hit me with the same force. You know, I was used to getting that all over the place. But, you know I had seen with John a series of commercials that he did for like, I think, ESPN or something. Do you remember that, John?
John Krasinski: Oh, NASCAR. It was NASCAR.
Greg Daniels: NASCAR, yeah.
Greg Daniels: They were very funny. Yeah, he was a completely – I think they were completely improvisational and he was going to – doing Man on the Street interviews for NASCAR.
John Krasinski: Yeah.
Greg Daniels: But yeah, I mean, it’s a hard role to cast. I – you know there’s – very infrequently, I think, do you find an actor who is very, very good at comedy and extremely sincere and vulnerable, and capable of being like a masculine leading man. And, you know I really felt that this – you know when all the different people came through it was very clear that John was the best.
And then, we also had these long – these three days of screen tests. After the auditioning process we brought the leading contenders to Los Angeles and shot in the style of the show with our Director, Ken Kwapis, for days, which was, you know an – kind of an amazingly audacious thing to ask for an actor to do without paying them. But, in addition to, you know being very funny in the talking heads and having a great chemistry with Jenna, one of the aspects of the role was to be able to have this relationship with Dwight.
And in the improvs between John and Rainn, John was, you know the only person who could stand up to Rainn really and kind of throw it back – throw Rainn back on his feet. And so, he kind of hit all the marks and, you know it wasn’t a hard choice.
I think I’d be remiss in not asking about the return of Steve, can you speak to that at all?
Greg Daniels: Well, you know I think that Steve felt, which I agree with that that Goodbye Michael episode was his goodbye, and that he didn’t want to overshadow the endings that the other characters deserved after all these years, you know, and so I think he made a good call.
Obviously, it’d be wonderful to have him back, but you know…
You addressed this a little bit in The Times today, but I’d like to ask you to address the legacy. What did it all mean? What’s sort of the legacy here at the end of the day?
Greg Daniels: Wow, yeah, I mean, I don’t think that there is one type of person. There is – the audience is made up of people with a lot of different desires and ways that they want to be entertained, and so I actually don’t think that there’s like a straight line progress kind of a thing with TV. Like, you know I think it’s more cyclical, but I think that for the people for whom that sensibility that we did was just hitting the sweet spot that they got a great long drink of that comedy juice from the show. And it maybe encouraged other people who, you know like that sensibility to do more along those lines.
You know, I certainly feel like their – their British show was like such a defining, you know thing for so many people, and it brought together all these people with that paste. And, you know I was such a fan of that style too, and it was an amazing treat to be able to work for so long in that style, which I think beforehand was more like a really old comedy, kind of a thing, you know?
And, you know for a while we made it very mainstream and, you know I think there’s benefits to that, because I love that sensibility, but you know I don’t think it’s like, oh, all future comedies are – have to be like The Office now. I mean, there’s a million different types of comedy, but I think this was a good long example of a type that I hold dear to my heart.
You had a very specific tone and it seems like NBC sort of gone off in a different direction now and that you’re yesterday’s flavor to a certain extent. Do you ever feel that all?
Greg Daniels: Well, you know we never had an expectation, I think of, like big success when we started it. You remember this, John? I mean, when we did the pilot we were just so excited to all get together and to do this type of work with other, you know comedy people who loved the same type of thing. And the writers and the cast, you know…
John Krasinski: Yeah, I remember…
Greg Daniels: …and we never…
John Krasinski: …every week being told that the show is – this would be our last episode, and unfortunately we weren’t going to keep going. I think it was every week, and I remember saying, “Is there any way I could get a DVD of this to show my mom, because this is definitely the best thing I’ve ever done.” And I was happy with that, and I actually still have that DVD.
So for us, it was just like we were in the best regional theater group in the world. You know, we just thought no one was necessarily paying attention, but we were having a blast.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, and then you know so every time we hit any kind of milestone, like the pickup for the first season or pickup for the Season 2, or you know to get to after the Super Bowl or any of the thing…
John Krasinski: …we were like, “What? We’re going to get a whole season?”
Greg Daniels: Yeah, there was always a feeling that we were pulling something over the NBC Executives, I guess.
