- Good afternoon, everyone. How excited are you for this event? (audience cheering)
Okay, yeah. (laughs) As Austin said, I'm Stacey from "The Hollywood Reporter," and I'm gonna waste not another moment before we bring these
amazing people on stage starting with actor Stephen Root, (audience applauding)
(audience cheering) (Stacey laughs) actor Ajay Naidu, (audience applauding)
(audience cheering) actor David Herman. (audience applauding) Over here, David. (laughs) he's taking the long way. Okay. Actor Ron Livingston. (audience applauding) And the man without whom none
of us would be here today, writer, director, and also actor. Stan, he played the Tchotchkes
manager, Mike Judge. (audience applauding)
(audience cheering) You can now be seated,
gentlemen, you're so polite. Thank you so much. So I had a question to ask the crowd. How many people in this room saw "Office Space" in the theater? Not enough people. Not enough people. How many people caught up with
it on Comedy Central and DVD? Okay.
(audience cheering) So safe to assume everyone
has seen this movie and that's why you're here. Okay. Okay, good. Before we begin, I wanna
acknowledge the amazing Gary Cole, who had a family obligation
and couldn't be here today, but his Bill Lumbergh, the sweet, sweet performance of Bill Lumbergh. Thank you so much, Gary. And also wanna acknowledge a young woman named Jennifer Aniston, who also appeared in this movie. She played Joanna and she
also couldn't be here today because she's Jennifer Aniston, (audience laughing) which is a pretty good excuse actually. So onto "Office Space." And
thank you all for being here. It's no small thing to get on a plane to take two days away from your family. So we really greatly appreciate your time and being here with us. So I'm not sure how many of
you know the fledgling history of "Office Space", but it began in 1991 when Mike was a musician
and a fledgling animator. This is pre "Beavis and Butt-Head," and you made a short film called "Office Space" featuring Milton. And this of course was based on your experience working as an engineer, jumping ahead five years, you had an overall deal at Fox after you had become a big deal
from "Beavis and Butt-Head". Let's give that some applause. (audience applauding)
(audience cheering) I mean, it's the best, right? And the network president of Fox, Peter Chernin at the time, saw this feature, this short, and he thought, "This
would make a great movie." So Mike, take us to your
initial conversations with Peter Chernin. What was it that he liked about the movie and what interested you most in translating this to a feature, but also what did you want to avoid in making this particular feature? And this was your live
action debut as a director. - Yeah, well, so Peter Chernin saw, I actually did three more shorts after the first kind of homemade one. He saw them all and yeah, he
said, "This should be a movie." My first reaction was like, "Well, what? Just a movie about Milton?" And then I started thinking like, Milton, you know, I love the character. I don't know, he's one of those characters you kind of don't want to know what happens outside of when you see him. Like, Milton after hours
is kind of scary, right? - Yeah, and I mean, it
was sort of based on a, not any one-to-one, but there was a guy at
my first engineering job, I'd been an engineer first, and he was this weird guy, not named Milton. No one talked to him. He worked in logistics or something. And one day I just, I was kind of bored and I just said, "Hey,"
let's call him Steve. "How's it going?" And he just launched into this whole thing where he is saying like, "Well, if they move my desk one
more time, I'm quitting. I had my fish bowl over
by the window and I..." and he just went on and on
and that's where it started. - Thank you, Steve, wherever
you are. Thank you, Steve. - So anyway, yeah, so they
actually brought some writers in to pitch stuff, and I
didn't really like anything and it sat on the shelf. And then they came back to me and said, "Well, what if it was a movie, like an ensemble cast, like 'Car Wash'?" And I said yes. Okay. I mean, what I was gonna do when I was making those animated
shorts was just a series of office characters. It was gonna be Milton,
Lumbergh, and had some other ones before "Beavis and
Butt-Head" took over my life. But yeah, so that's how it started. And then I said, "Okay, that I can do." And then I started writing, I started writing it
in like January of '96. I just wrote a treatment and
they said, "Yes, this is good," and then wrote the
screenplay like a year later. - Very good. And when it got to the phase of doing a table read, I know you had always had David in mind to play Michael Bolton
for obvious reasons. Clearly.
(Mike laughs) And you knew both Stephen and David from then "King of the
Hill" was already airing. So tell me about what you remember about the table read. Specifically, Stephen, I know you subbed in
for Mike doing Milton. Mike was supposed to do Milton, but then you brought your
extra special pizazz. What do you remember about the table read? - Well, I was gonna do the- - Hypnotist. - Yeah, the hypnotist. And one of the others. - And one of the Bobs I think, right? - Yes. - You're a utility player, we were gonna hear from you a few times. - Which we do on "King of
the Hill" all the time. You know, we will do our main guys and then we'll do a post
office worker or something. So I was prepared for those, and then Mike decided he, you know- - It was about 50.
- He wanted to hear it. He wanted to hear it. Right. He wanted to hear it. - Did you do Milton's affect that day where you sort of
experimented with the lisp and his bizarre eccentricities? - Well, he showed me the little
two-minute pencil sketch, and then I gave it a little more lisp. - But I just wanted just,
to Stephen's credit, you had never seen it. We're like 15 minutes out of starting, (Stephen laughs)
and I just kind of panicked, 'cause I did the voice. I was like, "I don't want to, Stephen." I just had this epiphany that Stephen, I'd gotten to know him well enough that he would do something
really great with it. And I said, "Can you just..."
and we went into another room. I put the VHS in and I could
just see, sorry, but go ahead. - I still have the VHS
actually of that little thing. But yeah, no, I said,
"Thanks for the prep." And we went, (laughs)
(audience laughing) and we went-
- You're used to it, though. You were an experienced
actor at that point. - It was fun. I mean, I had a blast. I had more fun doing that.
