John Krasinski shares how Steve Carell made him cry on set
Even though they’ve both moved on in their careers, the enduring popularity of The Office has ensured that John Krasinski and Steve Carell will forever be intertwined, even if it’s taken them a long time to reunite on a new project.
The pair co-starred in the beloved comedy from its beginnings in 2005 to Carell’s exit in 2011, but they’re finally back together on Krasinski’s latest directorial effort IF. The project marks a major change of pace for an actor and filmmaker who is best known behind the camera for the nerve-shredding A Quiet Place and its sequel.
Having decided that he wanted to make a movie the whole family can enjoy, Krasinski turned his hand to the world of imaginary friends to write, produce, and direct IF. It stars Cailey Fleming as a young girl who can see the invisible childhood companions, with Ryan Reynolds’ Cal carrying the same gift and acting as a mentor figure.
Carell voices Blue, the gigantic purple furry imaginary friend of Bobby Moynihan’s Jeremy, and his mere presence on set was enough to reduce Krasinski to tears. “When he came in, I thought I would have the best time ever, and I did,” he said to People. “But the first thing he did was make me cry, which sounds sad, but it was amazing.”
The filmmaker admitted that he wrote the part specifically in the hopes that Carell would do it without even taking potential scheduling conflicts into account, describing it as “that stamp of approval from family” when his former Dunder Mifflin colleague signed on the dotted line. When he did, he gave Krasinski “the greatest brother speech about how proud he was of me and how much he loved the script.”
Although Krasinski made his directorial debut on 2009’s Brief Interviews with Hideous Men while both of them were still part of The Office cast, the actor hadn’t contemplated pursuing filmmaking to a significant extent. However, as she shared, Carell knew fine well what lay in his future.
“He said, ‘I knew you’d go on to be a writer-director’. I said, ‘I didn’t even know that’. He just said, ‘I’m so proud of you and keep going, and I’ve watched everything and I’m cheering you on from the side-lines,’” Krasinski continued. “So I wept at the beginning of our voiceover session, and then luckily he jumped into being Blue and cheered me up. It was great.”
The bond between them remains as strong as ever, then, with Carell having to do nothing but show up for work to transform Krasinski into a bubbling wreck.
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