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The Office got a lot of humor out of the rivalry between Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson). Dwight took working at Dunder Mifflin so seriously, Jim couldn’t help messing with him. But, when it came to working together behind the scenes, Wilson shook Krasinski.

'The Office' stars John Krasinski and Rainn Wilson smile on a red carpet
L-R: Rainn Wilson and John Krasinski | Valerie Macon/Getty Images

Krasinski, Wilson and creator Greg Daniels were on a Television Critics Association panel for The Office in 2005. They explained how their first improvisation sessions together scared Krasinski. The Office is now streaming on Peacock.

‘The Office’ cast John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson based on improvisations 

Daniels shared how he cast The Office. Krasinski and Wilson didn’t just read for the producers. The show got them into character before day one. 

“One of the things we did in the casting process for everybody was we did a lot of improv games,” Daniels said. “And we filmed the casting as opposed to a normal situation where they come in and perform for the executives. We filmed them so we could see how they would relate to the camera, and we filmed Rainn interacting with John, and we gave them, like, the direction to have John ask Rainn to cover his phones for a second while he went to the bathroom.  And Rainn refuses.”

Rainn Wilson ‘terrified’ John Krasinski in ‘The Office’ improv

Krasinski admits Wilson threw him. But, the Jim/Dwight relationship on The Office was born out of that friction.

“It’s funny too being in the improv with Dwight,” Krasinski said. “He actually terrified me as an actor. And at first, I was extremely annoyed. When I was doing the beginning of improv, I don’t think Rainn said any words for 45 seconds, so I would be delivering my line, ‘Can you watch the phones? Can you watch the phones?’ And he wouldn’t say anything. Then I just finally realized, ‘Acting aside, this is very annoying.’ And then I just said, ‘You know what?  He’s going to get the part.’”

Rainn Wilson had to live up to his audition after that 

Wilson remembers when it came time to film The Office, Daniels wanted him to recreate his improv. 

“Greg actually pulled me aside once and had a very serious conversation,” Wilson said. “He’s like, ‘You know, in your audition, I really liked your improv better than what you did with the scripted stuff.’ So, as we were rejiggering for shooting the show, I had to kind of really think about what it was, what I was bringing to the improv aspects of Dwight.”

That was also key to distinguishing the employees of Dunder Mifflin from those in the British The Office. Once Daniels and the writers knew who they had, they emphasized their unique attributes.

“As soon as the people were cast, we started to diverge from the original, because the key to the whole show is make them just be, like, inhabiting their roles,” Daniels said. “You’ve got to rewrite everything for the people who you’ve cast.  nd so it was starting to drift away then.  I think it’s drifting, it keeps going in new directions, and they’re bringing more of themselves into it. “

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