Rainn Wilson spent years “mostly unhappy” on The Office because he wanted to be a bigger star
Rainn Wilson tells Bill Maher he spent "several years" of The Office wondering why he wasn't a movie star
Aux News Rainn Wilson
Rainn Wilson’s post-Office career has been about chasing enlightenment, and even more so, happiness. But he didn’t always have that spiritual mindset: in the early days of his fame, he was apparently mostly concerned about getting more fame. This comes from an appearance on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, in which Wilson admits being on a megahit NBC sitcom didn’t feel like “enough.”
“When I was in The Office, I spent several years really mostly unhappy because it wasn’t enough. I’m realizing now, like, I’m on a hit show, Emmy nominated every year, making lots of money, working with Steve Carell and Jenna Fischer and John Krasinski and these amazing writers and incredible directors like Paul Feig. I’m on one of the great TV shows. People love it. I wasn’t enjoying it,” he shares. “I was thinking about, ‘Why am I not a movie star? Why am I not the next Jack Black or the next Will Ferrell? How come I can’t have a movie career? Why don’t I have this development deal?’”
During The Office heyday, Wilson had starring roles in films like The Rocker and Super, but his film career certainly didn’t reach Jack Black levels. “When I was on The Office, I was clutching and grasping at, okay, I was making hundreds of thousands. I wanted millions, and I was a TV star, but I wanted to be a movie star,” he says now. “It was never enough. Humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years, and ‘never enough’ has helped us as a species.”
Speaking recently at the Aspen Ideas Festival (via Today), Wilson admitted he didn’t get into acting to “bestow upon the little people some laughter to enliven their meaningless, petty little lives.” His goal on The Office, he said, was to “buy a house.”
Yet Wilson’s spiritual journey has made him more appreciative of The Office as a whole. Promoting his book Soul Boom, the actor said “The Office writers have been so inspiring” to his own writing. “There was just so much brilliance everywhere,” he told The A.V. Club earlier this year. “It was a rich creative petri dish to play in, and I’m sure that rubbed off in some way shape and form.”
106 Comments
I too hated my office job because I thought I should be a movie star.
See, I’m the opposite: I hated my movie job because I thought I should be an office star.
I hated my movie office because I wanted a star job.(and no I’m not looking that up at u-d)
Are you Sirius?!
I hate this Office Star chair I’m sitting in. I think I’ll quit and look for a better one at another movie job.
God you guys are insufferable to me sometimes. This kind of wordplay never amused me
Every office I’ve ever worked in has a “star”, and that person is usually that most irritating person in the office.
Oh go play in a Petri dish!
He only made hundreds of thousands? The Office was such a huge hit. I hope he meant in the early seasons and in later contracts he made more. The Office made truckloads of money.
I suspect he was referring to the canyon between making hundreds of thousands per episode vs looking at movie stars making millions for one film.
Per episode makes sense – per season would be crazy.
Oh yeah. He was one of the essential stars of that show. I dare say his loss would’ve been more damaging than Steve Carell’s. And they even tried to make a spinoff with his character. So he’d definitely have been pulling six figures an ep by the later seasons.
From what I can find he was making a bit more than $100K per episode in the later seasons. Early on he was probably making around $20K per episode. That’s what Fischer and Krasinski were making until season 4 when they were bumped to $100K per episode.
Also possible he “only” made hundreds of thousands at the time but continued to pull big $$$ for years in royalties.
I think The Office became a bigger hit after the original run with streaming and such. I hope he gets decent residuals for that.
“I think The Office became a bigger hit after the original run with streaming and such.”
The Office was one of the highest-rated shows when it was on the air.
The Office was only a mid-tier hit when it aired, never averaging more than 10 million viewers or finishing annually in the Nielsen Top 30 (finishing behind even short-lived shows like Samantha Who, Shark, and Eleventh Hour). It was a show that caught on with its memes and quotables, but never truly blew up into an IP phenomenon until Netflix. Because of its large every-episode cast and relatively inexpensive budget (a good way to stay on air if you’re only pulling 8 million viewers in the late aughts), I imagine anyone who was not Steve Carell in the latter half of its run were not seeing seven figures on their paychecks. It reminds of the ESPN documentary “Broke”, where ex-players detail how people assume they’re all millionaires because of the star contracts and popularity, when in actuality most players are closer to the league salary minimum.