John, speaking of commercials from the previous question, you know one of my favorite commercials that you were in was for Kodak.
John Krasinski: Oh, my God.
Oh, I know it very well.
I ended up with a shaved – a Fohawk, which is reverse Mohawk, and the other guy had to shave his eyebrow. And weirdly, I remember the night before I got cast calling my dad, who’s a doctor, and just saying, “Eyebrows grow back, right?” And he’s like, “There’s no way to tell, so hopefully you’re the Fohawk guy.” And so, I was terrified until I got the Mohawk.
I was wondering if you could talk about your thoughts about The Office fan base in general, and what it’s meant to you over the years?
John Krasinski: Well, I can jump in on that one. I mean, I think there’s a lot of shows and – that can say, you know they owe it all to their fans. But, we actually technically can say that we owe everything to the fans, because I for one think that, you know our show is so fan-driven in such a specific way, as evidenced by iTunes. I mean, I think that when we first came out the only reason, in my opinion, that we made it past just, you know these pickups that Greg and I were talking about is because people actually decided they liked the show so much, and it was such a small group at the beginning, that they would pay money to see the show, rather than just wait for it on Tuesday or Thursday, whatever time it was back then.
And I remember that was life-changing for me to see, because you know to be part of something like that was incredible. I was walking down the streets of New York and someone would just stop on their way to work and say, “Oh, my God, you’re on my iPod.” And I was like two things, “What’s an iPod? Also, what are you talking about?” And they just held up this thing.
So, you know I – that – I also think that during the early speculation of what our show would be when people were, you know obviously being really hard on the show without seeing it, because everybody thought that it was going to be terrible because the English one was so good, as soon as that first – I remember Diversity Day hitting and just every other person on the street would come up to me and say, “The show is awesome. The show is awesome.”
And so, you had this group of people who almost started like a grass roots political campaign for our show. And so, I don’t know how Greg feels, but I think we owe absolutely everything to the fans.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, I mean, I completely agree with that. And the experience of – and by the way, you’re Web site, OfficeTally, is such an…
John Krasinski: One hundred percent.
Greg Daniels: …amazing treat for all of us to have, and it’s so well done, and it’s been, you know so well done for years. But part of the amazing, I think, experience of doing this show is that back and forth, and the serialized nature of it. You know, the show has these arcs and – you know and the characters were very real and so well acted, and they really mattered to people. And the fact of the – you know the fact that it mattered so much to so many people and they would debate what’s going to happen next and what happened, and is that the right way to behave, and how could she do that, and how – you know why isn’t he seeing this? And – you know and you could go and read about it and you could lurk, you know? I mean, I’ll tell you I lurk all the time on the site, and you know listen to what people are saying. And I don’t know that many other writing experiences where you have that kind of relationship with the audience that – while you’re doing it, and it’s just very special.
John Krasinski: I do like imagining you in a dark office creeping around on the Internet on OfficeTally, right?
Greg Daniels: Yeah. Yeah, well, I’m not wearing anything while I…
John Krasinski: I was going to say that…
Greg Daniels: …do that.
John Krasinski: …as well.
Greg Daniels: Yeah.
Greg Daniels: No, no, please don’t.
There’s been such a Boston area influence on the show, both writing and acting.
Greg Daniels: Well…
John Krasinski: I love having a huge Boston contingent. I thought it was totally random, but Greg can speak more to that.
Greg Daniels: Yeah. No, I think it is. I mean, the craziness of it is the B.J./John connections that go back to high school…
John Krasinski: Yeah.
Greg Daniels: …you know, and then – and B.J. will be back for the Finale, so there is – you have that to look forward to. But I don’t know, it does have a Northeast flavor. I mean, it was very specifically set in Scranton and – you know and it was a remake of an English show, and so New England maybe had some cultural affinity. I don’t know.
