Who Was the Cast of ‘The Office’ Interacting With Behind the Camera?
Heralded as one of the best TV series of all time, The Office is truly comedic gold. The documentary-style show has a phenomenal cast, exceptional writing, and truly great characters. The show is full of incredible humor with sharp quips and pointed looks at the camera. But just who is the person behind the camera who the actors are always interacting with?
One of the best things about The Office is the relationship that the cast develops with the documentary camera crew throughout the series. Though we, as an audience, don’t get to see any member of the documentary crew until season nine, it’s clear the Dunder Mifflin employees have a bond with them. From the sidelong glances that the cast directs toward the camera crew to addressing them directly, there’s a clear connection that forms throughout the show’s tenure.
Fischer reveals who is behind the camera
But just who is behind the camera? In an interview with NPR, Jenna Fischer (who plays the lovable Pam Beesly Halpert) revealed who the cast is always interacting with. “Well, there’s two different scenarios. When we’re just shooting the show and it’s a scene, the camera operator is this man named Randall Einhorn. And he’s our director of photography. And we will look at him, we’ll give him the look, or we’ll look into the camera at him. And he’s become another character or another actor on the show to us. So, we do actually act with him,” Fischer began.
The Office star continued on to share that Einhorn’s consistent involvement with the show allowed for some really special moments between him and the rest of the cast. “And it’s really cute – whenever Pam smiles at the camera, Randall can’t help but smile back. The man, Randall, smiles at you while he’s holding the camera. And there are scenes that we’ve done that have been really touching. And you’ll look at Randall, and he’ll be, you know, sort of teared up,” the podcast co-host admitted.
Directors of The Office get involved
But Einhorn isn’t the only one that the cast interacts with. When they give one-on-one interviews, they’re actually speaking to the director of the episode for the week. “When we shoot our talking heads – our interview segments – the director of the episode serves as our documentarian for that week. Some of the directors, we have them back again, and again, and again,” Fischer shared.
A special connection between the cast and crew
In fact, the cast managed to get attached to the directors who they have back multiple times, which made it easier to confide in them when filming. “One director we’re particularly attached to is Ken Kwapis. He directed our very first episode, and he comes back every year and directs a couple of episodes. And last year, he directed the finale. And he’s always taken a particular interest in Pam and her journey. So, I feel very close to him,” The Office alum shared.
It’s great that the cast of The Office was able to establish such strong relationships with the people behind their camera. It allowed for the documentary-style show to seem more true to life. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be bingeing our favorite episodes until Netflix removes the show from its platform at the end of 2020.