“The Office was only a mid-tier hit when it aired”
But it was *ALWAYS* one of NBC’s top shows for the entirety of its run.
Apparently Wilson making a bit more than $100K per episode in the later seasons. Early on he was probably making around $20K per episode, as that’s what Fischer and Krasinski were making until season 4 when they were bumped to $100K per episode.
According to The Internet (TM), he made about 20k an episode in the early days and 100k an ep for later seasons. But those were 22 episode seasons, so by the end he was clearing 2 million a year. Then 20% to manager and agent, bunch of tax, etc, he probably made about a million a year in the later seasons. So easier for him to ball park it to he was making 100s of thousands, rather than millions.
Poor, poor baby….
Yup, that’s what I’ve found too. People tend to really overestimate what actors even on successful series make. They think everyone is getting millions per episode.
I think the “everyone in Friends makes a million dollars an episode” thing from the 90s kinda established what people believe TV stars earn.
“He only made hundreds of thousands?”
How much per episode do you think actors make?
There were quite a few cable residuals for The Office (at one point it played nonstop on Comedy Central) but I’m not sure the Netflix juggernaut ratings have been as lucrative, even if the show itself has become immortal due to streaming. (I also don’t understand foreign broadcast rights; the US Office is really popular around the world, but how much does that feed the actors’ pockets?) Streaming deals just weren’t accounting for that level of popularity. He may well have invested wisely, which would give him a solid upper middle class existence. But probably not much more, considering taxes, agent/manager fees, living in LA, etc.
I expect he still gets decent linear TV residuals. The Office is still in syndication. It’s nothing absurd like the Friends cast residuals, who were making an astounding $20 million per year each just off of residuals as of 2020, a large portion of that from foreign syndication. They were able to negotiate ridiculous residuals back in the day though. That’s far, far from typical. For US and foreign broadcasting and pay channels on cable the SAG-AFTRA contracts have agreed upon residual minimums. Of course, if you’re a bigger actor you may be able to negotiate much better residuals. Here’s a breakdown:For TV programs, residual pay to SAG-AFTRA are due:Network prime time – 30 days after the air dateNon-prime time network – 30 days after the air dateSyndication – four months after the air dateForeign free TV – no later than 30 days after the producer obtains knowledge of the first foreign telecast and never later than six months after that first telecastBasic cable – quarterly when the producer receives revenueSupplemental markets – four months after the initial exhibition, the quarterly when the producer receives revenueStreaming though, is a hot mess. When Netflix was basically the only streaming show in town they negotiated a residual setup with the guilds, but since streaming has blown up, and every studio basically has it’s own streaming service, it’s been the wild wild west. Which is no small part as to why the current strikes are going on.
20,000 per episode first three seasons, 100,000 per the last 6 seasons. Roughly 400,000 per season 2 million or so the last 6.
That sounds more reasonable, once it was a hit, they couldn’t get away with $400k per season at contract renewal
Even in the later season 2 million per year is very good money but after taxes, his agent, manager…etc etc….it probably was just hundreds of thousands. (Which is of course a great deal more than most of us normal people ever see.)
True, but if you add in adverts, voice overs in animated movies, supporting roles in live action films, writing an autobiography, guesting on chat shows, appearing in music videos (and not just once) along with directing some episodes, and well, if he wasn’t pulling in over a million after taxes, etc, he needed a new accountant, and that’s not even taking in to account him putting in personal appearances at corporate do’s, or parties held by the super rich.
Agent and Sag dues cut 20-25% off the top. Then around 40% in taxes at that bracket. Various sites estimate Wilson’s net worth is $10-14 million right now, which sounds about right. That’s his property, investments and estimated residuals, not liquid cash obviously. I’m sure he’s doing quite well compared the average person, but he’s not buying yachts or anything like that.
I reckon he could if he wanted to – https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/yacht/2023-invictus-tt460-8182915/ 😉
But I get your point, he’s well off and shouldn’t have to worry about money if he’s careful with his investments.
