{"id":561483,"date":"2026-03-26T06:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561483\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T06:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:22:11","slug":"steve-carell-says-paul-rudd-told-him-dont-audition-for-the-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/561483\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Carell Says Paul Rudd Told Him ‘Don’t Audition’ for ‘The Office’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSteve Carell<\/a> appeared on the latest episode of Amy Poehler\u2019s \u201cGood Hang\u201d podcast (via Entertainment Weekly<\/a>) and remembered how everyone warned him against starring as Michael Scott in NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Office<\/a>\u201d given the acclaimed reputation of Ricky Gervais\u2019 original version from the U.K. Even Poehler admitted that when she first heard NBC was remaking the sitcom that she thought: \u201cThis is a terrible idea. No one can be as good as Ricky Gervais, no one can do that show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAnchorman\u201d was in production at the time of NBC\u2019s remake announcement, which left Carell mulling over whether or not to audition while in close proximity to his comedy co-stars. Carell remembered Paul Rudd<\/a> pulling him aside during production and warning him against auditioning for \u201cThe Office.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRudd pulled me aside and was like, \u2018Don\u2019t do it, man. Don\u2019t audition,’\u201d Carell told Poehler. \u201cIt was like, \u2018There is no way.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCarell said many people in the industry advised him not to touch NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Offfice\u201d remake with a \u201c10-foot pole.\u201d He didn\u2019t listen and booked the job anyway. Poehler said that it was only when Carell\u2019s casting as Michael Scott became public that she changed her tune and started thinking maybe an \u201cOffice\u201d remake could work, but the rest of the industry did not follow suit. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur pilot was the lowest testing pilot in the history of NBC,\u201d Carell said. \u201cPeople really hated it. They actively hated it. And I don\u2019t quite know how it got legs after that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaying the show found its legs is an understatement. Headlined by Carell, \u201cThe Office\u201d would become one of NBC\u2019s most iconic sitcoms across nine seasons and 201 episodes. Carell earned six Emmy nominations for playing Michael Scott, as the role made him a household name worldwide following his movie breakout in \u201cThe 40-Year-Old Virgin.\u201d Given all the pressure Carell faced from remaking Gervais\u2019 original, he revealed he only watched one minute of the U.K. version before turning it off.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI watched a minute of one and he was so good and so specific and so funny, I thought, \u2018If I watch a second more, I\u2019m just gonna go on an audition with that,’\u201d Carell said. \u201cI won\u2019t be able to even imagine it a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Office\u201d franchise returned last year with the Peacock original spinoff \u201cThe Paper,\u201d which has the same set up as Carell\u2019s show but focuses on a group of employees at a struggling newspaper. Carell has long said he has no desire to reprise Michael Scott.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think it\u2019s maybe best to leave well enough alone and just let it exist as what it was,\u201d he told\u00a0Collider<\/a> in 2018. It was a special thing. It was a special thing before people thought it was a special thing. It was special to us, before other people started feeling that way. So, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch Carell\u2019s full interview on the \u201cGood Hang\u201d podcast in the video below.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Carell appeared on the latest episode of Amy Poehler\u2019s \u201cGood Hang\u201d podcast (via Entertainment Weekly) and remembered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75,79064,58075,18292],"class_list":["post-561483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-paul-rudd","tag-steve-carell","tag-the-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}