Greg Daniels/John Krasinski press call

Question: John, first let me start off with you. This must be an incredibly rough time for you. I mean, you’re leaving after eight years, this great show that you got started off in doing things. You wrote and starred in Promised Land, one of the best pictures of last year. So, it must be like leaving high school. You’re leaving all your old friends behind, and now you’re going to go off to go do other great things. Is it really emotional for you to do this?

John Krasinski: Yeah, 100%. I mean, again, I don’t think there’s any way to describe it, other than, I would imagine, a long time back in olden days as they say, when you had to leave your family behind. You know, it’s for something, whether it was moving somewhere else or going to war or something like that. I think leaving – this is a part of me that has defined me.

Greg Daniels: We put gym equipment in your trailer, by the way, John.

John Krasinski: What’s that?

Greg Daniels: We turned your trailer into a gym now.

John Krasinski: Oh, good. Perfect. So good, at least they care about me the way I care about them. No, but I mean to say that this show gave me everything would be the biggest understatement ever. I think that not only every single opportunity, and I mean every single opportunity has come from this show, and people who have watched this show and have given me a chance because of it.

But also, every sort of creative impulse and desire of trying new things and wanting to experiment with new mediums and writing, has all come from the show because of the enthusiasm I have for it. That, instead of being some sort of soul crushing job, it was the exact opposite, which is this job that made you just feel like a super hero, and that you were in the one family that’s never loved a child more than – in the history of the world, and that’s how I felt leaving this show.

So, it’s incredibly hard to leave, but at the same time I know in my heart that it’s given me everything that I have and has defined me, and hopefully given me every single strength and talent that I have to go on and do other things, but I will always use that as a touchstone going forward.

Quesstion: What’s the next thing for both of you?

Greg Daniels: Well, I produced a couple of pilots this year, written by Office writers, and one of them is starring Craig Robinson, and waiting to hear about those, so have some hopes for something to work on there. And I’ll probably be able to have spent some more time on Parks and Recreation next year. And then, I don’t know. For me personally, it’s been such a a ride that, my wife just says, “Just don’t do anything for a little while. Just come off the roller coaster, and then think about your next move.”

John Krasinski: Yeah, I totally agree. I’ve been advised to just take a second, because I think it’s just such an emotional roller coaster. And the fact that we stopped shooting, but the shows haven’t stopped airing, is very surreal. The fact that our emotions we thought were over, and then have people telling you, “Last weeks’ episode was amazing.” And you’re like, “Oh, my God, right. It’s still going.” So, that’s sort of bizarre. But yeah, I’m just waiting to see where I want to go next. And I’m writing a couple things and I auditioned for Craig’s role on the Craig Robinson pilot… and it turns out I didn’t have a shot.

12 comments

  1. This was great. Thank you! Going home to watch some old eps after work now!

  2. Awesome! Thanks!

    Ah, that 27 seconds of silence felt ground-breaking to me. Too much good stuff from this show.

  3. Great great stuff! I feel however that I should curl into the fetal position on the floor imagining the empty office! :(

    [from tanster: yeah. that was heartbreaking to hear.]

  4. Great stuff! I always love cast/writer/director interviews! I’ve blocked out my entire day on May 16th! ;) haha!

  5. Seeing their favorite episodes mentioned you can tell how magical Season 2 was. To this day I go back and watch chunks of it at a time.

    The show had such a great knack for laugh-out-loud silliness grounded with legitimate drama – which it sorely misses these days.

    One of the greatest seasons of scripted comedy tv ever.

  6. What a bummer to think the office is now empty :(

    They should totally auction off some of the set props like they did after Seinfeld ended!!

  7. I don’t know how to describe this feeling. Many shows of GREAT quality, greater quality, have come and gone with sadness at the departure.
    This however, is truly a hollow feeling. I feel like the beat of my heart is echoing inside me because truly the one thing that my wife and I have shared from our first date till now, is over.

    I feel the loss so potently. I’m your average white collar corporate type. 28yrs old. Would never know me as some kind of TV guy. Not like Stanley and his “mystery stories” or Kelly and her “Glee”

    The office wasn’t my Seinfeld or sopranos, it was my date night. My dinner infront of the TV night. My cuddle with my wife and laugh night. The office is my funny bone and much like a funny bone, when it hurts, it’s not funny. I’m pained by the loss but appreciative. I only wish NBC would have given the office the lifespan of Law and Order SVU. Alas, I guess America likes Rape and pedophiles more than Oscar and the Senator or Angela and her Cats.

    Goodbye my lover, goodbye my friend, you have been the one, you have been the one for me..

  8. I realize this is an entirely unrelated thing to post, but now that I know Greg is so fond of lurking and reading the comments, I’m going for it:

    Mr. Daniels, I was going through a box of old college paperwork a couple weeks ago and found one of my annual financial aid statements from a certain women’s college in the Pioneer Valley. I noticed a line item I’d never seen before and did some research on the name. And long story short, tell your parents thanks from a random fangirl for helping to make me the first out of seven kids to go to college. I’ll try to keep repaying the debt by buying DVD sets or something. :)

    Now, the relevant stuff:

    I really want to know where the Homer doll and Pam’s drawing of the building went! When I watch re-runs now, I keep finding myself wondering where certain things ended up. Like, there’s this sad little part of me that really wants Brian Baumgartner to have that blown-up photo of Michael and Jan at Sandals in a basement rec room.

    See you all in Scranton this weekend. :)

  9. I think a small piece of me died when I read that the set is already torn down. :(
    The Office and its fantastic characters will live forever in my heart (and on my dvd shelf).

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