And the dying hypnotist. - That was a flashy role, that
poor man in that one scene. And David, you were on
"Mad TV" at the time, if I'm not mistaken. What do you remember about the table read? And I remember you saying that you had some trouble
getting away from "Mad TV" in order to do the film. Is that true? You were on contract and
had a little issue with Fox? (Stephen laughs)
- No comment. (Stacey laughs) - He was on "King of the Hill" too. - Yes, he was on "King of the Hill" too. - Mike had originally seen
me in the porn version "Orifice Space"
(audience laughing) in which we gang bang a vending machine. (audience laughing) And he just felt it was so moving, that's how I got the role. - There's gonna be a
lot of this coming up. So this is a good precursor to a much, much to come from David. Thank you, David, for
that wonderful anecdote. - No problem. - So by the time that you
kind of workshop the script after the table read, it was a go, okay. Now Ron. Hello, Ron. So nice to see you. At this point, you were on
the heels of "Swingers," which we all love. And your career was,
(audience applauding) yes, yes, applause, "Swingers." Your career was taking off, but not perhaps to the
degree the studio wanted in its leading man for this project. - Not even close.
- Not even close. I was trying to be nice about it. They did not want Ron in this movie, just over their dead bodies. So you did audition with Nancy Klopper, the wonderful Nancy Klopper. Tell me what you remember
about your audition that made an impression on her, so much so that she called Mike, who at the time was in New York meeting with Matt Damon to play the role of Peter. I know. (audience laughing) it's ridiculous to even think about it. - Who are you people? It's Matt Damon. How dare you? (Ron laughing)
(audience laughing) - He still thinks he's
on "Mad TV," you guys. Like this is, he can't let it go. But Ron, what do you
remember about your audition where you thought, "Okay, I'm
gonna do something clever. I'm gonna do something that's
gonna make an impression and hopefully win over the doubters"? - I don't even know if it was
that's so much as the scene. It was the scene where the
Bobs come in and the memo, and I'm sitting at the desk and to me, the tone of
it and the humor of it is that he's trying to do this thing and he keeps getting interrupted. And it's kind of impossible to play that if you're just standing
looking at a camera. If you're sitting in a chair, which most - Right, this is back in the day when you can put yourself on tape. Everyone's in front of the camera. - Your pager goes off, you know, you call the service. They say you have an audition
you have to drive to get, we didn't have fax machines. Yeah, it was a long time ago. So Nancy had a desk in the
back corner of the room and I just said, "Would you mind if I, can we turn the camera around
and can I sit at the desk? Can we do it at the desk?" And I had been temping for several years- - So I was gonna ask if you
had ever had an office job, because actually a lot of actors have not. - I had a ton of them, and
most of them were great. Honestly, if you're at temp and you know that you're
gonna leave it any time, that's actually really fun. (Stacey laughs)
(audience laughing) - [Stacey] No commitment. - And the tone of it, I
just loved the tone of it. You know, it just reminded me of all the kind of old
Jack Lemmon comedy stuff that I, you know, used to love. And so we did it and I could tell Nancy liked it, and then they called me
and started telling me all the reasons I wasn't
gonna get it. (laughs) - And correct me if I'm
wrong, wasn't there a mention of you having to get in shape
and lose weight for this role? - I got a call they were gonna do- - Did not come from me. - [Stacey] Not from Mike, no. - No, I did. On a Friday, I got a call. They were gonna screen test me on Tuesday, and my reps all called me on a group call and said they want to know if you'll fast until the,
(chuckles) until the test. And I laughed and nobody else laughed. (audience laughing) And then they were like,
"It's a real question." And I was like, "I don't know. I'll try." I think I went out and jumped rope on the deck for 15 minutes,
(Mike laughs) went to bed without any eating that night. And then I gave it up the next morning. I was like, "I can't do this." - Well, there's so much
to, as the kids say now, unpack about that request. We don't have time for that. But we're so glad you stuck to your guns. - Thank you. - And Ajay, you auditioned in a kind of more traditional sense and you had just done the Richard Linklater movie "Suburbia," also filmed in Austin,
if I'm not mistaken. (audience applauding) And I was really interested
to know the character of Samir, Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, you had written to be Iranian, but then you settled on
his being from Jordan because to you, that felt more timely. And tell me, Ajay, how you, first of all, did you have any sense of
this type of character? Did you know someone who worked in offices and did you kind of research
this specific type of guy? - Oh yes. I knew so many of these dudes, like all my, like, cool DJ friends at the time that were like, you know, playing like really
forward-bound electronic music were also big IT dudes on the side. - This is in New York, probably, right? - In New York, India, worldwide, you know, so it was kind like, you know, they were very dichotomous,
you know, I mean, in their existence, you know? They'd be like was gonna
go (scatting indistinctly) And then in the morning,
"Okay, time to go for..." you know, and then off
they'd go do their thing. But no, it is very interesting because I always try if I'm gonna
do play another guy, someone away from myself,
it's always important to know where this person
learned their English, right? So Jordan, I was like, "Who's the guy that I know, dude who kind of talks like that? And he is like this kind of interesting, you know, it's like Middle Eastern?" And I was like, I gotta figure
out what that accent is. and I remember talking to Mike and saying like, "Look, I
really want it to be specific. I don't want it to be like, you know, that's the Middle Eastern dude. That's the Indian guy or whatever it is." So I talked to Mike and he was like, "Well, if we can, we can find a coach and we can do it. You know, we can figure it out." And then when I went and started sort of studied it, then I realized, oh, this is very specifically
a Jordanian accent. So that is something I worked on. But yeah, I knew a lot of these dudes. - (laughs) That was a lot of research. You did a lot of research. - Give it up for Jordan.
