GMMR Exclusive Interview with David Denman Interview (Part II)

We are back with PART II of Give Me My Remote’s Interview with David Denman. If you missed part I, please click here to check it out.

In Part II, I figured I would let David tell you, in his own words, about how he got involved with The Office, what it’s like to work on a big studio movie, the season 2 DVDs and more. And check out GMMR’s exclusive scoop on an important scene that was left on the cutting room floor.

…landing the role of Roy

“I have a buddy of mine in New York who was a huge fan of the BBC version of The Office. I happened to be in New York for the premiere of this movie I was in called “Big Fish”, and my buddy said you have got to watch this show. I was like..yeah yeah, ok. I finally went home and I watched it, and I said Oh my God this is brilliant. I grabbed my wife and I said you got to watch…it’s so good.

Not too long after, right in the beginning of January, I heard they were doing an American version of the show, and I thought, man, I have to get in on that show. I thought, there’s got to be something I can do in that. But my agent said ‘no, they’re really looking for names.’ I said ‘names?’ what are you talking about. He had heard that they were reading Steve Carell and Bob Odenkirk and a few other guys. I said you’re crazy you’ve got to get me in. So as it ends up, he called me back and said ‘my bad, I got an audition for you.’ So I went in, and I had one reading, and then I went it and read for the producers, and it went very well. They called me back a few days later and asked if I wanted it.

I started out as a guest star, and then when we came back in Season 2 they made me a recurring character, and then finally in December they made me, along with some others, a regular. That was really great because it’s nice to know that you put so much time and energy into a show that you really believe in, and then have it work out like that…it was great.”

…Roy vs. Jim – the greek gods

“You know the Greeks have the Eros and the Agape types of love…the Eros being the passionate and the Agape being the more solid, maybe husband like type of love. And I think there may be a more solid side to Roy, like ‘he’s going to be a good dad’ and ‘a good family guy’. And Pam may not have the passion for Roy that she does for Jim, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I have no clue what’s going to happen, but it’s fun being in this situation where there are so many possibilities. And if it lends it self to get more people to watch and more people to get involved, then we have a better chance to continue.”

…season 2 DVD

“I think the DVDs may be coming out about 2 weeks before the season premiere. We did commentary for two episodes today (Booze Cruise & Casino Night) and we are going to do another four or five on Tuesday. There’s a lot of us doing commentary. Definitely more people than last time, since we have me, Oscar, Brian, and the rest of the gang. But today Steve, John and Ken Kwapis couldn’t be there because they are off filming.

The DVDs are going to be awesome with all the deleted scenes, the outtakes, behind the scenes, and stuff like that. It’s going to be really great. And the commentary is going to be really good. It’s really strange and funny to have 8 people in a room watching an episode and talking about it. We ended up going off on these weird tangents, but it was all so funny. And it’s definitely insightful and I think that’s what people are hoping for.”

…the office is the office

“Being on the set of The Office is not that dissimilar to a real office. We are on set sometimes 12 or more hours a day, and it’s like you’re stuck in a real office. There’s not a lot of other things going on or outside stimulus, but I think that really adds to the show. And most of those guys have to deal with it a lot more than I do. I just come up from the warehouse, do my bit, and then go. I don’t have to sit around in the office all day. But we do take our breaks. Sometimes we head to John’s trailer to play video games in between takes, or at lunchtime, just to veg out a little, and get a little break time, but when we come back we are refreshed and ready to go.”

…is it really Roy ANDERSON

“It has not been officially decided. It was definitely discussed and it’s still a possibility, but it’s not definite. For a long time I was like ‘what’s Roy’s last name’, and they said ‘oh, something generic…maybe like Anderson.’ And I was like ‘Nooooo’ that it awful…ha ha.’ But Greg very quickly said, ‘whoa whoa whoa…it’s not official, and it’s not official until it’s on the air.’ In the middle of last season, all the other characters had a first and last name, but Roy was always just Roy. I kept lobbying for a last name. It actually became a funny little email bit going back and forth between me, Rainn, and Jenna. Everyone basically saying ‘change the call sheet’ we need a last name…it’s not fair. But, yeah, they never did so….it could be Anderson, but then again it might not be.”

