Jenna Fischer Reveals How She Prepared For That Emotional ‘Office’ Crying Scene

Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey discussed filming that emotional Pam and Dwight scene in “The Office” during the latest episode of the “Office Ladies” podcast.

The scene was featured in the episode titled “Back From Vacation” and saw Pam (played by Fischer) trying to help Jim (John Krasinski) deal with his first argument with Karen.

The discussion takes its toll on Pam and she’s found by Dwight (Rainn Wilson) crying in the hallway.

“Angela, I watched this scene and it just brought tears to my eyes, because I remember shooting it so clearly,” Fischer said, according to Mashable. “This was, like, early on in the show, and whenever we had these really emotional scenes like the parking lot scene between Jim and Pam we would just kind of shut down everything. And I remember that we shut down the set and we took hours prepping and shooting this crying scene.”

“It was really important to Greg [Daniels, ‘The Office’ showrunner] that I really be crying. They did not want to put fake tears in my eyes. He wanted me to really go there,” she went on.

“This is a really big challenge for an actor. And so what they did was they made everything really quiet and no one talked to me for about a half-hour. I put on the saddest music I could find, and it was sad because it was personal to me… It was music that brought up memories of breakups — music that I listened to at different times in my life when I was having a particularly hard time — so it would bring up a lot of emotions.

“Then Kelly, our first [assistant director,] came and took the headphones away from me, and they started rolling. And that’s how they were able to begin the scene with me crying.”

“When you play a scene, Angela, and you have dialogue and connection with a person, a lot of times that will bring the emotion out of you. But it’s really hard to start a scene in a full cry because you would just have to get yourself there,” Fischer said.

The ladies also spoke about Wilson’s portrayal of Dwight in the scene, noting a part of his own personality would show before he snapped back out of it.

“I remember you guys doing this scene, and I remember it from the filter of your BFF. I remember you were really anxious about it. You really wanted to get it right, and you were doing all the prep,” Kinsey said. “And in rewatching it, Jenna, it made me tear up, it’s so beautiful. And I think I see Rainn as Dwight tearing up. But surely Dwight wouldn’t tear up, but I think Rainn, your friend, is tearing up watching you cry.”

“Angela, it’s making me get choked up when you say it, because this is a little bit of a place where the line blurred between the Rainn that you and I know and Dwight,” Fischer replied. “Rainn simply couldn’t do that scene without empathizing with Pam. Every time we did a take he teared up when I cried harder. It was like Rainn Wilson the man was incapable of sitting next to a person in pain without feeling their pain, and this is a thing that we know about Rainn. It’s a thing that we love about Rainn, and when I saw it in the scene it just made me miss Rainn so much because that’s who Rainn is to me on a personal level.”