‘The Office’: Dwight and Angela Scenes Often Used a Trick That Fans Never Noticed
Fans of The Office loved watching Dwight and Angela maneuver their relationship over the series’ run. The couple had an interesting dynamic and part of their charm was how dainty Angela Kinsey, who played Angela, was compared to Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight. Kinsey revealed how they worked around the height differences in many episodes.
How ‘The Office’ handled Dwight and Angela’s height difference
During multiple episodes of the Office Ladies podcast, hosts Jenna Fischer and Kinsey talked about how the show would handle the height difference between the actors.
During the podcast episode where they discussed the “Basketball” episode, Kinsey and Fischer clued fans into some of the behind-the-scenes secrets.
“I will tell you on The Office I wore three-inch heels because I was so short whenever I was in scenes next to Rainn Wilson. And if you look at Dwight and Angela scenes, a lot of times he is seated and I’m standing,” Kinsey shared.
Fischer added, “I feel like there were times when they made you stand on a box. Is that true? Did you ever stand on a box to do a scene with him? Or you would be on stairs and you would be like three stairs up?”
According to Kinsey, there was an apple box they would bring in as needed for filming. “I was standing on a box all the time,” she revealed.
Angela Kinsey confirmed why Rainn Wilson sat for this scene
During the Oct. 7 episode of Office Ladies, Kinsey and Fischer discussed “The Negotiation” episode, where Jim (John Krasinski) catches Dwight and Angela kissing in the office.
In the scene, Angela calls Dwight over to her workspace and he sits on her desk as he talks to her. Fischer wondered if that was intentional so they would be same height to start kissing.
Kinsey confirmed that it was a technique often used on the show so that their height difference wasn’t so extreme. “Almost every scene Dwight and Angela have together, he is seated,” she said.
Rainn Wilson kneeled in another classic scene with Angela Kinsey
During their discussion of the “A Benihana Christmas” episode on Office Ladies, the co-stars discussed how Wilson supported Kinsey when she had to sing “Little Drummer Boy.”
Fischer said she looked in the script and there was no direction about Dwight kneeling down and holding the microphone.
The setup came about after Kinsey told Rainn that she was scared to sing in the scene. When they filmed it, she clutched her hands together and she said she was “so nervous” she left “marks on my hands where I was just like death gripping myself.”
She continued, “And after the first take, I showed Rainn my hands … I’m so nervous … He just came through for me, you guys, just came through for me. I was having a hard time, even though I know the song. I was so nervous and everyone was looking at me.”
The moment where Dwight took the microphone and held it for her was improvised, Kinsey said. “He took the microphone. He dropped to his knee and to help me, like, find the song,” he sang along the drumbeat.
“And all of a sudden, I wasn’t alone. Rainn was with me. I mean, Rainn is 6’3, so when he’s kneeling down, he’s almost my height. It was like he was standing side by side with me.”
“And then I could do it,” she said. “And you see, if you watch ever so slightly, you see me smile. I’m not smiling because Angela loves Dwight and she’s getting to sing a Christmas song. I’m smiling because Angela Kinsey sees her friend Rainn Wilson come through for her.”
