Sharing the story behind the audition, the Jim Halpert depicter admits to bluntly telling executive producer Greg Daniels his worry that Americans will ruin Ricky Gervais' hit sitcom.
- Dec 27, 2018
AceShowbiz - John Krasinski almost blew his big break on "The Office" when he told the show's executive producer he didn't think it would be a hit on U.S. TV.
The "A Quiet Place" director and star was called in to audition for the role of Jim Halpert and during a lunch break he struck up a conversation with a guy he thought was another hopeful.
"I was sitting alone in this office for a long time just sweating and this guy sits in front of me and he starts eating and he said, 'Are you nervous?' I said, 'No, you either get these things or you don't, but what I'm really nervous about is Americans have such a habit of ruining great U.K. shows. This is one of my favourite shows. They're gonna ruin it because the U.K. one is perfect!' John recalled during a recent SAG Conversations panel. "And he goes, 'Hi, I'm Greg Daniels, I'm the executive producer'.
"I legit threw up in my mouth! He said, 'I'll see ya in there!' I called my manager at the time and said, 'So, this is done!' Then I went into the room and everyone was laughing at me. To this day Greg says it's one of the reasons why I got the part - because I was honest."
"Yeah right, that was all calculated. So now every time I go into an audition I'm like, 'This script sucks, but I'll do it!'"
The American version of Ricky Gervais' workplace TV comedy was a big hit, launching Krasinski's career, and that of Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fisher, Mindy Kaling, and John's former high school pal B.J. Novak.
