The Office has become such a steadfast part of pop culture. There are viewers who tuned in when the show was originally airing on NBC from 2005 to 2013, and then there are people who are just discovering their love for the first time while watching the kooky comedy on streaming. No matter where you are in your fandom, the characters that make up The Office‘s Dunder Mifflin Paper Company feel like your very own dysfunctional co-workers.
Now that The Office has created this loyal following (even being named one of the 100 Greatest Shows of All-Time by Rolling Stone), it’s odd to think there could have been an alternate universe where our favorite actors didn’t play these parts. There were many names thrown around for Michael Scott (played so brilliantly by Steve Carell). Can you imagine the series with Paul Giamatti, Bob Odenkirk, Philip Seymour Hoffman, or Adam Scott in the part? The same goes for Jenna Fischer as the introverted, but sweet Pam Beesly. Luckily, Fischer decided to take a risk in her audition that helped land her the part.
‘The Office’s Jenna Fischer Received Crucial Advice Before Her Audition
Fischer had done a few minor roles before The Office, but in 2005, she was still waiting for her big break. In a recent interview with Dana Carvey and David Spade on their Fly on the Wall podcast, Fisher gave some backstory about the advice she received from The Office casting director Allison Jones before she auditioned for Pam. She said, “I had been auditioning for Allison for about five years before The Office. When it was time for her to cast The Office, I had a good enough relationship with her that I could say, ‘Hey Allison, do you have any advice? I really want this one.'” Jones’ life-changing advice for Fischer was to go in not “looking hot.”
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“Well, well, well… how the turntables…”
This would help Fischer dress more casually for her audition (which allowed the team to see her as a shy, understated receptionist). Jones also helped her prepare by letting her know that she would be required to do some improvisation during the audition, and then she offered Fischer some food for thought: dare to be boring.
Jenna Fischer Nailed Her Audition for ‘The Office’ With This One Word
During the actual audition, Fischer did have to improvise a scene with showrunner Greg Daniels (who was acting as if he were one of the mockumentary filmmakers in the series). He asked her, “Do you like being a receptionist here?” Fischer remembered Jones’ advice, and recalled, “I just paused and I said nothing. And then I just said, ‘No.’ And that’s all I said.” This simplistic answer was a perfect channeling of Pam; she’s honest to a fault, but she also doesn’t set out to hurt anyone’s feelings. And, of course, she’d like to keep her job. Fisher explained, “I thought it would be funnier to watch me think of all the things I wasn’t going to say than to say any of them.”
Some people might not have been able to land that perfect balance between dry wit and honesty, but Fischer said with that one-word response that later “Greg told me that’s what got me the job.” Fischer took a huge risk by not playing the improv scene in an over-the-top way. After all, she was reading for a sitcom that does have some pretty cringeworthy circumstances. But she realized inherently that Pam is more of the straight man in the humor (and is much less quirky than the characters that are played by some of the other actors). During the podcast interview, Fischer confessed that it had been scary to play the role in a more subdued way, but even in the audition process, she believed that showing some restraint would be more effective. She noted that “for me, the hardest thing about acting is just holding on,” but this ability to play the comedy with moderation is exactly what helped her land the part (and what helped her stay in the role for all nine seasons of The Office‘s run).
Fischer was always able to perfectly portray someone who can’t pretend she actually likes working in an office. Those confessional scenes allow her to show that she recognizes some of the absurdity playing out around her, and this tongue-in-cheek humor could not have been depicted in quite the same way by another actor. It even helped Fischer receive an Emmy nomination for her work in 2007. Pam will remain one of the most memorable characters on television because of the acting choices Fischer made, and that goes all the way back to that one word in her audition.
The Office
- Release Date
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2005 – 2013-00-00
- Network
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NBC
