Yahoo Movies Steve Carell Says ‘The Office’ Might Be “Impossible” In Today’s Social Climate
Michael Scott’s boorish shenanigans at Dunder-Mifflin might not play so well in today’s climate of heightened awareness of offensive behavior, says Steve Carell.
In an interview with Esquire, Carell, currently co-starring with Timothée Chalamet in the feature Beautiful Boy, seemed to nix at least his involvement in any talk of a reboot of The Office. Despite the 2005-2011 sitcom’s resurgent popularity on Netflix, a new take on the show probably wouldn’t work.
Carell says The Office “might be impossible” to do today. “The climate’s different,” the actor says. “I mean, the whole idea of that character, Michael Scott, so much of it was predicated on inappropriate behavior. I mean, he’s certainly not a model boss. A lot of what is depicted on that show is completely wrong-minded. That’s the point, you know?
“But I just don’t know how that would fly now. There’s a very high awareness of offensive things today – which is good, for sure. But at the same time, when you take a character like that too literally, it doesn’t really work.”
Carell credits the streaming service for reviving interest in the show. “Because The Office is on Netflix and replaying, a lot more people have seen it recently. And I think because of that there’s been a resurgence in interest in the show, and talk about bringing it back.”
Carell tells Esquire he doesn’t think a revival would be “a good idea,” but he does suggest an interest in returning to comedy. Conceding that, post-Office, he was more interested in “more dramatic” fare, he currently is developing some comedy projects.
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