B.J. Novak has confirmed reports that James Gandolfini was offered a role on The Office. 

Earlier this year, it was reported that HBO paid Gandolfini $3 million to turn down the role of Steve Carell’s replacement on The Office. 

Novak addressed the rumor on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live, after an audience member asked him how he would have handled “Tony Soprano being your boss.”

“I was at the meeting with James Gandolfini where we tried to convince him to join the show, and he was a big fan,” Novak revealed. “His favorite movie was The Rocker starring Rainn Wilson, so he was shy and intrigued.”

Novak, who was both a writer and actor on The Office, shared that Gandolfini was his favorite actor of all time, adding that he thought he would be great on the NBC sitcom.

“I just thought it would be great because, to me, The Sopranos was actually the biggest influence on The Office because of the way that comedy and drama and character were all completely indistinguishable,” he continued. “In fact, the way Michael Scott will say something very serious but mispronounce a word, I feel is a direct descended of the Tony Soprano sense of humor.”

Cohen went on to ask how close Gandolfini actually was to having a role on the show, questioning he actually wanted to do it.

“I did. It was interesting, we suggested a white-collar character for him to play against type,” Novak said. “And he said something I’ll never forget, which is, ‘I feel as an actor, whoever comes out at 3 a.m., that’s who you should be playing. And at 3 a.m. what comes out of me is a blue-collar guy.’ I thought that was really interesting.”

Watch above, via Bravo.

The post B.J. Novak Confirms James Gandolfini was Offered a Role on The Office: ‘He Was Shy and Intrigued’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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