John Krasinski Was Looking Into the Camera Before ‘The Office’ Began
One of the things that made The Office such an excellent show is the various forms of humor it utilized. Fans were gifted with sharp wit as well as over-the-top slapstick comedy. Of course, the actors were also able to deliver a world of humor with one single look. One person who was particularly adept at this was John Krasinski.
Krasinski, of course, played Jim Halpert on the show. Unlike more absurd characters like Michael Scott and Dwight Schrute, Jim was far more levelheaded and normal. In fact, Jim often served as a voice of reason for the show. Through his numerous looks given directly to camera, he was able to convey what a lot of viewers were thinking.
John Krasinski was stressed the first time he had to look into the camera
By the time all 201 episodes of The Office aired, Krasinski had given countless looks into the camera. However, he still remembers the very first time he did it. In fact, the A Quiet Place director was bit nervous about nailing the look. In an interview with Daily Actor, Krasinski reflected on this experience.
“I remember the first time reading the script that I had to look in the camera,” The Office actor shared. “I – you know that’s very stressful, because you don’t want to blow it and overdo it. And, you know I always joke that there’s a number. You know, my favorite thing was our DP, Matt Sohn, was like, ‘So, on this scene when you look to Jenna, give me the number four.’ And I always loved thinking that I had somehow got it down to a catalog of different looks.”
The ‘A Quiet Place’ director looked directly at the camera during his audition for ‘The Office’
Krasinski may have been nervous the first time he looked into camera. However, he started the trend before The Office even started shooting. In fact, the actor did it when he was auditioning for the show. In the aforementioned interview Greg Daniels, who created the American version of the show, recalled Krasinski’s audition.
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For one of Krasinski’s auditions, he was tasked with improvising about his favorite fruit. However, when he was pushed to give more, he added one pointed look to camera that sealed his fate in The Office cast.
“I kept saying, ‘Be more sarcastic about it,'” The Office creator shared about Krasinski’s audition. “And then, you tagged it with this amazing look right into the camera of the – you know the audition camera, and you know it was so funny. It just made people laugh. And so, John was just the absolute best Bugs Bunny at getting those looks across.”
Krasinski had to rid himself of the habit of looking into the camera
Krasinski got so used to giving looks to camera that he found it difficult to give up the habit when filming other projects. “I wish I could say I was professional enough to never look at a camera again on another job, but that’s already been blown several times,” he joked. “And bizarrely, on movie sets they don’t really dig it when you look in the camera, which is a bizarre fact.” Clearly, Krasinski had just as much fun giving his looks as fans of The Office had watching him do them.