- Give it up for Jordan. (Stacey laughs)
(audience applauding) - Sorry, that was all the
very long-winded answer. I'm sorry.
- It was not long-winded. It was very packed with
information in which we appreciate. So, jumping ahead, it's
I think May of '98, spring of '98, you began production. You had two weeks in Austin. Two weeks to rehearse. What were your first
impressions of each other as an ensemble when you were on, 'cause you had sort of
disjointedly get, you know, joined the project at different times? When you finally gathered as a group, what did you think of each
other and who was the weirdest? (audience laughing) - I remember just feeling like, oh, I hope these guys don't freeze on set. I just really hope they don't
fuck this whole thing up. 'cause I'm good. (audience laughing) I hope they just don't fucking freeze up because whoo, there's a
lot of money on the line. - I wasn't used to being around guys that made me laugh that much all the time. So like, my face hurt all
the time in rehearsal. I was like, "Oh God, stop it." Relentless. - No, these were all
great character actors. We all had a blast. We loved each other. Immediately. We didn't
have to worry about it. - 100%.
- Those rehearsals where we would just go in and, like, kind of just dick around
for the first probably hour. - Kind of like Peter's
15 minutes of the day where he stares at the wall.
- A little bit. You know, but I think it really
kind of took the edge off and we got to know each
other a little bit better. - It was a weird time for me. 'cause Phil Hartman had just passed.
- Oh, of course, "NewsRadio." - Right before we did this movie at the end of a "NewsRadio" season. So it was a weird head space, but it was a great
place to be to just bah, go let it out. - And Stephen, in terms of
the, I guess physicalization of Milton, tell me about the glasses and what other sort of
physical prep you did to inhabit this very, very strange man. - Well, Mike maybe can tell
you more about the glasses. Did you come up with the glasses, Mike? - Yeah, and I know that
wasn't too fun for you. I just kept saying, "Thicker, thicker." (Stacey laughs)
(audience laughing) - Oh, by the time we did it, I literally had contacts
behind this thick of glass. - They had contacts counter.
- I had no depth perception, so whenever I had to reach for something, I had to practice it. I had to practice reaching for the, because I have no clue. - So you almost destroyed
your vision for this project? - Yes, ma'am.
- Wow. (audience laughing) That's a devoted artist. Very much so. - No, it was great though. I
loved that affectation for him and the fact that he never
washed any of his clothes. His ties were gravy-ed. - There's a lot going on with poor Milton. Speaking of acting, Mike, tell me what went into
the decision to play Stan, the Tchotchkes manager. And what level of terror
did you have acting opposite one of the most popular people working in television at that
time, Jennifer Aniston? - High level of terror for sure. So that came about, that was a very last-minute
addition to the script. - Because you had had a local
casting person here too, working for some of the
side characters, right? - Yeah, a lot of great local actors. The guy, Todd Duffy, who
played the cheery waiter guy was actually on "Barney,"
which is done in Dallas. Yeah, so, but yeah, so I added
that at the last minute. Auditioned a bunch of people. I've run into one of them since. And it's always sort of a like, why did I waste my time
when you put yourself in? But I did, like every people
kept, it was a, you know, I mean, if you've all seen the movie. Everyone was trying to make
it big and goofy and funny, and I just had this specific thing that was like an imitation of
a orchestra conductor I had that was just really passive
aggressive and just mm, mm, mm, (audience laughing) and I just
couldn't get anyone to do it. And then I just thought,
"I'll play it myself," and then almost immediately regretted it. - But the casting person said, "Perfect," and you were locked in at that point? - Well, so I put myself on tape. I legitimately auditioned for myself and then I showed it to Nancy Klopper and Daniel Rappaport at the same time. And Nancy, I think was about
to say she didn't like it. And Daniel Rappaport said,
"Oh, you gotta do it." That's great. That's it," you know? I just said, "Okay, I'm gonna do it." But it was interesting 'cause I, you know, I had this wig and mustache and came to set and nobody recognized me. I mean, we'd been working 16-hour days and I saw a whole other
side to some of the people. In fact, Daniel Rappaport was like, I said, "Daniel, what do you think?" And he looks at me and he is like, doesn't say anything
and starts to walk away. I said, "Daniel," and he is
like stumbling over cords to get away from me and find somebody to throw me off the set. - So you said, "Mission accomplished"?
- "It's Mike Judge." - And what was it like
working with Jennifer? She told me once that she had a crush on
you while you were filming. - I didn't get that sense at all. (all laughing) I think when she flipped me off in that scene, it felt very real. (audience laughing) No, it was great. I mean, you know, she is really a great comedy
actor, great comedy timing. She added a lot to the whole thing. Like her and Ron, there
was some stuff there in the car when they're getting pissed, it was like really good. That was kind of spur of the moment. And yeah, she was great. - She did well for
herself. She did very well. - Yeah, she did better
than all of us. (laughs) - She did. (laughs) All of
us combined in this room. Speaking of Jennifer, another fun fact, Jennifer and David went to high
school together in New York. - Yeah, I remember Jennifer
said, "Oh, David Herman, he is an intense great
drama actor." (laughs) (audience laughing)
- Yes. She even went so far as to tell me- - I'm not surprised.
