‘The Office’ Australia Star on Being Franchise’s First Female Boss and Online Backlash: “Of Course They’re Going to Come for Me”
“New Office. New Aussie boss.”
That’s the tagline for the new Australian version of The Office, that launches Oct. 18 on Amazon Prime Video everywhere, except the U.S. The latest iteration — the thirteenth different country version of the BBC workplace sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant that incredibly first hit screens in 2001 — has garnered a lot of chatter on social media, YouTube and in the global press, not least because it is another accessible English-language adaptation that follows the beloved British and U.S. versions, but also because it is the first adaptation that features a female boss.
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The set-up to the Aussie Office follows the tried and tested franchise formula: the mockumentary style, the boredom, the assortment of odd ball characters, the will-they-won’t-they office romance, and of course the overconfident, delusional boss lacking in self awareness. Australian standup comedian and actress Felicity Ward heads the cast of the Aussie Office, playing Hannah Howard, the managing director of the Western Sydney packaging company Flinley Craddick. Among those stuck working under Hannah are sales rep Nick ((think Tim/Jim), sales rep Greta (Dawn/Pam) and Lizze (Gareth/Dwight).
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Ward ahead of The Office‘s global debut (excluding the U.S. remember) on Prime Video, the actress discusses the differences between the Aussie, British and American versions of the show, how she’s sick of the same questions from journalists, toxic fandom and not reading the comments online and the surprisingly large number of Kiwis working on the show.
So my first question, The Office is of course a brand, a very well established and famous IP. What’s it like coming into something that’s already well established?
It’s so exciting and so terrifying. I’ve just had every single feeling and emotion about it. When I got the job, I just I cried because I was so happy. To get the lead in any sitcom is very, very exciting, but to get to be a part of The Office! It’s like forever, I will be a part of The Office. Whatever happens from now on, I was in The Office. Like call your mum, you know what I mean? And then five minutes later, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get fucking dragged by the internet. They’re really gonna come for me.’ And so I do not get involved in the Internet at all. It’s none of my business. I don’t read comments, articles, headlines, nothing. Not for me. Not for my eyes.
That’s a good attitude to have.
Yeah, it’s called delusion [laughs].
There are lots of versions of The Office, did you watch them to help with preparation for this version?
I’ve only seen the American and the British one. When I got the job, I don’t know if I stayed away from [the various iterations] intentionally, but I was like, what purpose will it serve [if I watched them]? I didn’t actually watch an episode of the American Office until we’d finished filming. And funnily enough at the end of one of the takes, I remember one of the background actors saying, ‘Oh, my God, that was such a Michael Scott thing to do.’ And I was like, ‘I have never seen the show… so good, I think?’
The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant, did you ask them for any input?
You leave those men alone! [laughs] They’re busy. They made it a long time ago. I don’t know how involved they were. I know that that we have their approval to make it. It’s not stolen. I’m sure they got some money for it.
This is how far I stayed away from it: I did a gig with Stephen Merchant earlier this year, and we both did a new material night. We’re both stand up comics, and I didn’t bring it up in the green room. He didn’t bring it up. It was like we’d been to a party, and we’d slept together years ago. And we were like, ‘You know what? We’re amongst new friends. Don’t say [anything].’ So neither of us brought it up. I don’t know if he knew that it was me, because I think that I looked different.
Could you describe Hannah Howard?
A delusional optimist or an optimistic delusionist? That’s not a word. Incompetent. Terrible at her job. Desperate. Needy. Lonely. Joyful. Idiot. And a chump. And that is the greatest gift for a female comic, to be in a sitcom and to be able to play a female chump, it’s the greatest.
I’ve seen a few episodes, I know I shouldn’t compare, but David Brent is not a likeable person, but Hannah is very likeable, was that a conscious decision to play her to be more likeable?
