Greg Daniels on Revisiting 'The Office' for 'The Paper', Final Season of 'Upload' & More | THR Video - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

Screenwriter, TV producer and director Greg Daniels answers 10 questions with The Hollywood Reporter. He reveals if it was comforting or terrifying revisiting 'The Office' for 'The Paper' and talks 'Upload' starting it's final season. Plus, he dishes on if there are any other shows he is currently working on.

Transcript

00:00The Hollywood Reporter would be an excellent show, I think.

00:03There's probably a lot of adventures that you have

00:05with a rotating cast of strange people that you interview.

00:09That's a deal. We just made it packed for a new show, right?

00:11I'm the exclusive writer of The Hollywood Reporter TV show.

00:19Hi, I'm Greg Daniels, and I'm having a busy summer.

00:22A small-town New York boy has a lucky time of it in Hollywood.

00:33I don't always agree with the headlines,

00:35so when you read the stories,

00:37they're more interesting than the headlines, usually.

00:41Well, if there's a common thread to what I do,

00:44it's that I'm in the genre of character comedy,

00:47which I love and goes back to Mary Tyler Moore's show

00:52and Jack Benny and Cheers

00:54and all those kind of great shows about personalities.

00:57They're all variations of that,

00:58and I like to build fabulous ensemble casts

01:03because it makes it easier to write comedy

01:07for such interesting people.

01:12Thanos. No, I don't think there's a Thanos.

01:15Thanos. I think my world view is that

01:19even the most irritating characters

01:21have a bit of humanity in them.

01:27Well, I've had anxiety about it,

01:30you know, for like eight years,

01:32ever since people started asking me

01:34about doing a reboot,

01:35but this isn't a reboot.

01:37It's a new documentary from the same crew,

01:41and exploring new characters

01:43was actually very fun.

01:45And working with Michael Komen,

01:48who created the show with me,

01:50was a joy,

01:51and getting to match these jokes

01:54and characters to a new cast

01:55was a joy.

01:57So it's been pretty fun

01:59and not anxiety-producing.

02:01Gosh, well, a lot of the things

02:10in Upload will probably,

02:11they'll be using,

02:12like self-driving cars

02:14and digital printed food

02:17and stuff like that.

02:18I like to think that

02:20there'll still be a newspaper

02:21in 2035

02:22on some kind of screen

02:24that you hold on your hand.

02:25In the office,

02:31the characters were selling stationery

02:33in a digital world of iPads,

02:35and there's something

02:37a little poignant

02:38about plugging away

02:39in a field

02:41that's slowly shrinking.

02:44And certainly,

02:44the newspaper

02:46is one of those situations,

02:48but the people

02:49who are left

02:50caring about journalism

02:52and doing their job

02:54are very optimistic

02:56and dedicated people,

02:58and they're fun

02:58to write about.

03:03Well, as a TV writer,

03:04I have a trunk,

03:05and in the trunk

03:06are a lot of ideas.

03:07I have a full script

03:09of another show

03:10in the trunk

03:10and, you know,

03:11a bunch of fragments,

03:13but in this era of AI,

03:15there's absolutely no way

03:16I'm going to mention them

03:17in advance.

03:22King of the Hill

03:23should never have been

03:24taken off the air

03:25in the first place,

03:25so it's been ripe for comeback

03:27since they stopped making them.

03:29Getting back in touch

03:30with those characters

03:31by co-writing

03:32the first script

03:33was really wonderful for me.

03:36I loved working with the cast,

03:38but I hadn't kind of communed

03:40with Hank and Peggy

03:41and Bobby

03:42in a long time,

03:43and getting back

03:44into their point of view

03:45was really

03:46a terrific experience.

03:52Well, the story

03:55of King Midas

03:55was actually

03:56a real bad story,

03:58a real cautionary tale.

03:59He screwed up everything

04:00by touching them,

04:01so I'm not going to

04:02try and inhabit

04:03that metaphor,

04:04but I've just been

04:05very, very lucky

04:06to work with some

04:06amazing people

04:08and to work on projects

04:10that attract great people.

04:12It's a lot easier

04:12to find talent

04:13if they want to work

04:15on something

04:15that you're doing.

04:17Yeah, never give up.

04:18That's what it is.

04:23I'm so happy

04:24that the fans

04:25are still interested

04:26in these older characters

04:28or the story of Upload

04:30finishing after four seasons

04:32or coming out

04:33to see what's next

04:35in the world of The Office.

04:37So the fans are happy.

04:39I'm happy.

Greg Daniels on Revisiting 'The Office' for 'The Paper', Final Season of 'Upload' & More | THR Video

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