- "He was a brooding, quiet genius. I was a sophomore, he was a senior. I was sort of madly in love with him, but also terrified at the same time. " - Yeah, yeah. (laughs) - What do you say to that now? - Stay.
- I know. (all laughing) - All right, Mike, you wanna
tell the Madonna story? - Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. - Wait, no, no. Save that.
- If you know, you know. - Save that for later. That's the capper. That's his third act punchiness. So save that. Okay. So during filming, Mike, you have said that this was a very
stressful experience for you. It was your first live
action feature, obviously, but the studio wasn't loving
what they were seeing. And in one aspect, they said
Ron needed to smile more. (Ron chuckles) - That's the best. It's a comedy. - It's a comedy.
- Why aren't you smiling? - Smile.
- Like a smile! Like a smile! - And Ron, you told me that you were- - This is smiling! - David, (audience laughing) this is not "Mad TV," David. Ron, you have said that you
were worried about being fired. - I wasn't. I wasn't at all. - You weren't?
- I would've smiled more if I was worried. I had no idea, really. I remember Mike, you came
to me kind of like, "Um, Ron, we're just getting some notes and, you know- - I just wanted to be able to
say, 'Yeah, I talked to him." - I was so clueless. I was kind of like, "Oh, well
those don't make any sense." And then,
(all laughing) and so then one of the
execs from the studio kind of came and had
a little talk with me. And I think I was used to
doing an independent film where there was no such
thing as a re-shoot. And I felt like-
- And no studio exists. - We've already shot this
for four or five days, so they can't possibly replace me. - Oh, they can always replace.
They can always replace. And Mike, was it
uncomfortable for you to have to be the intermediary
between that feedback when you knew that of
course Ron was doing exactly what you needed him to do, but the studio wasn't
really getting it yet. - No, I mean, they had a
different vision for it, I guess. I mean, the thing I loved
about Ron's performance and the reason that a
lot of people auditioned, including some, you know, some big shots. But they all either did,
there were two versions that seemed to happen. It was either like
"Dawson's Creek" type guys who were just always like, (sniffs) "Yeah, yeah, hey Milton, um, (sniffs) uh, maybe you turn that down, yeah." (audience laughing) Or you would get like these guys who were just like, "Oh, I can't stand it here, ah." And to me, like the whole thing when I worked in those jobs wasn't, I didn't think that I was
better than that place. - It was like a confidence thing. - Yeah, it was just like I was just like I was happy for the job,
which made it even worse. 'cause like, I guess this
is as good as I can get. (audience laughing) I think
I was kind of thinking of actors like Charles Grodin, and I remember you might've
even said something after you had already gotten the part. And we were that, that you were kind of thinking that way too. - Oh, that's one of my guys. - Charles and Jack Lemmon, the
everyman sort of character. - No one else played it like that. - Well, we're so glad. We're
so glad you stuck with it. So one of the most iconic scenes, enduring scenes is of
course the printer scene. (audience laughing) - Again, better in the porn version. - Better.
(audience laughing) - The vending machine. There isn't an orifice we don't, sorry. (all laughing) - I so appreciate the energy he's giving. I'm so grateful, David, thank you so much. So the printer scene was inspired by a real vitriol that you, Mike, felt for an actual printer while you were writing "Beavis
and Butt-Head" the movie. What was your dream
scenario for shooting this? I know that there were
some challenges on the day that made it a little bit different from what you have mentioned
in terms of camera work and cinematography and also location. So tell me how you navigated that. - Yeah, what I remember, so that was the second day of shooting. And I mean, this was, you know, like the immediacy of it. You get this, it's like, okay, Jesus, Each day costs like $200,000 or something. and you get there and it's like, I had imagined that we shot
really early in the morning. 'cause I'd imagined the sun was going down and it was like this celebratory
thing and it was overcast. And then I started to think, "Wait, this is actually kind of perfect." Like, it's kind of, it's more like angry feeling or something. And so I kind of went with that. And that Geto Boys song was
just playing in my head. It's called "Still Die Muthafuckas." (Stacey laughs) And then I remember talking to these guys and like, I don't know, I
was trying to be director, like, "Just think of
something you hate so much." They were like, "No, no, we got this." (audience laughing) And once we started
and then Tim Suhrstedt, he goes, "You know what would be cool?" - He's the cinematographer. - Yeah, cinematographer, greatest. And he said we could dig a hole and put the camera down there and just have put sandbags
in the side of the printer and just see these guys
beating the out of it. And just the energy was so amazing. And Ajay, remember, you had the, Ajay does that amazing kick. - There were lots of amazing kicks. Your range was amazing. - David Herman almost got, I was a first-time director. I'm like, "Hey David,
just jump up in the air and just stomp on it." And it broke. And he slipped like almost could have easily lacerated himself. And my first AD Rick Murray goes, what he said something like, "Okay, Mr. Landis," referring to that. (all laughing) I was like, "Oh, shit, I gotta be really careful here." Almost severely injured David Herman. But anyway, yeah, Ajay,
what was it, the stunt guy? - The stunt and fight guys were so cool because they kind of
like infused it with this like kept-in effort, overcome thing. I remember there's, you know, he showed me how to pass the bat or, like, move him out
of the way with the bat. He's like, "Don't try to do anything." Just be like, "This is my
turn." You know what I mean? It's just like, you know,
(Mike laughs) when you're really doing somebody. You know what I mean? You got to think, you know, (audience laughing) I mean, I think I told
this story one time. Like I was out front of the, it's gonna be a little bit long-winded. I was out in front of this cigar store in New York and, you
know, inside the place were these like really,
really scary dudes. and I didn't even realize I was there. And this guy comes out and he was like, "Hey, man, come in here." And I was like, "Oh, what's going on?" And I went in there
and he was like, "Shh." Brought me in and he showed me to the guys and they were like, "Look who it is." And they were like, "Oh, yeah. I just just want to tell you, we thought it was very authentic the way that you did the thing." (audience laughing)
And I was like, "Thank you. Thanks very much for having me in.
