When it got here time to write down one in every of most essential episodes of The Workplace, showrunner Greg Daniels could not cease horsing round.
On the newest episode of the Workplace Women podcast, former co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey spoke with Daniels about writing the Season 6 episode “Niagara: Half 1” with Mindy Kaling and a very weird horse-related storyline that finally received scrapped. As a refresher, the two-part “Niagara” episode confirmed Jim and Pam’s extremely anticipated marriage ceremony, which came about at Niagara Falls. It is a fan-favorite for certain, however had the horse storyline made it in, I am not so certain the episode could be as beloved as it’s right now. Fortunately, we had Mindy Kaling, well-known lover of rom-coms, to help with the script.
“OK. How will we even set it up?” Kinsey stated. “Roy, and the horse, and the falls? Greg, you must inform the entire story.”
“A lot of it was balancing how a lot comedy to place in and the way a lot pleasure to place in,” Daniels stated. “And positively I needed to have that theme of, ‘There’s all this stuff going fallacious within the marriage ceremony, however Pam and Jim managed to carve out this lovely non-public second anyway,’ proper? So the desk draft had an act break the place, to high off all this stuff that had been going fallacious, like discovering out concerning the being pregnant and…”
“Andy’s scrotum?” Fischer stated.
“Michael and Pam’s mother,” Kinsey added.
“Yeah… To high all of it off, like, Roy exhibits up on a horse to attempt to make a grand gesture of ‘take me again,’ and it simply goes terribly. And, you understand, this was a card that we had on the board early on about when these issues occur in romantic comedy films, they normally work. And the way awkward is it when that does not work, and no one needed it, and no one was rooting for it. And you understand, you must simply experience your horse away,” Daniels stated.
Within the desk learn draft, Kinsey recalled that Roy was going to experience a horse into the church whereas Jim was in the midst of his vows, and Pam was going to close Roy down. Laborious.
Completely they do.
Credit score: Chris Haston / NBC / NBCU Photograph Financial institution
“I feel what it was in that script was it was ordered in another way,” Daniels stated. “It was like, every little thing goes fallacious on the marriage ceremony, after which Michael’s having the worst day, after which Jim will get the thought: I’ll take Pam away and do it proper. And he leaves Michael in cost. After which within the script there have been like kind of two montages. There was the montage of Jim and Pam getting married on the Maid of the Mist [boat tour of Niagara Falls]. After which there was the montage of Michael form of killing it as being put answerable for the occasion.”
Discover what’s lacking from that script? The Dunder Mifflin crew’s iconic “Perpetually” dance.(opens in a brand new tab) However we’ll get to that in a bit.
“I’ve to say the opposite half concerning the horse,” Daniels stated. “There was a runner in that model the place Dwight was fascinated, being at Niagara Falls, concerning the 1800s and the historical past of individuals going over the falls in a barrel, and animals surviving going over the falls in a approach that that folks could not. And so after Roy does this entire factor, Dwight sees a free horse and decides he will check this out and he takes the horse into the river after which he begins getting swept towards the falls and he panics and he must be rescued. However the horse goes over the falls…”
Don’t fret, the horse SURVIVED on this alt storyline and was proven swimming away from the falls. However viewers would have seen a falling horse in again of Jim and Pam as they have been getting married on the Maid of the Mist tour, which arguably would have made the scene a lot much less romantic.
For those who’re questioning what made Daniels lastly minimize ties with the chaotic storyline, we’ve got the forged and crew to thank.
“We learn it on the desk,” Daniels recalled. “There was an terrible lot of comedy within the script, and I feel we had simply kind of over-stacked the comedy and under-stacked the enjoyment, as a result of there have been simply too many dangerous issues occurring to poor Pam and Jim. And so they had their nice second on the Maid of the Mist nonetheless, however every little thing that was public was form of a catastrophe. And I feel there was this very sensible feeling from, you understand, all people — particularly forged — that that was not cool. Like, ‘You bought to present them extra pleasure.'”
“The emotional steadiness within the episode was off. And in addition, like, I feel the forged have been all mates, and we had performed so many episodes of them kind of turning right into a household that it was — you simply did not need to be that detrimental and play all of them as issues for Pam and Jim, proper? In order that was kind of the message after the desk learn,” he stated.
Finally, they determined no horse. However they received terrifyingly shut to filming the goofy scenes.
“I used to be nonetheless producing, and I keep in mind going to scout the tank at Common the place the horse was going to be filmed within the water, as a result of that was like an enormous, large deal,” Daniels stated. “And like, I knew that we needed to repair this, however I used to be nonetheless having to supply the model till till it received modified. And I got here again from that and Paul [Lieberstein] fortunately had pulled this different card that we had had concerning the YouTube sensation ‘Perpetually’ tune, and found out a approach to put that in on the finish.”
The “Perpetually” dance, which received intercut with Jim and Pam’s extra intimate second marriage ceremony, completely made the episode. And, crucially, it removed Roy and Dwight on horseback.
Be sure you hearken to the total podcast episode to listen to extra behind-the-scenes tales about filming the episode, “Niagara: Half 1.”
You may stream episodes of The Workplace(opens in a brand new tab) on Peacock(opens in a brand new tab) and comply with together with the podcast each week on Earwolf(opens in a brand new tab), Apple Podcasts(opens in a brand new tab), or Stitcher(opens in a brand new tab).
Originally posted 2022-02-09 20:30:30.