Steve Carrell Could Only Sit Through Five Minutes of Ricky Gervais’ Performance in the Original ‘Office’
Steve Carrell portrayed iconic character Michael Scott for five seasons in The Office. But before he was cast as the character, he turned to Ricky Gervais’ Office performance for help. Only to realize that might’ve been a bad idea.
Why Steve Carrell refused to watch the rest of Ricky Gervais’ ‘Office’ performance as David Brent
Office initially started off as Gervais’ brainchild. The UK mockumentary series was originally created by the frequent Golden Globe host and his partner Stephen Merchant in 2001. Although it was short-lived, only lasting for a couple of seasons, it left an incredible impact on the television industry. So much so that the series lived on through the American version of The Office, which was considerably more successful than its predecessor.
Gervais played David Brent, who was the manager to the fictional Wernham Hogg paper company. Despite his position, Gervais’ David Brent was portrayed as both arrogant and inept at the same time. This unflattering combination of traits meant he had little to no respect from his co-workers.
Carell would follow a similar blueprint with his Office character Michael Scott. Except his interpretation of the character might’ve been slightly more endearing than Gervais’ version. To prepare for his Office audition, Carell watched Gervais’ version of the program. But he could barely get through Gervais’ performance as David Brent, as he feared it would actually taint his audition.
“You know, before I auditioned for The Office, I watched about five minutes of the British version just to get a sense of tone but when I saw what Ricky was doing and how specific and great his character was… People love him, people think he’s hilarious,” Carell once told The Talks. “I knew that if I watched any more I would just be prone to doing an impersonation, I would just try to steal more and I thought that wouldn’t serve me in an audition.”
Ricky Gervais gave tips on how Michael Scott should be portrayed in ‘The Office’
Carell would end up acquiring the role with his performance, beating out other Office hopefuls like Seth Rogen and Bob Odenkirk. But there were a few key differences between Carell’s Michael Scott and Gervais’ David Brent. And some of those differences may be thanks to Gervais’ own creative input. On Jenna Fischer’s Office Ladies podcast, Fischer shared how Gervais gave one strict warning about Carell’s portrayal.
“He said, ‘In England, you can be really, really bad at your job for a long time, and you never get fired,’” Fischer remembered. “‘In America, that’s gonna frustrate people. So my one piece of advice is that Michael can be a buffoon, he can be silly, he can be irritating, but you should show glimpses of him actually being a good salesperson.’”
The Office cast and crew would take this warning seriously. This explained why Scott might’ve been just as inept as his UK counterpart, but much more beloved and revered by his co-workers.
“As awkward and cringey as he could be and really not aware of the things he said and how they affected people, they would give him one moment that was redeeming, one moment in the episode where you rooted for him or felt bad for him so that it wasn’t just all like, ‘Oh, that guy is such a jerk,’” the show’s co-host, Angela Kinsey, said.
What both Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell thought of an ‘Office’ reboot
Recently, it was announced that The Office would be getting yet another reboot. This time, the show plans on focusing on a female lead. Both Gervais and Carell have shared their initial reaction to a possible new Office . In a 2018 interview with Esquire, Carell doubted a show like Office could be done in the current landscape. Or at least done the way The Office was during his run.
“I just don’t think that’s a good idea, it might be impossible to do that show today and have people accept it the way it was accepted ten years ago. The climate’s different. I mean, the whole idea of that character, Michael Scott, so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behavior,” Carell said.
Meanwhile, Gervais seemed both curious and enthusiastic about this new reboot.
“I’m very excited about Australia remaking my little show from the turn of the century,” he said according to Yahoo. “Office politics have changed a bit in 20 years, so can’t wait to see how they navigate a modern-day David Brent.”