- These were some, like, Little Italy types we're
talking about here? - You know, hey, you know.
- They know their stuff. - They look like they were involved. (Stacey laughs) - Well, needless to say that scene is more indelible than ever. - No, but the kind of kept-in rage until Michael's allowed
to like, just like, and then for us then, for Ron and I to be like, "Oh man, that's too bad. But no, don't let yourself go. Don't let yourself get outta hand, man. You don't need to lose yourself to beat the shit out of this printer. You know what I mean? Come on man." But then he goes back for another one. (Mike laughs)
Back, you know what I mean? And that immediately
showed this kind of like, I thought incredible camaraderie and sort of love between them. 'cause it's a real contradiction
in the way it's done. - I think we made the decision on the day that you wouldn't actually, you were gonna hold back. - I felt strongly that I
shouldn't hit the thing. And then I remember that, you know- - It's a gift.
- The idea was kind of like, we're here if you need to do this. But it really felt like, no, this is like I'm blooding these
guys, you know what I mean? (Mike laughs)
And this is where, you know. I don't know. It just felt like a- - Gift for us. - It was a gift.
- You know what I mean? - Go ahead, guys, you know? - Take it up.
- take it up. - Stephen, I'd love to
talk about the stapler, the iconic red stapler. And I know that there was, yes, let's give the stapler some applause. (audience cheering)
(audience applauding) The unsung hero of this production - Swingline, yes, let's hear it. - So I know originally
you had tried to license with the Boston or Bostich staplers, but they wouldn't allow
you to use the branding. So then you had to shift to Swingline, but they didn't make a red. So tell me about having to adjust to that and what the prop masters did on set. - I learned all this stuff afterwards because the prop guy had made a Swingline that was very thin. And the ones they finally made later on were a different model than we had used in the movie, is that right? - Yeah, no one made a red stapler. I just wanted it to stand out, just 'cause, you know,
everything's kind of gray and staplers were all in shades of gray. And then we also moved the
Swingline logo to the side. When they finally, well, Swingline ended up making red staplers because there were people making them and selling them on eBay. And they were selling so many, "Wall Street Journal" did
a whole thing about it. But they put it on the top and then people started complaining. And finally Swingline, I think makes them where it's on the side now. - No, they would send them to
me to sign for a long time. And then when I would
do different TV shows or whatever, I'd go into
the first AD's office and there'd always be a box of staplers for me to sign on set, which was amazing. - That's so sweet. So now we know not what to
give you for the holidays. - You don't. I have enough. - You have enough, okay.
(audience laughing) So before we talk about release and the final product of the film, Mike, I would love to talk about, and I'll say the discussions you had with Tom Rothman about
using rap on the soundtrack, which for me is one of the
best parts of the movie. It's hard to imagine it without it. Tell me about navigating that, but also how a focus group sort of swung toward your direction and
ultimately his saying, "Fine, we will let Geto Boys and Ice Cube. - Well, yeah, I love Tom Rothman. The movie wouldn't have
happened without him. He put his on the line, put the money in. He did have a lot of opinions. It were different than my opinions, but one, yeah, one of the big ones was, I mean, his battle cry the whole time, including wanting Ron to smile was, "I just want it to be fun." And I would say, "Well,
I think it is fun." And, "Yeah." He hated the gangsta rap stuff. - You had written the script
listening to Geto Boys. So it was sort of like
informing your whole - Yeah, I kept thinking about, I mean, the thing that's funny, like, I mean, that music at that point it had been in a lot of the kind of gangsta movies, but I hadn't seen anyone use it just purely for the energy
and the anger of it. And it just seemed to me like
it would be really funny. You know, I had the thing in the beginning where David Herman locks the door when all he rapping along. Like, I had that I didn't lock the, not the lock the door thing, but I remember driving a, I bought a SUV when I first
got money, I don't know why. And I was listening to Geto Boys something and just, I knew every
lyric and I thought, "God, this just must look
ridiculous to somebody." But I thought it'd make
a funny scene in a movie. And then I thought maybe that is a theme. So yeah, Rothman kept arguing and saying, "You gotta take that song out." And finally I did something I probably should not
have done, but it worked. I mean, I should have just said, "No, I'll take my name off
the movie. That's the song." But I said, "Okay, if
the next test screening, if the focus group says
they don't like the music, I'll take it out," which
I should not have done. So it gets to the focus
group and the moderator, she was trying so hard
to pollute the water. It gets to the question she goes, so it's like 20 people and it's in a theater
and we're behind them. And she goes, "So what did
you think about the music?" (all laughing) And then all 20 of them
just started going, "Oh, it was great. It was great."
