The Office is a beloved series that continues to garner new viewers and old fans looking for a comforting and hilarious rewatch. The cast is iconic and the jokes (mostly) remain top-notch over a decade after the show concluded with its heartfelt finale.
It would be hard to imagine anyone else in the roles of Michael, Pam, Dwight, Jim, Oscar, Phyllis, Angela, Kevin, Stanley, Meredith Creed, Kelly, Ryan, Andy, Toby & Darryl, as well as the other main players who came and went through the show’s runs. But the series almost didn’t land Steve Carell, which is just crazy to think about now!
The show’s executive producer and co-creator Greg Daniels recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about the show’s beginning, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of its premiere. He talked about the casting process, and what role made them take a harder look at Steve Carell:
“The casting process was enormous. We started off thinking of Steve Carell because the NBC movie executives had given Ben a copy of Bruce Almighty, where Steve had an incredible cameo as a newscaster who was taken over by outside forces and didn’t really understand what was happening to him.
“We saw that, and we were like, ‘Oh, this guy is fabulous.’ I really wanted to crew up with Allison Jones, the casting director who had done Freaks and Geeks, and I thought she was the best casting director.”
Carell’s small part in Bruce Almighty is downright hilarious. It got him the lead role in the film’s sequel, Evan Almighty, and it put him on the radar of comedy writers and casting directors like those on The Office. But they weren’t the only ones taking notice. Daniels went on to explain:
“While her deal was being made, we had said to Steve’s people, ‘Hang on, we really want to do it.’ But they took another job that came [on another NBC sitcom, Come to Papa]. That was very frustrating. Then, we began this months-long search for who else could play the character.”
During that time period, they set their sights on their second choice for the role, Bob Odenkirk. He was being seriously considered until the showrunners got word that The Office team could cast Carell as Michael, as long as it was in second position to Come to Papa.
After the pilot was shot, NBC picked up The Office in 2004 for midseason. Meanwhile, Come to Papa aired that summer and was soon canceled, freeing Carell up to do The Office full-time.
Of course, Odenkirk went on to cameo in the series in the season 9 episode, “Moving On,” as Mark Franks, the bumbling regional manager of Simon Realty, a real estate firm in Philadelphia, who interviews Pam for a job. He also went on to have a fantastic TV and film career, headlining Better Call Saul after his Breaking Bad character went over so well, winning him two Emmy’s.
And the rest is history for Carell, who played Michael Scott on The Office for seven seasons and returned for the finale.
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