The Office: Jenna Fischer on season 8, her/Pam's pregnancy, Michael's replacement, James Spader,more
Now that you’re pregnant in real life, do you have to go in for new wardrobe measurements for Pam? Or can you just reuse the clothes she wore during her pregnancy in the show?
I don’t think so. I’m much bigger than Pam was. All that grew when Pam was pregnant was her belly. Everything about me has grown: My arms are bigger, my legs are bigger, my face is bigger. When you get pregnant in real life, your whole body gets pregnant, not just your stomach.
[Ed note: These next two questions were part of a post we ran last week.]
Is your pregnancy going to be incorporated into the show?
Yes. Pam will be pregnant when the season starts. Pam and Jim snuck away last season on Valentine’s Day, and they had sex. The story is that they conceived this baby at that time and were keeping it a secret until we come back from the summer. So, yeah, Pam and Jim are gonna have their second child this season.
Did they write that in because you were pregnant?
No. When we shot that episode I knew I was pregnant, but I hadn’t told anybody yet. When we started shooting that episode I thought to myself, If everything goes well, this is going to be a very, very convenient coincidence. A very happy accident. And I think I found out I was pregnant when we were shooting that episode.
Did anyone question your weight before they knew you were pregnant?
When the movie Hall Pass came out I was pregnant, and I couldn’t share that with anyone yet. I hadn’t shared it with my managers, my agents. We hadn’t told my family. And I started gaining weight right away. At eleven weeks I’m buying my first maternity jeans. I don’t know if it was water retention or what, but when I was dressing for [the Hall Pass premiere and press], I had to explain to everybody that I had gone up a size and I refused to wear Spanx. I couldn’t explain why I was suddenly being such a diva about all these things that I had been willing to do in the past. I’m like, “I’m not wearing Spanx! I refuse!” Because, you know, you can’t restrict that area when you’re pregnant. So that was very interesting, just in terms of the early pregnancy, the part where it was a secret. Even early on when we were shooting The Office, I was growing out of my skirts and I couldn’t tell people I was pregnant, so I would walk around with it half-unzipped so that I could sit down. And then one day we came back from a hiatus and I knew I wasn’t going to fit into my shirt, so I went out to J.Crew and I bought my own shirt and brought it to work that morning. Again, everyone was very confused. Why is Jenna insisting on wearing this purple shirt from J.Crew? In seven years she’s never brought in her own clothes before. The truth was if I wore the shirt they put in my dressing room, I wasn’t going to be able to button it. That was very stressful! So it was a big relief to finally be able to share the news and get clothes that fit me. Now I get to let it all hang out.
James Spader is joining the show full-time as Robert California, the CEO of Dunder Mifflin’s parent company, Sabre. What do you think he’ll bring to the series?
I’m really excited because I didn’t get to have any scenes with him when he was on the finale. They told me I’m not allowed to say, but there’s a great story line with Pam and Robert California. And then the new role of the manager, they told me who that’s going to be - and also said I wasn’t allowed to say. I’m really happy about the choice that they made, and I think that fans are going to be really happy, too.
Without revealing who the new manager is, was there a part of you that hoped a female actor would get the role?
Yeah, I really wanted Christina Applegate to play the role. That’s who I was rooting for. I had just worked with Christina on Hall Pass, so maybe part of me was just selfishly trying to find a way I could work with her every day.
Had they actually considered her?
As soon as I said her name, their ears perked up. I think they looked into it, then they said NBC already realized that she should be starring on a TV show and gave her a different one.
We want to run a couple of reader questions by you. EVANGILBERG wonders if you have any aspirations to direct an episode of The Office like so many of your co-stars have?
No. I don’t have any writing or directing aspirations. I did a small film called Lollilove that I wrote and directed, and that was a really challenging project artistically, but it definitely showed me that writing and directing are not in my future.
Here’s one from JMJE: "What kind of emotions did you have when filming the last scenes at the airport with Steve Carell in his last episode?"
That was really emotional. They said, “You know what, Jenna? Just say whatever you would want to say to Steve. Just say good-bye and we’ll tape it and when you’re finished, just give each other a hug and go your separate ways.” And it was actually a challenge because every time I got down there I would start to cry right away, and I had to try to hold that in a little bit. We did so many takes of that good-bye and I cried every single time. I even got choked up just telling the story right now.
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