And she's going like this. And she goes, "But what
about some of the rap songs?" And then, "Oh, it was
great. It was great." And she's like, "But maybe
there were too many of them." (all laughing) And she tries to get somebody
to nod along with her, like, and they were just, they
would not give her anything. And then this, she goes, "But you think it was maybe
a little too profane?" And this one guy who was like 19, he just basically explains to her everything I'd been saying to Rothman. He goes, "No, but that's
what's cool about it. It's like these nerdy white boys and the music's angry and everything." And to Tom Rothman's
credit, like I looked over, he was pacing the aisle
like he always would. - So he was there for that. - Yeah, he was there. I was sitting and I looked
over at him and he just goes... (audience laughing) But he never said anything about it again. He kept his word, and
so the music's in there. - If you watch the pilot, if I
mean, excuse me, the trailer, the trailer's like Fatboy Slim. It's like ♪ Right about now it's
the funk soul brother ♪ - I mean they wanted like
Chumbawamba for this thing, right? (all laughing) What a wholly different
movie this would be if it was-
- Oh, yeah, the trailer. ♪ Right about now it's
the funk soul brother ♪ (all laughing) - I think I've only
watched the trailer once. I remember they sent me
14 versions of trailers and I was actually like, "Oh,
some of these aren't bad." And I remember writing down,
"I don't like number seven and number 13." And we get on the conference call, "We really like seven and 13." (audience laughing) And I was like, "Okay." - Oh, the struggles. The struggles. - It's tough. - So opening weekend,
February of '99, you know, Fox had had a huge hit the previous summer was "Something About Mary," So in a lot of ways they
were trying to kind of coast on that success with this movie. And the movie of course did not open to the gangbusters numbers
that you were hoping for and I think ultimately made
under 12, 11-ish million. Is that right? Around that time.
- Sounds right. - What do you remember
about opening weekend? And obviously the way that
we consume movies in ''99, even vaguely doesn't bear any resemblance to even 10 or 15 years
ago, but people went to movies opening
weekend to see the movie. What do you remember about
the way the movie was marketed and the way it was placed
that made you feel uneasy? Like we are not being set up for the success that you hope for? - (chuckles) I mean, look, it's probably a tough movie to market, to be fair. I think, you know, also, it was R rated, so they tried, I don't know,
I've never even seen it. I think that, like I say,
I saw the trailer once. I think at one point they were trying to do this like, ooh,
it's so naughty trailer to make it like "Something About Mary" and it just didn't work. But no, I mean I knew it
wasn't gonna open big. I mean, the "Beavis and Butt-Head" movie. it was supposed to come in like fifth or sixth according to the tracking. And then miraculously
it was like number one and set a box office record. This, I was thinking like, "Oh, maybe something crazy will
happen." and nah, no it didn't. (audience laughing) But you know, I mean it was a bummer 'cause I fought so hard
for all these choices and for the cast and the music and I just kind of felt
like I let everybody down 'cause it affects other
people's careers too, you know? It's like, oh God, did I just
drag Jennifer Aniston down and (audience laughing) Ron's first movie as a lead? I think, right? Well, other than "The Little Indian," but- - [Audience Member] we love you, Mike. - We love you, Mike.
You didn't let us down. - Oh no, I'm fine now, don't worry. - That's all that matters. He's fine. He's fine. (audience laughing) - It took me a couple
weeks to get over it. - So though the movie
didn't perform financially in the way you hoped, your
profile sort of did rise. You had some big folks
coming out of the woodwork to tell you that they love your work. So this is the segue to the Madonna story that I would love for you to share as it also includes David. - Yes. Well, I kind of didn't
want to hear how it did. And then, you know, I
just didn't answer calls from my manager, and I'd seen that it'd come in like
eighth place or something. And then, then Michael Rotenberg, Rotenberg, my manager
started, kept calling me and he was saying, "Hey,
can you call me back?" Well, the first thing that happened is I got an amazing message
from Chris Rock that was just, I saved it for years. Just saying how much he loved it. And he said, "You gotta make another movie 'cause everyone's gonna steal your ideas. You gotta keep making them." Yeah, it was really nice. And then Rotenberg said, "Jim Carrey wants to meet you." And I was a huge fan. I'd never met him. and then just other people call. John Landis actually called,
(laughs) David Zucker, and like Amy Heckerling
and all these people, like great directors that I looked up to. And then Madonna wanted to meet. She loved the movie and there was something
she wanted me to direct. And yeah, I met with her and she goes, "You know who
my favorite character was?" And I said, "Milton?" She goes, "No, that Michael Bolton guy." (audience laughing)
And she said, "There's just something
sexy about how angry he is." (audience laughing) And then we were doing "King of the Hill" and I said, "Dave,
you're not gonna believe this what Madonna said." And David said, "Okay, you're gonna have to tell that story." I can't tell that story. No one's gonna believe it from me. (audience laughing) - Well believe it 'cause
it happened, right? Jennifer Aniston and Madonna
have a crush on me, everybody. (all laughing) - Do any of you buy this? (audience laughing) - Yes. Yes we do. I love that. And for the actors, how did
your careers shift and change? I know Ron, you would go on
to do "Band of Brothers," which is a very different project. Amazing work on "Band of Brothers." Did you see different roles coming in? Did you see different offers? Because even though it wasn't like, quote, "a box office hit" in the industry, I imagine people were like,
