‘The Office’: Why John Krasinski Turned Down Auditioning to Play Dwight Schrute
The process of John Krasinski getting on The Office had a few awkward moments. One of them was that he turned down the chance to audition to play Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson.) Find out how the NBC casting director responded to it and another awkward moment that could have kept him from getting cast on the show.
John Krasinski almost ruined his chance to get on ‘The Office’
Krasinski revealed that he almost ruined his chance to get on the show by being really honest with executive producer, Greg Daniels. That’s because he was like many people who loved the original show and was skeptical about an American version.
“This guy sits in front of me with his salad and people are coming in and out and he goes, ‘Are you nervous?’” Krasinski told the Huffington Post. “And I was like, ‘You know, not really. You either get these things or you don’t.’”
He then revealed what he was nervous about when it comes to the project. “What I’m really nervous about is this show,” Krasinski told the man. “It’s just I love the British show so much and Americans have a tendency to just really screw these opportunities up. I just don’t know how I’ll live with myself if they screw this show up and ruin it for me.”
The actor then revealed what the man said next. “He’s like, ‘My name’s Greg Daniels, I’m the Executive Producer,’” Krasinski said. “And I was like [vomit noise]. I actually threw up in my mouth.”
He turned down auditioning to play Dwight Schrute
The actor was asked to audition as the beet farmer first. However, he passed it up for a reason.
“I was offered to come in and audition as the role of Dwight and I was so excited,” he told the co-hosts of the Office Ladies podcast. He said he didn’t have any money when he had a meeting where he was told something called The Office was coming.
“They said you’re going in for the role of Dwight and I had been a huge fan of the British show and I was like ‘I don’t know man. That’s not…I don’t know if I’m right for that role,'” he said. “And so I weirdly had no idea what I was thinking I said, ‘You know what, I read the pilot.’ And I said, ‘I want to put my best foot forward. Let me know when they’re casting Jim.’ And I remember the response from the NBC casting director to my manager at the time was ‘No, but honestly who does he think he is?'”
Five weeks later they called back letting him know that they were auditioning for Jim. He flew from New York to L.A. to audition and he really hit it off with Jenna Fischer in their screen test.
Both of them were rooting for each other to get their future roles. Once Krasinski was told he got the role of Jim he immediately asked if Fischer got the role of Pam. He was told that was the first thing she asked when she got the good news of getting on the show too.
