The Office Star Melora Hardin's Iconic Plastic Surgery Was All Fake
"The Office," the NBC mockumentary-style sitcom that was developed for television by Greg Daniels, is full of hilarious, memorable moments — from the fire drill to the chaotic dinner party. Another memorable moment is, in Season 3, when Dunder Mifflin's vice president of northeast sales Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) takes some drastic measures to win back regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell), her on-and-off love interest.
In the two-part season finale of Season 3, titled "The Job," Jan shows up at the Scranton office and shocks everyone with a new look: she has undergone breast augmentation surgery. At first (prior to seeing Jan's new breasts), Michael isn't sure if he should get back together with Jan or not, seeing as she hasn't exactly treated him well in the relationship. Michael even seeks out the advice of the women in the office — including Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Angela (Angela Kinsey) — who all advise him against rekindling the relationship. After Pam advises him to be firm about his decision not to reconcile, Michael is determined to put his foot down and say no — until Jan reveals her new, bigger breasts. After seeing the results of her surgery, Michael quickly says he wants them to get back together.
Fans of the show might be wondering how they pulled off the hilarious plotline, considering Hardin hardly would have been asked to get surgery just for the role. Instead, they had to fake the iconic look — here's how they did it.
A clever costuming choice was used to give the impression of the boob job
In an episode of the podcast "Office Ladies," which is hosted by former co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey — whose characters advised Michael not to get back together with Jan — the episode "The Job" is discussed at length. Fischer began the conversation by revealing that one fan actually asked her if Hardin got a breast augmentation just for the storyline (which would be quite the dedication to the role), to which Fischer confirmed that that wasn't the case. Instead, the costume and makeup departments had the task of working out a way to make it look like Jan had bigger breasts than Hardin actually does.
Fischer explained, "They designed this crazy bra for her that was filled with like a gazillion little cutlets and then they did this like makeup shadowing on her chest to create even more illusion of, like, swollen cleavage and all of that" (via CheatSheet). Then, Hardin had to wear the specialized bra for every episode she was in thereafter, to keep up the continuity — which, in and of itself, is also quite dedicated.
Hardin herself was partially responsible for coming up with the whole idea
In an April 2018 in-depth interview with Rolling Stone, the cast and the crew of "The Office" discussed the making of the episode, "Dinner Party," and, during the conversation, they all discussed the importance of Jan's character development to the episode. Naturally, the boob job episode came up, and Hardin revealed that she played a part in coming up with the idea for Jan's breast augmentation.
Hardin explained, "Jan's boob job came from the first year that we went to the [network] upfronts [where advertisers preview upcoming shows], and I turned to [creator] Greg [Daniels] and said, 'It's funny, I'm looking around at the females in our cast, and I'm thinking nobody in our cast has a boob job.'" The actress added that she then saw Daniels start thinking up the idea that eventually led to the hilarious moment in "The Job" and she was amused to see him coming up with the plotline in real time. She continued, "That was when he thought, 'Ding-ding-ding-ding! Jan's getting a boob job!'" Hardin then expressed her love for the storyline, stating, "I just think that's hilarious, and obviously the beginning of her losing her s***."