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Steve Carell famously played the bumbling boss Michael Scott on The Office, but a number of other actors auditioned for the part, including Bob Odenkirk. Appearing on an episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Odenkirk said he was too earnest and that Carell is simply better at being “fun.”
“I am, in a strange way, a very earnest person for a person in comedy,” he said (via Entertainment Weekly). “I am oddly earnest, and … it’s one of the reasons I think Steve Carell is a better, you know–is the one who got the role. It’s because he’s better at being genuinely fun.”
Odenkirk said he brings a little bit “too much earnest seriousness,” and that makes him good for some roles and not ideal for others. The Michael Scott character is a “purely light character,” Odenkirk said, and that’s not the actor’s wheelhouse–Odenkirk likes to bring the darkness as well.
“You just are looking for the darkness [in me], and that’s actually great in drama,” he said. “That’s a plus, you know? But in comedy, it’s not a plus.”
Indeed, anyone who has seen Odenkirk as Saul Goodman on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul will understand that Odenkirk absolutely brings a level of darkness to that character (while also retaining some humor). Michael Scott, on the other hand, loves to make “that’s what she said jokes” and is rarely serious.
While Odenkirk didn’t get the role of Michael Scott, he did appear on the show during its ninth and final season. Pam travels to Philadelphia to try to find a job closer to Jim (John Krasinski) and she takes a meeting at an office run by Odenkirk’s Mark Franks. He’s a similar character to Carell in that he’s extremely awkward, loud, and not politically correct. The joke on the show was that Pam moves to a different city and almost finds herself once again working for a boss like Michael.
Odenkirk said this appearance was his opportunity to “show people what I would have done” if he got the part, but also acknowledged that his performance in that episode was meant to be a “tribute to Steve.”
Other actors who auditioned for Michael Scott or were otherwise in the mix included Paul Giamatti, Louis C.K., Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Patton Oswalt. Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight, also auditioned for the role of Michael Scott.