…Well, I mean I definitely, when trying to think of where to set it, was thinking about different regions of the country, and I’m most familiar with the Northeast. You know, my dad’s from Massachusetts and I spent a lot of time in New England and – I don’t know, for some reason I thought it would have a different feel if it was in Florida or Arizona or some of the other places that we thought about. It just didn’t have the same kind of feel to me. I’m – it’s a compliment. I think the people of New England are, you know very articulate and have a great sense of humor, and you know were used to sort of gray skies out the window and carrying on through it all.
You joked about it earlier, John, that you were saving your tears for Barbara Walters, but how were the last few days of filming the show?
John Krasinski: I don’t think there were any tears, right? There was just celebration that this thing was finally over, right Greg?
No, we – again, I think for so many people this wasn’t just a job, and there’s no way it could be just a job. This was a huge incredibly emotional family and connection that we all had. I mean, to say it was emotional would be a complete understatement. I think that, you know knowing what that we’ll see these people still in our lives, and it was still that emotional, it says a lot about how much we are all defined by this show and how much we honor how defined we are by the show.
And I just think that we know that this will – I think no matter what any of us go on to do, I think that this show will probably be, you know what we’re most known for, and that’s incredible. And I think for people to feel so good about that and feel that they were a part of something so special, not only in the television world, but in their personal lives, was massive.
So, you know I’m not giving anything away. We randomly chose a – or we chose a random theme where everyone’s exiting the office for the last shot that we ever did, and I’m so glad we did. It was a very sort of mundane walking out of the office. It wasn’t big and dramatic or anything, and I think it was at the beginning of the show or something, so it’s not like it’s the last shot.
And we were all – I’ll never forget, we were all joking around. I was, as per usual, crying laughing as we exited the – I’m a crier laugher, which is a bummer, but I was crying laughing with Craig and we were all joking around waiting in the hall every time we exited. And then, one of the times we came back, instead of saying, “Going again,” Greg randomly appeared and just said, “Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the end of The Office.” And it was – it really was, I mean even talking about it now, it’s – you know it was a gut punch.
It’s a life-changing event and there’s just no way to describe it. It’s not like ending college. It’s not like anything, really. It’s a part of your life that defined you, and to have it go away is so incredibly bittersweet. I think the only thing that helped us all is that we’re so proud of the work, and that we’re so proud that we got to have a Series Finale. You know, I think that we – you know that’s a very rare thing. And growing up I remember the Cheers Finale and, you know M*A*S*H, and all these amazing Finales, and I remember them being very, very important.
And so, for us to be a show that even got there is incredible, and I think that we’re just all so proud of the work. And that’s, I think, the only thing that prevented us all from just having a complete meltdown.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, it’s also very special what – oh, boy, there’s a weird echo on my (unintelligible). There’s – the lot that we shot it in is all by itself in Van Nuys, and we had lunch with each other every day and there was nobody here who didn’t work on the show on this little lot, and so we did get very close.
And one of the hard parts about the Finale, I think, is that, you know you have to be professional and you have to act and you have to, you know try and keep the tone a certain way when you’re on the set and everything, in terms of like writing and directing. And it’s very difficult if – it also means that, you know you’re going to say goodbye to everybody you’ve been hanging out with for eight years, and you’re – you know you’re going to have to find a different place to have an office in. And so, there is like a lot of weird overlap between the end of your personal work experience and, you know what’s going on on screen, so it was very sad.
John Krasinski: It was very sad. Yeah.
What was your favorite episode from Season 1 up until now, one that just sticks out with you?
John Krasinski: Wow…
Greg Daniels: That’s a really hard question to answer. I don’t know if you have…
John Krasinski: That’s a really hard question. It – to me, it’s like saying, what’s your favorite movie? You’ve got to have more of like a top ten and whichever one’s get named get named. But, you know for me the – for so many different reasons, again personally and professionally, I think that there’s so many important moments, some having to do with my characters and others not.
I think the first moment that I can remember the most was shooting the first day of Diversity Day, because the pilot was pretty much word for word the British show, which I know we weren’t all super excited about, but we could understand why we had to do it to see how it stacked up against the other show. And then, our first sort of running at our own pace was Diversity Day and I actually remember people looking around the room at each other, you know as if you do when you saw something incredibly special and important. We all knew that something very, very special was happening, and that this show tonally and from a writing perspective was just really, really incredible. And I remember that moment feeling like that just, you know set the tone for what this show is.
