The Office's Felicity Ward reveals special connection with Jenna Fischer

The Office's Felicity Ward reveals special connection with Jenna Fischer.

Video transcript

Well, thank you so much.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

I loved it.

Oh, did you?

I did.

I watched it all.

Um, what do you think sets it apart from?

Because people are obviously gonna be thinking, You know, there's a UK version.

There's a US version.

What is different about our version?

Um, we have Roombas.

I think that's very important.

Uh, there are animals in an episode.

There is.

There's an episode where we're all in pyjamas and may I say to everyone that watches that episode I apologise.

Um uh, the there we intentionally got a pair of pyjamas that were not quite the right size.

So I just We took, like, four episodes, uh, four days to film an episode.

Just had a wedgie for four days.

And just like dangly just the most unruly tits you've ever seen.

That's uncomfortable, though.

Have a wedgie for four days.

But that's what I do.

I suffer for my art.

Yeah, fair enough.

It's I think it's just very Australian.

It's like when you get Australians who write a script, it's just Australian.

Then you put a bunch of Australians and it just makes it more Australian and so I think that it's sort of got the warmth of the, um, American one.

But it has the space and the awkward pauses of the British one.

Yeah, I love that.

A lot of people, you know, the US one was such a success.

But I'm sure that when it came out, people who offened the UK version were like, Why are we doing this?

So what do you have to say to the Doubters?

You don't You don't remember.

You're not old enough to you.

I love the US one II.

I haven't really watched the UK.

Are you a millennial?

Yes.

Yes, that is.

That seems to be the unanimous experience that millennials are like the 100% American one and then Gen X are very much the British one and Gen Z are also like the American one too.

Um Oh, look, I. I know what it's like to love something and feel protective over it.

Being remade.

I absolutely understand that.

But if you look at the American one, there was a huge backlash.

People were very, very angry and it's it's its own thing.

And that's the same with the Australian one.

People will be angry, and people will be really happy about it as well and have your feelings, and we're all just doing our best.

But I hope that you Oh, what was that?

What was that?

Oh, was that the my phone?

Oh, my God.

How embarrassing.

I've disconnected in case that was just ruining my own interview.

Um, I can't remember.

Oh, yeah.

Um, I would I would say, just watch it and then decide, Like with anything like, we can all have our contempt prior to investigation.

But if you watch it, then have an opinion.

That's what I would say.

We you know, we saw Kath and Kim go to America.

It didn't quite work.

But what do you think is the key?

And that's not the case here.

I love it.

What do you think is the key to creating a great localised, um, version of something?

Well, I think the thing about all of the officers, uh, that the concept is so universal.

Whereas maybe with Kath and Kim, it's so specifically Australian.

We all knew every single one of those characters, specifically those personalities, those, um, like pronunciations.

And, um, I think they're called egg corns when you pronounce a word incorrectly, but it still makes sense.

There were so many of those, um, in Kath and Kim, and I don't know if that happens a lot in American culture, but with the American office for the first series was was all the same as the British scripts.

And when it got it got it found its success when it's wrote its own scripts, and it was like not Americanized, but it was, like, appropriate to its own culture, like it reflected its own culture.

And from from the beginning, we've started with original scripts.

They're all Australian scripts, Um, well, and kiwi, uh, just for our director, who sort of helped create it.

And, um, and another director, uh, Kiwis.

And there's lots of kiwis in the cast.

It's very antipodean.

Yeah.

How much of Hannah do you think is in Felicity?

And much so much like the Venn diagram of Hannah and Felicity is nearly a circle.

I would say what I have that Hannah doesn't is self-awareness, but I am just I'm just as annoying.

And, um, I think I You know what I think if I was a boss, I would be as bad at it as she is, so I don't know if that's a compliment on it.

Well, you cost very well, then, is it?

I heard that in the US version they had, um, like all their computers were actually connected to the Internet so people would be, you know, messaging or playing games and stuff.

What's something from behind the scenes of your version that viewers might not expect when they're watching it?

Josh Thompson, who plays, um, Martin.

The HR did all of his.

He did two years of taxes because all of our computers were fully operational.

All our phones called each other.

They were everything was fully operational.

So Josh did.

He edited, um, half of his wife's short film, and he did taxes for two years.

So we'd come in and we're like, Alright, we're gonna do this and he's like, Hang on, I'm just I've just gotta do expenses.

And we're like, Hey, mate, love that this.

That you're getting this done.

Love this for you Also.

Let's film.

Let's do our job.

Let's do our job.

Yeah.

Um, does Ricky Gervais have anything to do?

Like have you spoken to him?

have you?

Yeah, I haven't.

I did do a gig with Stephen Merchant earlier this year, but it was a very small green room, and it was before the show and it was a new material night, which is where you test your jokes for the first time.

And I thought, if I say this to him and he goes What?

I don't want to deal with that for the next two hours while we're doing new material.

So I just didn't say anything.

Fair enough.

And it's already done by then.

It's too late, mate.

You you can't do anything.

That's how that's how defensively I open conversations.

I'm like, Yeah, you can't even do anything about it anyway.

Don't even worry about it.

Yeah, it's all film A.

Did you take any info from Michael Scott and, um, David Brent Brent?

No, Um I had never seen an episode of the American one until I'd finished filming Great never and, uh, two things.

11 of the background actors one day said after a take, they went That was such a That was so Michael Scott, I'm like, I have never seen an episode of the show.

So thank you.

Um and then this was like this was the most incredible thing I got back.

It's not the most incredible thing.

That's an exaggeration.

I got back from filming and I was like, Oh, I haven't watched TV for ages brag and, um And then, um, I've been scrolling doom scrolling.

Of course I was like, Oh, just see what's on.

And then I popped it on the TV and you know how on, like with streaming services, sometimes they'll play like a little snippet of the episode that they're trying to advertise.

And the day that I finished filming the last day, we did a couple of like, the famous monologues, just in case they ended up wanting to use them.

I don't think they used any of them, but I did the monologue.

People say I'm the best boss.

I'm an entertainer.

So I did that.

I got back, I turned on the TV, and you just sort of forget that it's the office.

Every now and again.

I turned on the TV and it was Steve Carell, and he's going.

People say I'm the best boss and I was like, Oh my God, I filmed that five days ago.

That was wild.

I'm like, Oh, I'm in the office.

And you were like and I did a better job.

That's so weird.

Yeah, that's absolutely what I'm gonna openly say.

No, just kidding.

Just kidding.

Um, Ricky appeared in the US version, and then, you know, they had people like Will Ferrell and Idris.

Elba, Do you have any dream, Um, guest stars that you would love to have in your My dream guest star is me for 22 more seasons.

That is my just to have another job.

It would be lovely.

Ah, who would I lo?

I mean, I. I actually, um, at on a whim, I messaged Jenna Fisher, and, um, I was like, Hello.

Um, I don't even know if you'll read this.

I don't know if you check your own Instagram.

My name's Felicity Ward, and she wrote back, like, immediately.

She's like, I never check my D MS We know about the show.

We're so excited.

Can you come on our podcast?

So I'm like, Oh, my God, I imagine like I would love to have dinner on the show.

Oh, my gosh.

That would be such a dream.

So I hope you said yes to being on her podcast.

Oh, my God.

Do you know what would be amazing if we had, um, Dawn and Pam, a new lesbian couple?

Come on, Season two.

That's alright.

I'm gonna speak to the writers if we go again.

That's what I want.

Well, I hope you go again.

So do I. Congratulations.

I absolutely loved it.

Um, and thank you for your time.

Thanks for your time, Marnie.