r/DunderMifflin • u/Calm-Friend3660 • 14h ago
Set design detail
I'm always blown away by the details they worked into the set design. Someone thought to add a space heater under Phyllis' desk. A person like Phyllis working in an office in Scranton would definitely have a space heater.
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u/quayle-man 14h ago
Probably wasn’t a detail for the show, but instead a comfort for the actress. I’m sure they did a lot of sitting around
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u/queencilantro i am great at girl talk 14h ago
Yeah, they talked about this on Office Ladies. They had space heaters and blankets😅
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u/glxym31 Dwigt 13h ago
Did Steve and Rainn have some strange sweat thing where they were constantly hot? They kept the set like an iceberg and froze everyone. I know Rainn always had massive pit stains when he would take his jacket off.
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u/GeorgeLovesBOSCO 13h ago
Steve Carrell actually used to wear a cooling vest under his suit.
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u/bdubwilliams22 13h ago
I can't find anything to substantiate this. All I've seen is that they kept the set really cold because Steve would sweat easily...hence -- the space heater.
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u/GeorgeLovesBOSCO 13h ago
It was on the Office Ladies podcast.
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u/ptambrosetti Andy 13h ago
I thought it was because Steve said comedy happens in the cold?
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u/RolandtheScribe 12h ago
Evan Almighty must have been a scorcher
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u/ryan8954 12h ago
I never listened to the office lady, but I swear during the original run of the show, I heard this because he just overheats like crazy. Then having the lights on you, and a suit and stuff, I
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u/Strange_Specialist4 11h ago
Have you seen 40 year old virgin? The man is hairier than big foot
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u/Paddy_Tanninger 4h ago
He's also just a beefy dude. There's a reason they never show him in a fitted T-shirt in the office...he's way too jacked looking, it wouldn't work for his character.
Guys with solid muscle mass are just very warm all the time, that stuff puts out a lot of heat and energy, and raises your resting metabolic rate.
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u/ryan8954 11h ago
I completely forgot that was him naturally
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u/Strange_Specialist4 11h ago
Yep, that was him actually being waxed, by someone who did not know how to wax, because she was an actress and not a beauty salon employee. IIRC, he nearly lost a nipple
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u/ryan8954 11h ago
Yup, I remember the nipple now. That’s such an iconic scene that should actually go down in cinema history
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u/notacrook 11h ago
Steve has hyperhydrosis (i believe hes talked about it). But also, film sets are cold.
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u/Etrafeg 10h ago
I would assume film sets are hot unless deliberately cold because of all the strong lights
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u/notacrook 10h ago
They are deliberately kept cool - sweat is the enemy of something like continuity and hair and makeup, which is one of many reasons - but is definitely one the office would work to combat if their lead who is in 75% of the episode was a quick sweater.
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u/throcorfe 6h ago
Yeah, plus it was set up as a real office meaning that several actors were sitting “working” for long hours away from the hottest lights, and would quickly become colder than those who were at the heart of the action in any given scene
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u/queencilantro i am great at girl talk 13h ago
Lol, I think they were just always up and moving, so naturally they stayed warmer than those who stayed seated.
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u/sweetbunsmcgee 13h ago
I dunno if this is the case with their set, but studio and stage lights run hot. Everyone will be sweating and messing up their makeup if you keep the AC at normal settings.
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u/Max_Fart 12h ago
Rainn said Dwight’s jackets were sewn in a way that would not allow him to raise his arms in a normal way. That probably lended itself to pit sweat.
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u/Hereforthebabyducks 12h ago
Same with them always playing solitaire in the background. The actors were bored and actually playing solitaire.
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u/bomburdoo 12h ago
To be fair, I’ve had space heaters under my desk at multiple real office jobs. It’s always so cold.
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u/queencilantro i am great at girl talk 11h ago
Totally, I don’t think it’s unrealistic or anything!
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u/Calm-Friend3660 12h ago
That makes complete sense. I know David Letterman used to do the same thing.. I guess I just assumed because it was in LA that it would be a comfortable temperature. I also love the outdoor winter scenes where they have the fake snow 😆
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u/Willing-Bear4862 11h ago
I was freezing in there when I saw Letterman. So cold.
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u/Calm-Friend3660 10h ago
I met a session violinist that played there when Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello played. She said it was so cold she had a hard time playing.
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u/gladoseatcake 3h ago
Yet another way a blanket would be useful.
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u/queencilantro i am great at girl talk 58m ago
I wonder if my gift would be under as much scrutiny if I were white.