…a deleted scene we may never see

“There is one scene that we shot in Boys and Girls where Roy really got pissed and went after Jim because Jim was getting involved in Pam wanting to take that internship. He kept telling her that she needed to just do it and go. So we did the scene and it got REALLY heated, because Jim was like ‘I’m not backing down. Even if you kill me I’m not backing down in front of all those people.’ Roy and Jim were in each other’s face, and people had to tear us apart, and that’s how the scene played out. But then the problem was there wasn’t much comedy in it. It was so dramatic. And thankfully they ended up cutting it out. I think it’s a lot better with more of a quiet understanding of what could happen if these two ever got into it.”

…on letting Pretty Boy Krasinski have it on the court

“Can I please just say how horrible I felt about that? We actually had a scene planned [in Basketball] where Jim gets hit in the mouth, and we were actually rehearsing having him get hit in the mouth, but he wasn’t supposed to get hit in the mouth when we shot that actually shot. It was a total accident. I put my elbow up the wrong way, and he put his head down another way, and I got him. And they just kept filming! He was like “Um, ok, can we call cut…I’m bleeding!”. But in the spirit of the show they just kept going. John grew up playing basketball and he’s got older brothers, so it wasn’t like he was alarmed at all by the contact, but I felt horrible. But he had to reschedule a photo shoot the next day because he had a big old fat lip. God, I still feel terrible about that.”

…the office finding its voice

“I think Diversity Day was a great episode. I really like Hot Girl a lot, it’s one of my favorites, because I think I had a little bit more empathy for Michael’s character. He came across pathetic, but I think this is when we first started to feel for him a little bit. But I think when we came back for this season, they had made just a few tweaks, they were really subtle but that had a major impact on the show, and I think the show just got so much better this season. And I think we got a few more people to give it a shot.

I have a few friends that were huge fans of the BBC version, and they watched the pilot, and they were like’…ahh…I don’t know. ‘But I said give it another shot. And they called back and said you’re right. It’s so good. And some even liked it better than the BBC version. Now I’m not going to say we are better than the BBC version by any means. But we’re different. We took that blueprint but really made our own thing out of it.”

…on MySpace

“I don’t know who really got it all started. BJ, and then maybe Jenna. But Jenna has been the driving force behind getting me involved. At first I was like ‘what…you’re doing what?. You don’t do that…you don’t do that on TV shows. It’s weird. You can get stalkers.’ And she kept saying, ‘No, I think it’s going to be really good’ and she was really trying so hard to get out there as much as she could and be accessible to the fans and get people to watch, and it’s really made a difference. You know, it’s easier for someone like me to have a MySpace account than someone like Rainn or John because those guys are just way more visible on the show. But it’s been fun talking to the fans.”

…on his first big studio film, “The Replacements” (Pain heals..Chicks dig scars…Glory last forever)

“That’s so funny that you even knew that. Ha ha. We had so much fun making that movie. It was my first movie ever. I had done a bunch of TV shows and whatever, but I had never done a movie for the theater. Man it’s so much fun doing a studio movie, I can’t tell you. They put you up, and you’re taken care of so well, and when you’re in it, you can’t help but think that it’s going to last forever. But it doesn’t always work out that way.

It’s weird because you get so close with all those people and then you’re gone, and you move on to other jobs. Jon Favreau and I spent almost every single waking moment together while we were filming. We hung out after shooting, and we ate dinner together – everything. But towards the end I kept thinking…how does this work? When it’s over, what do you do? He basically said, ‘well when it’s over we will definitely still be friends, but are we going to be BBQ at eachother’s houses? Who knows..probably not..ha ha ha.’ I was so mortified. I didn’t know any better. But you all move on. You have other jobs and your own lives. But when you’re away on location it feels like summer camp for three and half months. So the people you hang out with are the people you work with, and you become very close very fast. It’s kind of wild.”

…the supersized finale

“That was all thanks to you guys. If you guys hadn’t put the petition together and sent it off to the network it never would have happened. I think it was a really great idea. And it was really great for the network as well because they ended up supersizing Earl, and Will & Grace. I think it was so helpful for all the shows. But why it was so important to ours? I think we really needed that extra 10 minutes. The show definitely works in the half hour format, but there’s so much that we do, and we shoot, that we never show, because there’s not enough time, that you miss even more things. Having the supersized finale was so important to us. Thank you so much.”

A very special thank you goes out to David Denman for taking the time to talk to me. It was a blast!!!