And then, of course, personally for me, two episodes that I’ll never forget is, you know Casino Night, I think just I had never been a part of anything like that. You know, I remember shooting that last scene and Greg had the set cleared and the lights were low and, you know it was – it – there was like an importance put on this, and you realize that it wasn’t an importance because of us, like you know that the actors needed it necessarily. It was more like, “We’ve got to get this right for the people that are watching.” People, like Greg was saying earlier, are so invested in a way that you never thought people would watch TV and be so invested that you can’t just at the end of the episode say, “I love you,” and kiss. It has to be very real and very special and exactly how they think the characters would do it, and that was amazing. That was an amazing night.
And then, the other thing that I remember defining the show was – Booze Cruise will always be one of my favorite episodes on many levels. I think it’s hilarious and one of my favorite episodes. But, going up on the top of that boat and Greg – you know I remember the sun was almost coming up. We were shooting all night. It was the last thing we shot. I think we only had like 15 minutes or something, Greg, if you remember, and Greg just said…
Greg Daniels: Yeah.
John Krasinski: …“You know, you’re here to say I love you to her. Just, you know I don’t know that would go, just do it.” And I got up and there and just stared at Jenna and had absolutely no idea what to do or how to say it.
And when it aired, I remember it was like 20-something seconds of silence, and I remember watching that episode and saying, “You know, I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen a show commit to the characters and the story above, you know what would be good for ratings or, you know what the audience would see as very dramatic. It was just like, “No, this is two people who are trying to figure out how to love each other.” And I just thought that that was really incredible.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, that – I mean, the one – the thing that that moment, I think, is very indicative of the show, because often times we would put a frame around very small things and they would then – you would then be able to see the really small things that were going on that became beats of a story.
And so, that was 21 seconds, but it wasn’t the same beat for 21 seconds. It was his face expressing that he wanted to say and she knew that something might be coming, but it didn’t and you know he wasn’t 100% comfortable doing it. And, you know there was a lot of micro moments inside that that you normally don’t get when, you know you have that pressure for getting a laugh every couple of seconds. But yeah, I loved that episode too.
I would add the Job, the end of Season 3, and Business School was a great episode and…
John Krasinski: And The Injury is…
Greg Daniels: …The Injury was wonderful. But, there’s so many. I mean, I – the first season had all these very comical episodes, I thought, where we weren’t really too concerned with the likeability of anybody, but I kind of loved them just – for the comedy sake. And – you know, and then we had some very good mixes of touching episodes, I think. Whatever. It was good. We had some good stuff.
Greg Daniels: Well, you know tomorrow’s a good episode too. We have an hour-long episode tomorrow, and another hour-long episode the following Thursday, and then the final episode is an hour, perhaps a few minutes more.
… the last three are pretty supersized.
It must be like leaving high school. You’re leaving all your old friends behind, and now you’re going to go off to go do other great things. Is it really emotional for you to do this?
John Krasinski: Yeah, 100%. I mean, again, I don’t think there’s any way to describe it, other than, you know if – I would imagine, you know back – a long time back in olden days as they say, you know when you had to leave your family behind. You know, it’s for something, whether it was, you know going – moving somewhere else or going to war or something like that. I think leaving – this is a part of me that has, like you stated, it’s defined me.
Greg Daniels: We put gym equipment in your trailer, by the way, John.
John Krasinski: What’s that?
Greg Daniels: We turned your trailer into a gym now.
John Krasinski: Oh, good. Perfect. So good, at least they care about me the way I care about them. No, but I mean to say that this show gave me everything would be the biggest understatement ever, as you just pointed out. I think that not only every single opportunity, and I mean every single opportunity has come from this show, and people who have watched this show and have given me a chance because of it.
But also, every sort of creative impulse and desire of trying new things and wanting to experiment with new mediums and writing and things like that, has all come from the show because of the enthusiasm I have for it. That, you know instead of being some sort of soul crushing job, it was the exact opposite, which is this job that made you just feel like a super hero, and that you were in the one family that’s never loved a child more than – in the history of the world, and that’s how I felt leaving this show.
