The Office's John Krasinski Had A Hand In Filming The Opening Credits
Undeniably, Jim Halpert is the most iconic role of John Krasinski's career — at least, thus far. For nine seasons, Krasinski made viewers laugh with Jim's sarcasm and what's-going-on looks of solidarity to the camera. Then, of course, there was his hilarious rivalry with Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson), which made for some of the funniest moments of "The Office," such as the customer service training scene or when Jim dressed up as Dwight. Plus, while all of that is going on, Jim also had viewers rooting for him to get together with Pam (Jenna Fischer) — and, once they did get together, for them to stay together.
But while all of that was happening in front of the camera, Krasinski also had a major role behind the camera as well (besides directing three episodes of the series). As it turns out, Krasinski is the one responsible for filming the shots of the real Scranton, Pennsylvania, that appear in the show's opening credits.
Krasinksi spoke about filming these shots during an appearance on the "Off the Beat with Brian Baumgartner" podcast (which, of course, is hosted by Krasinski's former co-star who starred in the series as Kevin Malone). Around the 19:50 mark of the episode, Krasinski revealed that he and a friend traveled to Scranton after he landed the part and took those shots by pointing his camera through their Jeep's sunroof. "That shot of the Scranton sign is us driving [past it] at the full speed limit," he said. "I just sort of popped out of the sunroof and was like, 'Oh, wait wait wait' and he didn't really know so I [filmed] it as we drove by."
Krasinski filmed those shots because he was so excited to get the part of Jim
The reason that Krasinski traveled to Scranton in the first place is that he was so excited that he landed the job — after all, he was hired on "The Office" just three weeks after he decided to quit acting. On the podcast, Baumgartner asked Krasinski if that fueled his decision to visit Scranton, to which he responded, "Just pure nerdom." He added that he was just so excited to get the part and it was such a big deal for him at the time, being just 23 years old. He added, "I was so excitable, like a puppy." Thus, he went to Scranton for "research" and even visited the town's own paper company.
After his visit, Greg Daniels, who adapted the original U.K. version of "The Office" for U.S. audiences, ended up asking Krasinski if he could use the footage of Scranton for the show's opening credits. And much to Krasinski's surprise, Daniels even offered to pay him for the footage. Daniels offered the actor $1,000 for the footage, to which Krasinski quickly agreed. However, now he realizes he should have fought for more money. "That could have been the greatest investment in my entire life," he joked.