‘The Office’: Jenna Fischer Would Constantly Break When Filming This Scene So She Used a Sneaky Trick
Filming The Office proved to be very challenging for the stars of the show because it was such a funny team of people, it was often difficult to get through scenes without laughing. Jenna Fischer revealed how, for one scene with Steve Carell, she used a sneaky trick to avoid making eye contact so she wouldn’t ruin the take.
‘Office Ladies’ talk about the ‘Product Recall’ episode
During the Oct. 21 episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Fischer and her co-host Angela Kinsey chatted about the season 3 episode “Product Recall.” In the episode, there’s a Dunder Mifflin crisis when an obscene watermark of what Michael Scott describes as “the image of a beloved cartoon duck, performing … unspeakable acts upon a certain cartoon mouse that a lot of people like” goes out to clients.
Michael holds a press conference to apologize to one of their customers and when she doesn’t accept the apology and says he should resign, he decides to film an apology video because the situation is “spinning out of control.”
He pulls a video camera out of his desk, as Pam explains how he “likes me to run the camera when he makes his apology videos. He says he needs a woman’s touch.”
Michael begins the video by saying, “Hello. I am Michael Scott, Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton. By now you are probably sick of hearing about Dunder Mifflin and our embarrassing watermark boner. Let me tell you something. Something from the heart. I am not leaving this office. It will take a SWAT team, to remove me from this office, and maybe not even that.”
Michael goes off the rails in the video, but Pam tells him, “That was your best apology video ever.”
Jenna Fischer had to use a sneaky trick so she didn’t laugh
During the podcast, Fischer shared how “shooting this scene with Steve and Rainn and then also these old apology videos is some of the most fun I ever had on the show.” She admitted “it was so hard to get through these. It was so difficult … I broke constantly.”
She explained that Dwight spraying hairspray on Michael for 11 seconds was a hilarious gag and that Dwight dropping the cue card made her laugh.
The actor revealed how she employed a little trick that kept her from ruining the takes. Fischer said she kept her eyes on the video camera for two reasons. “I never looked up to Steve,” she explained, sharing, “One, because it just felt like I’m in charge of operating the camera … and that just seemed like sort of my job.”
“But the other reason was because I could look at the little plastic corner and then I wouldn’t have to actually see Steve and it was easier for me not to laugh,” she added.
Her best defense for getting through the scene was to avoid eye contact with Carell. “I was breaking constantly,” she said.
