Watching The Office

The Office Executive Producer Greg Daniels and actor Rainn Wilson talks with The Entertainment Zone. This is perhaps one of the most lengthy, meaty, comprehensive interview I’ve come across. Some excerpts below but you can follow the long but very interesting interview on this site.

Interviewer: Hi guys. I love the show. In fact, the other night I watched the Phyllis get flashed episode just because I was jonesing for an Office. Anyway, Rainn, I’m sure you’ve been asked this before, but have you ever worked in an office - even if only as a temp when the, you know, the acting work got thin?

And if so, what kind of office worker were you? Were you a Dwight or a Jim, or a Ryan, or what?

Rainn Wilson: Well I was kind of - I’ve worked in many offices before in my New York days of being a starving actor. I worked in a major New York charity as Assistant Office Manager and Special Events Coordinator. And I was also…

Greg Daniels: Assistant to the Officer Manager and Special Events Coordinator or Assistant Office Manager?

Interviewer: Way to go, good one.

Rainn Wilson: I was Assistant to the Office Manager and Assistant Special Events Coordinator. Thank you. You got it? And then - thanks, Greg. That was a good setup. The…

Greg Daniels: Just trying to throw you off.

Rainn Wilson: And then I was also a Receptionist from the Pam Beesly mold at Kirshenbaum, Bond & Partners, an advertising agency in New York .

Interviewer: And I didn’t expect that. So you were the office Pam?

Rainn Wilson: I was Pam.

Interviewer: I was actually just wondering — for Greg — do you have a favorite Office character that you like to write stories for? And I know it’s kind of awkward with Rainn right here, but you can be candid.

Is there anybody that you really enjoy writing stories for?

Greg Daniels: Well I do love the Dwight character, I have to say - and especially writing the Talking Heads, you know, the interview segments with Dwight. You know, when I was - when that book - I think I - you know, that book about how - what’s that survival guide book?

Basically I look at every survival guide as it’s published. I, you know, I get multiple copies because my friends all go - oh, Greg would be great for this. He’d love this, you know.

And my, you know, wife just got me, you know, what would MacGyver do - some book about that.

So there is something of that character that I really respond to that, you know - the thing about like - there was this special on the Discovery Channel, I think, a couple of weeks ago which I spent, you know, an hour taking notes on and being really fascinated by which was the ten greatest threats to the world, you know, from robots that come alive to the mega volcano, to, you know, new diseases and everything.

And it was so great. And eventually this will filter its way into Dwight’s brain, I think.

Greg Daniels, Rainn Wilson, The Office