The Office’s editor reveals who had the best reaction shots on the show, and no, it’s not Jim
Most of The Office fans might think that John Krasinski, who played the character Jim in the show, has the best reaction shots in the series. But, a recent revelation by the show’s editor has another actor in mind.
The recent episode of Office Ladies podcast, hosted by actors Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, revealed some interesting details about the show’s reaction shots. The episode featured an interview with the show’s editor Dave Rogers, who told the listeners how the camera crew captured the priceless shots.
Rogers also revealed that it was not Krasinski but Leslie David Baker aka Stanley Hudson who can be credited for the best reaction shots. Rogers said, “I loved, I loved going to Leslie. Any time I can get, you know, Stanley giving an eye roll. You know, that was always fantastic."
Rogers also mentioned Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin), Phyllis Smith (Phyllis Lapin-Vance) and Brian Baumgartner (Kevin Malone) as the actors who always had the best reaction shots. Rogers had been the editor of the show for nine years.
Explaining how the camera captured all the reactions and expressions, he revealed that most of the times when there were two people in a shot, the camera crew did not want to miss out on the reaction of the other actor.
Rogers also shared an anecdote from one of the episodes, where the crew captured Angela’s funny reaction to co-star Kevin’s dialogue.
In the scene, Kevin says something offensive and as the camera zooms towards him, it crops out Angela who had a priceless reaction to Kevin’s dialogue. Rogers wanted to record Angela’s reaction also. “He’s saying something funny, but her reaction is equally as funny, if not even funnier, and it enhances the whole scene,” he said.
The editor of the Emmy-winning show explained that apart from the funny line that was delivered by the characters, capturing the real-time reactions of fellow actors on set was the uniqueness that they were looking forward to.
The Office was a mockumentary which recorded the daily lives of regular employees of Dunder Mifflin paper company over the span of nine years. The show ran from 2004 to 2013 and continues to boast a cult fan following.