So, it’s incredibly hard to leave, but at the same time I know in my heart that it’s given me everything that I have and has defined me, and hopefully given me every single strength and talent that I have to go on and do other things, but I will always use that as a touchstone going forward.
So, what’s the next thing for both of you? What do you have on your slate coming up next?
Greg Daniels: Well, I produced a couple of pilots this year, written by Office writers, and one of them is starring Craig Robinson, and waiting to hear about those, so have some hopes for something to work on there. And I’ll probably be able to have spent some more time on Parks and Recreation next year. And then, I don’t know. I’m – to me – for me personally, it’s been such a – you know a ride that, you know my wife just says, “Just don’t do anything for a little while. Just, you know come off the roller coaster, and then think about your next move.”
John Krasinski: Yeah, I totally agree. I’ve been advised to just take a second, because I think it’s just such an emotional roller coaster. And the fact that this – you know the fact that we stopped shooting, but the shows haven’t stopped airing is very surreal. The fact that our emotions we thought were over, and then you, you know have people telling you, you know, “Last weeks’ episode was amazing.” And you’re like, “Oh, my God, right. It’s still going.” So, that’s sort of bizarre.
But yeah, I’m just waiting to see where I want to go next. And I’m writing a couple things and I auditioned for Craig’s role on the Craig Robinson pilot, because, and it turns out I didn’t have a shot.
A lot of times people go into the arts to sort of avoid the corporate world and everything. Because the show is so realistic to that world do you feel that you sort of got an idea of what it’s like to be part of the corporate world, and an appreciation of that kind of lifestyle?
John Krasinski: That’s really funny. I definitely remember Rainn Wilson in some of the scenes were we were doing background work where you had to just pretend to do paperwork.
He was like, “Oh, my God, this is exhausting. How would you ever do a 9:00 to 5:00 job?” And I remember laughing really, really hard. I mean, I think that this is the – there were definitely tastes of it here and there. But yeah, when you’re surrounded by it, it does feel like you’re just working in an office, and that you’re not on a TV show. I think the number one comment, I’m sure Greg can agree, the number one comment of people who visited the set was, “Oh, my God, it looks just like an office,” which I loved. I don’t know what they expected, that it would be, you know huge CGI walls and, you know places for us to wire work and stunts. I don’t know what they thought, but it was really funny that everybody was like, “Oh, my God, it looks just like an office.”
Greg Daniels: I was just saying the experience was not very Hollywood, compared to so many. You know, the – you know we were in this little industrial street in the corner of Van Nuys surrounded by, you know stone cutting businesses, and you know – you know and I – we looked at the set when it was – when we wrapped. I walked the set trying to think of what I would take as a memento, and there was nothing that out of context was very special. It was only special all together on the set.
But, you know all the decorations were motivational posters that, you know like – (that inspire) and a picture of a sailboat, and you know the same things that are in any office anywhere. And if you just – if you took it and put it on your wall at home and said, “Oh, this is from the office,” you would go, “Yeah. Okay, I guess.” I could be. It could’ve been – you could have just gotten it from the insurance agent’s office down the hall.
Now that the show’s come to an end were there any fantasy storylines that you wished that you had had a chance to explore?
Greg Daniels: Well, you know this season we hit a few of them. Like, for example, the Belsnickel episode for Christmas was something that we had had on the board for years, and actually had been written as – with whole scripts, one during the year of the writer strike. That was going to be our Christmas episode that year. And then, another time – another year and, you know it got changed. So, that was one that we really wanted to hit from the writing perspective.
But yeah, I mean that’s the – that is a little bit of a nostalgic, like said aspect is you still are coming up with ideas for the show and you’re like, “Well, there’s – the sets have been torn down and the actors don’t work here, and we don’t have any crew.” So I guess it…
… It’s sad,, man. They – it’s just empty. They’re painting everything to look back the way it was before. You don’t want to see it.
John Krasinski: Oh, God.
Greg Daniels: Yeah, but all the future ideas will be the (Fan Section) comic books that I’m going to be doing.