I think she is actually quite likeable. She’s quite funny. And even though she’s an idiot, it’s very interesting. I think that Hannah is more similar to Michael Scott if you’re going to compare the two. But I feel like the show itself has more space. The British one has lots of scenes of photocopiers, and there’s a lot of the boredom that’s captured to give that sense of mundanity to the audience. I feel like we have lots of that in the show, too. [I don’t know] how much of a conscious choice that was by, you know, the directors and editors and stuff like that. But when I watched it back, that’s what it felt like to me. And then I think that the humor is very, very Australian, but not in an alienating way.
You mention the Aussie sense of humor, but also I thought that it was very Kiwi in a sense.
Yeah, we pretend that the Kiwis don’t exist [laughs]. So [the executive producer, writer and director Jackie van Beek ] is a Kiwi. [Jessie Griffin], who’s another one of the directors, is a Kiwi. Four of the cast are Kiwis. So it was actually really nice to have them. I think Australians are much more direct, we’re much bolder. I think we’re more joyful than Kiwi people… not that they’re not! [Laughs] They’re just more reserved. But I think the contrast of that, that the Australians can be quite bombastic and vulgar, and then you’ve got the understatedness of [Kiwis]. I mean, who doesn’t like Kiwi comedy, if you look at Flight of the Conchords for example.
It’s interesting you mention Flight of the Conchords, I felt that there was an element of that humor, there are moments where it’s so deadpan.
Well [Taika Waititi], [Jemaine Clement], Jackie and Jesse all went to the same theater school, they all came up together, I think. They all sort of created this modern form of Kiwi comedy, which is so funny.
So I have to ask, and I’m sure you’ve probably answered this 15 to 20 times already, the whole gender swap thing and the negative reaction from some elements of the Office fandom, how do you feel about that?
I mean, it’s like everyone’s asking me ‘Do you feel the pressure?’ And I’ve heard that 40 times in the last week. ‘Are you feeling pressure, Felicity? Are you getting the pressure? What do you think of the pressure? How’s the pressure getting to you?’ And I’m like it’s you [journalists]. No, I’m not getting it from anyone else. My family are like ‘we’re so proud of you.’
Here is an exercise: Go on YouTube or Google literally any stand-up comedian that is a woman and then read the comments. So that’s gonna happen with this. Of course, this is gonna happen. There’s some angry people out there. And so of course they’re gonna come for me because it’s a double whammy because it’s The Office and because I’m a woman and I don’t say that as a victim. It’s just like the facts. I’ve been a stand-up comedian for 16 years. I’ve had this shit before, like that just exists.
Also, I know what it is to love something and have it remade and feel furious about it. Now that sounds insane to me saying out loud, but I absolutely have felt furious about some things. Point Break is my favorite film of all time, love Point Break. Why would you touch Point Break if it’s a perfect film? And then they remade it, and I was angry. What I didn’t do is get on the Internet and hunt down the lead actors to try to make them understand how awful they are. That’s the madness. I get the anger, but call a friend, you know what I’m saying?
With the American Office, this exact same thing happened 20 years ago. The American Office came out and people were mad. They were like, ‘You can’t touch this British legacy comedy, it’s an institution.’ And it is. For the first series [of the U.S. Office] they were using British scripts and then when they started writing their own stories, it’s turned into literally the most beloved comedy of all time. It’s a different show. It’s just not the same thing. We’ve got all original scripts, all original characters, all original story lines. We’re just having the same thing that the American Office had 20 years ago.
How do you feel about the global interest in the Aussie Office? Or are you more interested in making Australians laugh?
I want as many motherfuckers to watch this as possible and enjoy it [laughs]. I don’t care where you’re getting it from. When the press release came out, when we first announced that it was even being made, I was getting tagged in articles in Brazil and Italy and Denmark, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was gonna happen.’ So I don’t know, maybe something will change [in how I feel about the attention]. Maybe it won’t change. I can’t predict the future. We’ll just see what happens, right?
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
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