John Krasinski refused to shoot a cheating scene in “The Office.”
Krasinski blew up as an actor after playing Jim Halpert on the classic NBC show, and during the eighth season, he had to draw a line in the sand when the script called for his character to cheat on Pam. He refused to do it because he didn’t want to burn the relationship with the fans. (REVIEW: ‘Westworld’ Season 3 Ends With The Possible Deaths Of Multiple Characters)
‘That’s the only time I remember putting my foot down.’ https://t.co/C4Eva6Yhad
— etalk (@etalkCTV) November 17, 2021
Krasinski said the following in Brian Baumgartner’s book “Welcome to Dunder Mifflin: The Ultimate Oral History of The Office” about why he refused to shoot the scene, according to ETalk.ca:
That’s the only time I remember putting my foot down…I remember saying things that I never thought I’d say before, like, ‘I’m not going to shoot it. There is a threshold with which you can push our audience. They are so dedicated. We have shown such great respect to them. But there’s a moment where if you push them too far, they’ll never come back. And I think that if you show Jim cheating, they’ll never come back.
For those of you who don’t know, Krasinski is referring to the scene with Cathy in his hotel room, which eventually ended with Dwight coming in to search for bed bugs to get her the hell out.
If you’ve never seen it before, you can give it a watch below.
As a huge fan of “The Office,” I’m glad Krasinski drew this line in the sand and refused to shoot a cheating scene.
It would have 100% turned the fans against Jim and if you blow up the Jim/Pam relationship in season eight, then what the hell did we invest so much time for?
They were the most wholesome couple in the show, and a cheating scene would have ruined it all. To say fans would have been pissed is an understatement.
Luckily, Krasinski is a smart guy and pulled the plug on the idea.
Props to him for standing his ground because a cheating scene could have honestly ruined the show. It would have been awful.