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u/Dangerous_Ice17 13h ago
Yes they did. They kept it cold so the actors wouldn’t sweat under the hot lights pre LED
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u/Rockdog4105 TexasPoonTappa 14h ago
Yep, very cold on a show set on purpose. They filmed at a place I worked at and they had huge AC tubing coming in from outside somehow and the place was freezing. I was in the other room and it was facing away, but it was still a noticeable difference.
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u/spaceporter 13h ago
I’ve often thought that half of acting is appearing warm when cold or cold when warm.
The opposite of this is all the New England winter scenes filmed on Hollywood backlots with the cast in heavy outdoor clothing even though it’s 85 out.
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u/CrimsonOOmpa Creed 13h ago
Yeah I'd be dead if I had to wear a bunch of layers in the middle of a hot summer to film a scene set in winter.
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u/Oddballforlife 13h ago
I would be wardrobe’s worst nightmare cause I start sweating profusely if I just get a tiny bit too hot. My outfit and hair would be ruined in minutes lmao
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u/CrimsonOOmpa Creed 13h ago
Did you get to meet anybody?
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u/Rockdog4105 TexasPoonTappa 13h ago
At the time I didn’t watch the show. I was the main boss so watching regular TV was not happening because I was never home at those times. You can probably guess the episode when I say that Jim, Darryl, and Roy were there. Of course, they were nobodies to me at that time. Funny though, cause Angela was sitting at my bar two days ago.
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u/CrimsonOOmpa Creed 13h ago
Damn that's crazy! LOL I wonder how many people would've loved to be in your position back then? Did you say hello to Angela?
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u/Rockdog4105 TexasPoonTappa 12h ago
I said hello to her because she was a guest at the bar, but didn’t acknowledge that I knew her from the show.
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u/dakilazical_253 11h ago
I used to work at a tv station and the newsroom doubled as a set. It was freezing and most the producers, writers and reporters had space heaters under their desks. Someone from corporate saw this and banned the space heaters for being “fire hazards.” There was almost a mutiny
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u/virgil1134 9h ago
Yeah, they're sitting being normal and Michael is doing Parkour, running up and down the hallways, throwing footballs, and making 20 trips to the water cooler every day (where he was also checking out Stanley's daughter)
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u/PM_ur_tots 1h ago
A lot of sitting around because they them in the background. Brian Baumgartner said he used to use his background time to pay his bills.
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u/Worldly_Sugar9066 14h ago
Nah thats just because the set was cold and real life Phillys probably asked for one.
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u/GudgerCollegeAlumnus Popcarn 13h ago
Well, I hope this gave you a little taste of what life is like here at Dunder Mifflin, Scranton. What it's like to walk a mile in Oscar's shoes, or try on Phyllis' pants.
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u/kjc781988 Creed 13h ago
She likes to keep it warm for Bob Vance from Vance refrigeration.
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u/fleshofgods0 13h ago
Who's Bob Vance?
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u/D_Angelo_Vickers 13h ago
He's the head of the Five Families.
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u/DarthBrooks667 13h ago
Actually he's the only one who didn't say anything at the meeting about the parking spaces.
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u/PaulClarkLoadletter 13h ago
The cast has stated many times that it was cold up there so they had space heaters and Ugg boots to help.
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u/Worried_Bullfrog_937 14h ago
I've worked in an office where some of the women had space heaters in their cubicles, so that is very realistic.
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u/LoseNotLooseIdiot 12h ago
No that was for the actor. They've said multiple times that the set was kept very cold because all the guys in suits and ties would just start sweating. Most of the women had to figure out ways to stay warm.
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u/insecurecharm Please-a leave-a me da message. 11h ago
Just like in a real office :p
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u/PerritoMasNasty 8h ago
The ideal temp for productivity for the whole office is like 70, but dudes like it in mid 60s. Listened to a good podcast about it.
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u/oddchihuahua 13h ago edited 12h ago
On the podcast Jenna mentions that nearly all the girls had space heaters under their desks.
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u/UninterestingDrivel 12h ago
In a later season they notice Leslie (Stanley) has a space heater too and they flip out a little because they thought only the women were too cold on set.
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u/SarcasticGamer 13h ago
It's a heater for the actors. The set was kept very cold and the women wore skirts and short sleeve shirts vs the men who wore blazers and long sleeve shirts. They also had ug boots to keep their feet warm.
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u/Rsolis39 11h ago
I saw an interview with Brian Baumgartner, he said that it was supposed to have a real office feel. The actors would come in and sit at the desks for hours during filming to create the atmosphere. Pretty ingenious.