"This is fucking funny." And so you had fans probably percolating on the business side? - No,
- Not so much? Oh. I was trying to set you
up for success there. - No, it was when I booked it and when we made it felt
like there was a groundswell, but then when it didn't
open, it was kind of like- - We're not gonna let
you do that again, Ron. - Yeah, it was a little bump, bump, bump. But, you know, it was just, then a couple years later
it started ratcheting up. I remember I was on the west side and I walking and I see,
and there's Dave Grohl. Dave Grohl comes walking
up and he's like, "Hey, I just gotta say 'Office
Space' changed my life." (audience laughing) - Why? Was he in an
office job before that? - I had no idea. I was kind of so flustered
at seeing Dave Grohl, I couldn't think of anything
to say except, "Mine too." (all laughing) - And how about you and
Ajay and Stephen and David? Did you start to see new work coming in, or did it kind of feel like, "Okay, I made another
kind of cult classic." - That was really the
busiest time I had was then because I was doing "King
of the Hill" with Mike. During the movie, got a call to do Tom Hanks' "From
the Earth to the Moon" and another sitcom. So it was like, I don't know
whether it came from that, but yeah, a lot of stuff was
happening around that time. - And Ajay? - When we were doing
this, I was pretty busy. And then, this movie when it didn't
like, I guess stay open, like, I was like, "Oh, that's too bad. 'cause that was really, really good." You know what I mean? But then like a year or so later, some huge dude on the ski lift was like, "Yo!" And I was like, "What?" (all laughing) And then,
and then he was like, "Come on man, the movie
about the office man." I was like, "Oh, oh,
well you saw that. Cool." You know what I mean? And then it started to
become more and more. Yeah, career-wise it's hard to, sorry. - Did Gary Cole or any of the
other guys come up to you guys and say, "Have people
been coming up to you and saying stuff from the movie?" Because they did for me and did for Gary. I'm sure did for you, Ron.
- I remember talking to Gary about that. We were both puzzled, I think. - (laughs) Yeah, we were. - Well, Gary had told me he
had never had an office job. He only had serving jobs in restaurants, so he didn't understand how
miserable office workers were until he became like the face
of the devil of the office. (all laughing) So he was stunned to find this out. So he obviously went in the right job. He never had to have an office job. And David, your career
has continued to run. - I've remained on the same
rung of celebrity ladder. I'm on the same rung as the dancing bear and the roller-skating parakeet. I'm not joking. I do cameo. I do it for
charity, by the way. So can I get a round of
applause for Dave Herman? (audience laughing) I do it for charity, but honest to God,
there's a hippo (chuckles) from the Cleveland Zoo who
has more followers than I do and charges three times as much as I do. They feed him heads of lettuce. Granted, I can't eat a head
of lettuce in one swallow, but I'm learning so I can move up one
celebrity rung for all of you. (audience laughing) (audience applauding) - David Herman and I were
walking down Congress like about two years after
"Office Space" came out, I think it was. This couple comes up to
David and goes, "Oh my God, your movie 'Office Space',
it changed my life." I quit my job and
they're saying this stuff and then David points to me and goes, "Well, he wrote
it and directed it." And they go, "Oh hey, anyway." (all laughing) - That sounds about right, unfortunately. - Which was fine to me.
- So David, before I forget to ask, did you ever get any feedback or I guess reaction from Michael Bolton about the way you described
him as a no-talent ass clown (audience laughing) because musicians can
be a little sensitive about being cast that way. Did you ever have an interaction with him? - I've never met him, but honest to God, I'm scared if I do that
he might kick my ass (Stacey laughs) and that would be the worst (laughs) because he's like, what,
14 years older than me too. - He seems like a fun guy.
- I don't think he's well right now also, so I
don't wanna joke about it, but he probably could kick my ass. He probably could.
- We also appreciate the usage of him to make us laugh. And who didn't like a Michael
Bolton song at some point? - I mean, really? No? Okay.
(all laughing) - Herman, you came up with ass clown though, right?
- We wish him well. - You came up with that? - I did because the original line was, "No singing, asshole."
- "No singing, asshole." - And I think there was something legal about no singing like it's being- - Legal said "Don't say no singing." And they suggested no talent. - It would imply that he's
Minilli Mini Mini Mini. - Oh, yeah, Milli Vanilli. He can actually sing.
- But how about saying no talent, which is meaner, and then- - [Stacey] (laughs) Legal was okay. - David was always like, you were always spicing up
the cuss words. (laughs) Ass clown.
- Well, we actually had a guy come around saying that they were looking for the show, for the movie to have a PG 13 rating. And I was like, I'm single-handedly going to cuss like a sailor to the point where, and if you do look at those, you know, those whatever, those warnings, you know, parent warning things, you know, they'll say strong language is why this has an R rating thanks to me. And I think there's like, you know, one brief nudity, which means what? There's one case of underwear somewhere. - It's the breast exam.
- Oh, the breast exam. - Oh, the breast exam.
- Which was stock footage from a PBS thing. - That's right.
- One case of nudity. - Breast exam. Oh, Lawrence. We missed Lawrence too. Okay, so Mike, the
legacy of "Office Space" as is evidenced by this
room is indisputable. We're so happy you made this movie. TPS reports have been
referenced in such series as "Lost," "The Mandalorian," "Rescue Me," and yes, even "NCIS." I know, you've made it when
it's referenced on "NCIS." You also presciently predicted
the so-called phenomenon of quiet quitting. Peter was the first person to quiet quit, and now it's a thing. So I'm just saying.