I should also note those celeb net worth sites are super questionable. There’s quite a few TV actors on Twitter who have been looking up their supposed net worth on these sites and saying they are utter BS and they wish they were true. I think it was D.B. Woodside who started the trend when some chud was like, “oh yeah, you’re really struggling,” and cited some website that said his net worth was over $4 mil. Woodside said it was maybe $1.5 mil and that’s mainly because the housing market is absurd right now and the pretty modest house he bought outside of LA 10 years ago is currently “worth” 4 times what he paid for it.
That was probably annual salary. By the end, I would expect he was getting upper 6 figures per episode
oh he must have been big mad when they canceled ‘the farm’.
Anyone remember his short arc on Six Feet Under a few years before The Office (although he looked/acted about 10 years younger). Brief, touching quasi-romance with Ruth in the morgue.
I remember that episode of Entourage where he was supposed to be Harry Knowles basically where Vinny Chase gets him a hooker to get a good review.
six feet under had some real heavy hitter supporting cast. of all the places to learn about justin thereaux!
Nope, can’t recall.I can however vividly remember his role as the fishman in House of 1,000 Corpses, which is what I will always remember Rainn Wilson as, Dwight Schrute notwithstanding.
Funny thing is that Schur was almost certainly ecstatic since he absolutely HATED playing Mose.
I thought Mose wasn’t going to be in The Farm. That’s why in the backdoor pilot the Badger guy from breaking bad shows up as Dwight’s other cousin.
Don’t make me get Art Vandelay after you.
“Never enough has helped us as a species.”Gonna go ahead and maybe disagree with Rainn on this one. I think “Never enough” will be the two words etched on humanity’s gravestone in a century or so.
There’s nothing wrong with wanting more, just don’t let it make you unhappy with what you have.
Good is the enemy of great my friend, never stop fighting until you get to the top. Then once on the top start building my guy keep going.
It’ll only make you unhappy if you believe it’ll make you happy.
“Never enough” is the reason we have flush toilets, air travel, TV, antibiotics…never enough HAS helped us as a species.
“Never enough” is the reason Leopold II held the Congo has his personal property. I’d say that was a net negative for humanity.
He actually makes that point directly after he says that, that it’s an impulse that has served us until now but has become harmful, both to ourselves and the planet.
Yes, he’s clearly not saying these things because he still thinks the same way; it’s an apology.
It can be both. “Never Enough” is why we developed agriculture and industry. It’s what keeps us researching, contemplating, and searching. It’s also probably going to be what leads to our ultimate downfall.
It’s never enough until your heart stops beating
The deeper you get, the sweeter the pain
Don’t give up the game until your heart stops beatingDoot doot doot
Johnny used to work on the dock, but the union’s been on strike and now he’s down on his luck.
“Never enough” is pretty crucial to ourselves as a species. The problem is lately we haven’t balanced it out with the crowds that tell the outliers “that’s enough”.
The problem is That’s enough is just never enough. people will always need more.
Sure, but there needs to be limits they run up against. I’m not talking about arbitrary limits on income or something. I just mean general rules and regulations about how income is created and categorized (for example, it’s ludicrous that capital gains are not counted as income the same way a dishwasher’s paycheck is).
It’s ironic too, because, things like capital gains tax limits and interest deductions were originally intended to help the lower to middle class retain wealth, but it didn’t take long for the truly wealthy to game the shit out of the system. It very quickly became a way for the wealthy to reduce their taxable income by buying up assets and then flipping them and paying the much lower capital gains limit.
Are you saying Rainn Wilson doesn’t pay his taxes?
Look, all I want is the Rhineland…and maybe Sudetenland. Oh and Austria 🇦🇹. And the rest of Czechoslovakia…
Poor guy.
I’m glad he’s in a better place with a different perspective now. It always bums me out to hear he was unhappy playing Dwight and, from various accounts I’ve read, doesn’t really enjoy fans going hard with their Dwight love. The Office is infinitely rewatchable and Dwight will always be my favorite character.
He seems to have reconciled himself with some of the Dwight Love.
This warmed my heart. Thank you for sharing!
This is pretty cute too.
He’s returned to the Baha’i faith, which condemns LGTBQ people and is basically a cult. His “different perspective” is pretty awful. The only reason he’s been showing up in headlines recently is for doing podcasts and appearances with equally questionable people trying to promote his book.
You’re a small part of an ensemble cast; you were never gonna be a movie star.
