Steve Carrell found worldwide fame when he portrayed the role of Michael Scott in the 2005 series The Office. Starring alongside John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, and, Rainn Wilson, Carrell had the time of his life by portraying the role of Michael Scott.
Since it was an American adaptation of the original British show, Steve Carrell watched Ricky Gervais’ character of David Brent in The Office (British version). The comedian, however, revealed in an interview that he couldn’t watch more than 5 minutes of Gervais’ character!
Steve Carrell Couldn’t Watch Ricky Gervais For More Than 5 Minutes!
With an American adaptation of The Office in the works, Steve Carrell wanted to play the character of the boss of Dunder Mifflin. In the British version of the sitcom, the role was portrayed by Ricky Gervais who portrayed the role of David Brent.
In an interview with The Talks, Carrell talked about Ricky Gervais and how people thought that he was hilarious. The comedian, however, revealed that he couldn’t watch more than 5 minutes of Gervais’ character because he was afraid that he would just imitate his character during the auditions!
“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,”
He further continued,
“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.”
With an American adaptation on the way, John Krasinski, who would go on to portray the role of Jim Halpert in the series, had some quirky remarks for the show’s creator.
John Krasinski Was Terrified of The Office Remake
Portraying the role of Jim Halper in the U.S. version of The Office, John Krasinski found worldwide fame. In an interview (via Collider), the actor talked about his auditions and how he said the wrong thing at the wrong place.
“I’m terrified for the person creating this show because, I mean, I just feel like Americans have such a track record of taking brilliant shows and ruining them.”
What Krasinski didn’t realize was that he said these words to Greg Daniels…the creator of the show! Since it was such a Halpert thing to do, Krasinski was hired for the role and the rest is history.