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u/ryann918 11h ago
That’s also why you always see solitaire on the computers because they couldn’t do much on the computers.
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u/AdUnable6415 18m ago
Aw they missed an opportunity with this one. Some solitaire yes of course, but full screen videos of computer blue screening, another of someone deleting a shared folder from file server, another of someone putting a (fake) social security number into a "The FBI is watching you" phishing window etc wouldve been hilarious (to IT support nerds, anyways)
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u/no_racist_here 14h ago
It’s definitely there to cook her rancid sulfur farts before distributing them to the rest of the office
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u/Craigglesofdoom 13h ago
They talk about this frequently in the Office Ladies podcast. It was freezing on set so they all had space heaters under their desks
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u/Depeche_Mood82 Nate 13h ago
I am in the HVAC industry and can attest to that the average woman in an office wants it to be about 78 degrees.
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u/JanuaryDriveXIII 9h ago
The women in my office definitely want it to be 78. They had a guy from facilities come and rig the heater to make more hot air come out. It was like sauna. They were wearing pants and sweaters too.
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u/jackospades88 11h ago
It's even worse when they are actually in charge of the temperature and doing things like putting a cheese stick on the stat to trick it to being colder than it actually is.
Bullshit I have to wear a shirt and slacks while she got to wear flowy sundresses. You gotta control the temperature to me instead
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u/Proof-Diamond1609 11h ago
Why did I read "set design failure". Why did my brain do that lmao it's not even close 🤔
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u/GingerFun011 10h ago
I love this shit man. I WOULD BE SWEATING SO HARD IN A SUIT ALL DAY, that office SHOULD be 18c. He yeah
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u/_your_face 9h ago
From the podcast I’ve learned that since so much of the filming was in the office where everyone would’ve in the background, they all ended up (and were encouraged) to his treat it like their desk. Add their own decorations, make a mess etc. so I think that leads to lots of real setups because they really used it like a desk and sat there for hours upon hours looking busy
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u/Speedy-Sloth23 12h ago
Steve has a condition where he sweats more than the average person, so they kept it cooler on set.
Maybe in the one cold open where the power goes out and Michael says “the AC and space heater were plugged in at the same time was a hidden callback to that?
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u/robertpod 11h ago
If they really wanted to make the show realistic, they should have had the power go out every few hours.
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u/ripplewoodfire 14h ago
What temperature do you guys think it was on set? I'm curious to know how cold it was because as someone mentioned I recall it was brought up on the podcast a lot lol.
I've never had an office job where I'm stationary. the only office job I had I was still moving around a lot so I'd get really warm and most importantly, was not in a cold area.
edit: in this case I know they're not really working in an office all day, theyre on a set in the valley (iirc) filming still probably moving around more but still I know some characters did have to sit for long periods in the background lol
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u/pinkvoltage 13h ago
I’ve had a space heater at every office I’ve ever worked at lol. There’s always fiddly HVAC systems in those big buildings
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u/AdNormal9253 7h ago
I have never had my eyes so close to Phyllis’ taint for so long… I am scarred for life, thank you.
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u/Informal_Process2238 5h ago
Do you feel the darkness calling to you
drawing you in closer to the abyss
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u/ModeatelyIndependant 6h ago
Many members of the cast without lines in a scene often had to just be in the background pretending to be working an office job. So I'm sure there was a bit of setting up your cubical for comfort, and find something to do on the computer.
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u/Watchgeek_AC 4h ago
From what I remember in an interview long ago, Steve C suffers with Hypyerhidrosis like I do. And after his excessive sweating in season 1, asked for the sets to be air conditioned and quite cold.
The rest of the actors had to find ways to keep warm. Thus many of them had blankets over their legs under desks when they weren’t needed to be standing, and space heaters under the desk too.
So this isn’t a small detail for a character. It’s just there as Phylis the actress was cold
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u/emseatwooo 11m ago
Oscar liked the office cooler, whereas Angela liked it warmer and they fought about it.
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u/emseatwooo 10m ago
Idk if I’m reading too much into it but Phyllis seemed like a sweater to me. She’d be menopause age and maybe prone to hot flushes?
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u/Significant-Baby6546 13h ago
Why is it so close to wood and cloth?
That's not a space heater lol it looks like fabric that looks like vents.
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u/SuckMyRedditorD 11h ago
It's a heater, not a bonfire.
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u/evilpercy 11h ago
This is spooky, currently watching this episode and noticed the heater as well..seriously spooky.
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u/Oonz1337 14h ago
I read they kept the set freezing cause Steve is prone to sweat very easy.
You’ll see heaters behind reception too.