Chris Pratt tho
You spelled Jenna Fischer’s name wrong…AV Writers are you okay over there??
Backstrom was underrated and all 5 of us fans deserved a second season.
YES!!!!!!
It also had Sarah Chalke who is never not great.
TRUE.
Well… there is Firefly Lane. But she’s certainly charming.
And the State Farm dude.
“Rainn Wilson tells Bill Maher he spent “several years” of The Office wondering why he wasn’t a movie star”Interesting. I’ve been wondering for several years why he was ever allowed on-screen.
I like him.
Love that movie
I can understand his frustrations and applaud but his honesty and introspection. That said… it does come off as kind of entitled, which is pretty bad. Plenty of TV stars never make it in other mediums.
I think you’re missing the part where the honesty and introspection is a recognition of how entitled he was being in the past.
Lots of wealthy, successful people want to be wealthier and more successful, but actors are the ones we’re stuck reading about. Can you imagine clicking on article where a dentist whines about settling for a 3,000 square foot house by a lake, when another dentist has a 4,000 square foot house on an ocean? Of course, I clicked on this article, and now the question of why I did so (and also why the article exists) is haunting me.
From what I undersand about his background, his mom abandoned him when he was still a toddler and his dad wasn’t a great parent, either. He did not have it easy. I wonder if that fostered a sense that he’d never be good enough.
Watched The Office once, don’t like shaky-cam, never liked him, never found his character interesting, never found any of the characters as interesting as my real-life office mates, glad he stopped feeling sorry for himself.
This obnoxious untalented nerd was whining a few month ago about how hard it is to be a christian in america.
Thank you for summarizing their conversation- it was interesting, a good real, and I neither had to listen to Bill Maher’s stupid voice or see his stupid face in service of it. Double plus.
hey, at least hes honest about it.
for season 1, i dont think people even thought there would be a season 2. He probably got paid in circus peanuts.
Then he shouldn’t have been born a spoon faced, whiny, church boy.
Spoon faced?
He was an iconic sitcom weirdo on The Office & people really love that show. I thought it was okay. I guess I think he is a good actor Elliott Page must have lost a bet to him while making Super because one time I swear they referred jokingly to Rainn Wilson in a tweet as “the greatest actor of his, or any, generation”
What do you mean, you guess you think he’s a good actor? What’s with the ‘guess’ before the ‘think’?
Something about Rainn Wilson rubs me the wrong way and him hanging out with Bill Maher ain’t helping his case. That said I thought he was good in the movie Super.
Some of his personal beliefs and statements tend to leave me going “Hmm…” Like largely there’s nothing overtly wrong with what he said or did, but it just doesn’t feel quite right. He seems to be involved with some groups and movements that just don’t sit great with me.He also seems to be very committed to fighting climate change, which is nice.
He is super obnoxiously religious, his religion just happens to be outside the mainstream. (I know this because I just randomly know someone who is a member of this faith and it’s a whole thing. They’ve gone to religious conventions that Rainn Wilson has attended and spoken at.)The issue is, as spiritual and thoughtful as he wants to seem, his religion still manages to hate and condemn LGBT people. So, you know, fuck him.
He was apparently raised in Baha’i and has now returned to it and Baha’i is a puritanical borderline cult. So, yeah, he should rub you the wrong way.
Isn’t that what Seals n Croft are?
I thought he was super in the movie Good.
The Rocker isn’t a great movie, but it is pretty good and super under rated. Plus it has an absolutely stacked cast. Nearly everyone with a speaking role is at minimum an emmy nominated actor.
And what better place to bitch about not being a bigger star than a Bill Maher podcast.
Yeah I’m sure it cramped his style as he sexually harassed women half his age. One day that’ll come out and probably prevent him from being a big movie star too.
Imagine being funny, talented, wildly successful, and then completely ungrateful about it. GTFO
I can’t imagine living a life. He showed up for this for years, was good, got paid. Then went on to do other things, write a book and all that entails – publicizing and appearing on podcasts. And all the while I was just sitting here alone.
The Rocker was a huge bomb, but man, that cast was stacked.Rock and roll movies are largely cursed.
Rainn wasted too much time smellin Steve Carell’s poot!
“It was a rich creative petri dish to play in, and I’m sure that rubbed off in some way shape and form.”Except for Oxford commas!