The Office director Paul Feig has spoken about how Steve Carell managed to save the show from being axed.
According to the director, the first season was struggling in the ratings because Carell’s character Michael Scott was “such a bore and so mean” which was an issue because, unlike the UK version of the show, if viewers don’t like the character, “they’ll tune it out” and “just won’t watch it”.
“So Steve was this huge star all of a sudden, and they had this huge star in the show that they thought wasn’t working and it wasn’t working in the ratings,” Feig, was brought in to direct the second series, told Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast, Dinner’s On Me.
He claimed that a scene in the episode Office Olympics changed the course of Scott’s development forever.
“It was the scene we were shooting when everybody was supposed to be working and they’re screwing off doing this thing. And in order to not get in trouble with Michael, they’re going to give him a gold medal,” Feig explained.
Paul Feig poses in the IMDboat Exclusive Portrait Studio at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 at The IMDb Yacht on July 25, 2024 in San Diego CREDIT: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for IMDb
He continued: “But we’re shooting it and Steve gets emotional. Steve as the character, because he’s had this terrible day. And so he starts like kind of crying, like a tear goes down his eye and we’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ And I’m going like, ‘Oh, do that again. Do that again. This is a great.’ And I think that was this moment of like, that’s him.
“He’s got a humanity about him and everybody figured out, ‘No, he’s not an asshole. He’s a misguided idiot who is an asshole because he’s trying to be funny.’ Right. So you go like, ‘OK, he means well.'”
Meanwhile, a spin-off series is currently being worked on, which will feature Domhnall Gleeson and The White Lotus season two star Sabrina Impacciatore in the lead roles for the series. Melvin Gregg (Snowfall), Chelsea Frei (Sideswiped) and Ramona Young (Never Have I Ever) have also signed up for the series.
The show will focus on a new set of characters in the same universe. Greg Daniels, who developed the American version of the series, is co-creating the new show with Michael Koman.
Carell recently confirmed that he will not be making a cameo as Michael Scott in the series.
Elsewhere, The Office star Jenna Fischer has revealed that she was diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of breast cancer last year, but is now cancer-free after undergoing treatment.
English (US) · 