(audience applauding) I know. And in my opinion, you
also created the blueprint for stories about office
life that depict it as it is, which is miserable. And you were approached to adapt Ricky Gervais's "The
Office" for American TV and you said no, which I think is so baller of you. What are you proudest
of having made this film and how has its legacy
made your life better? - Oh boy. Well, I mean,
I'm proud of the movie. Yeah, I mean there were so many times where I wanted to, you
know, early on was like, okay, I'm just gonna pull a plug on this. Why should I make such a weird movie? I don't know. I don't know, I'm proud I stuck with it. Wait, what was the second
part of the question? - No, just the legacy of this film. 'cause it continues to reverberate and by the way, "Silicon Valley" amazing. Without this movie we may
not have "Silicon Valley." - Yeah, that's true.
(audience applauding) - A lot of similar themes. But was it a real turning point
for you as an artist to say, "I have to stick with this. I know what I'm doing. I believe in. It's gonna be funny. I just have to be given the freedom to do it the way I wanna do it." - Well, once we were making it, I knew I had to stick to my guns. Otherwise, like, if you're not committing to what it's supposed to be,
it was gonna really suck. So that was good. I mean, it really was to
have it become successful, this delayed reaction was
really probably, like, kind of the sweetest victory. You know, 'cause like it comes out and then everyone's
like, "Oh, I told you so. You shouldn't have cast those people. Maybe next time you listen to us." And then gradually like,
oh, wait a second now. You know, back in the,
like, home video days, it creeped into like the top 10, top 20 like two years after. And it'd be like "Lord of the Rings," "Harry Potter," like "Office Space." (audience laughing) So it really, really was nice vindication. I always love hearing
people say they like it just 'cause you know, I
mean we all committed to it and worked hard on it and to have it fail at
first makes it even better. that it succeeded later.
- Agreed. So in this era of reboots
and revisiting previous work, I'd like to know what you think these characters are doing today. Let's start with Peter.
Where did Peter end up? Are he and Joanna married,
living in the 'burbs? What does their life look like now? - I don't know. He might
be in an ashram somewhere. (hosts laughing) - His spiritual journey. - He's probably still
trying to figure it out. - Okay, so the journey didn't end there. He became a seeker after his hypnosis. - Yeah, I think he's probably
bouncing from one thing to, he's probably in NXIVM for a while. I don't know.
(all laughing) - Well either way we know
he's working remotely 'cause he doesn't wanna
be working in an office. - And how about Samir? I feel like Samir got
married to a nice girl. Had numerous children. - I always think of him as very wholesome and like, you know, did
well and stayed focused and like, you know, he was
a very nose to the grinder. Very nice wife, very good, couple kid, everything chill, just living there and being like, "Hey,
hey, hey, how are you? Good, good." You know, very, very uneventful. And because I think he had to address his ire and rage. - Well he wanted job security too. He said that, "If we're
still doing this at 50, that's job security."
- So he got that. - He got that. - [Mike] And break
dancing on the side maybe. - And break dancing on the side. - That's at weekend time, you know. Now he has like a little arthritis and thing like that, but
that's okay, you know? He still gets loose when he has to. - I feel good about where Samir would be. And then Stephen, what possibly could be
going on with Milton today? Is this Milton something
any of us can understand? - Milton is wedged between the bathroom door and the toilet. (audience laughing)
Rotting, rotting away. (laughs) That's what I think. - Aw, poor Milton. And David, where is your- - Speaking of which, we're
very excited to tell you all we are doing a reboot. We're gonna be doing
"Office Space: the Musical" on ice at the Chaparral Center. I'll give you just a taste. ♪ TPS ♪ (audience laughing) ♪ Three little letters ♪ ♪ Yet are met with apprehension ♪ ♪ Three little letters ♪ ♪ That delude all comprehension. ♪ ♪ TP ♪ That's all you'll have to pay. - Ladies and gentlemen, Dave Herman. (all laughing)
Dave Herman! (audience applauding)
- Thank you, thank you. I should say Stephen isn't
the strongest skater. So if you wanna see Stephen,
come to the opening night 'cause he's got quite a few
numbers that require velocity and we don't know if he'll be making it through the entire run. So please, come opening night. - There have been two
"Office Space" musicals done and that was better than
anything in both of them. (audience laughing)
- And Mike, I'd like to know, where do you think Lumbergh is these days? Is he retired? Is he living on a
tropical island somewhere? - He died. - Aw.
- That's so sad. - What to do.
- No, I think he's continued to fail, succeed, what do you call it? Rise to the level of his incompetence or something like that. I mean the, yeah, all those kind of middle management
people seem to do just fine. (Mike chuckles) - And the one character
I'm most interested to know what he's doing today
is Drew the O Face guy. - Well-
- Born again. - Greg. (laughs) Born again Christian. - Absolutely
- Eight kids. - The actual actor who I think is great- - He's a local hire, right? - No, he was actually in
LA. He's from Florida. - Oh, he's from Florida. - He started acting in, was it SeaWorld or something in one of those things. And he moved back to Florida, became a realtor and now he's moved back to
LA and he's gonna act again. We saw him, he was at
one of the 20th things. - I love it. I love a good comeback. Well, before we wrap, I
just wanna thank you, Mike, for making this movie,
for trusting your gut. - Thank you.
- We appreciate it. (audience applauding) And thank you for casting such wonderful
people in your movie, all of whom are lovely and
hilarious and just good guys. And we really appreciate being here. Happy 25th anniversary to "Office Space". Thank you so much.
- Thank you. - Thank you so much. All right, thank you. (audience applauding) (shimmering music)
