Jenna Fischer

CAUTION

EXTREMELY HOT!

Q

PLAYBOY: Have you ever come close to being a playboy Centerfold? FISCHER: When I was in my 20s I had a boy­friend who wanted to send a nude photo of me to playboy magazine. We never did. but he was really into the idea. I didn't date him for long. I am not into a man who wants to share his woman with the world. I find that to be an unattractive quality. If it's some­thing I want to do, it should come from a feminist desire to. you know, express myself, not from an "I want to show off my girlfriend' kind of thing.

Q

PLAYBOY: You did pose without clothes for the cover of Wired, however A lot of women we know in similar circumstances have said. "While I'm still looking good. I want to docu­ment it." We understand, of course, but why can't you just do that at home? FISCHER: The difference between the pho­tos you take at home and a photo taken by a professional photography crew, with profes­sional hairstyling. makeup and retouching.

is huge. What a person should really say is. "I want to document what I look like at this time with a crew of professionals making me look better than I look naked at home."

Q

PLAYBOY: On your MySpace blog you are pretty free with advice about the process and pitfalls of becoming a working actor. Tell us a cautionary tale. FISCHER: I had been living in Los Angeles for about a year and was a member of a theater company One night after a play. I went to a party and ran into the playwright. His name was Shem Bitterman. He said. "What's your story?" I said. "I'm new to the theater company. I'm from St. Louis. I just got here I want to be an actress." He said. "I'm writing a film, and I think you'd be great for it. But I have a question for you: Would you ever do a raunchy sex scene in a movie? Like really raunchy, with nudity7" I kind of laughed and said. "Well, I wouldn't do anything I wouldn't be proud to show my parents." And he said. "Well, you're not

a real actress, then." I was stunned. He said, "A real actress would say yes. A real actress would piss herself onstage if that's what it took. Sylvester Stallone did porn. Shel­ley Winters pissed herself onstage. Every play, every movie I write has nudity in it. You know why? Because that's how I know if I'm working with real actors. You're not a real actress. You should just go home. You don't have what it takes" I was so shaken I went home and cried and cried and cried. What an asshole. I should have told him, "How about I'll piss on you. Shem Bitter-man7 How about that? I'll piss on your face. Does that make me a real actress? Let's try that. I'll do that right here. I'll do that today." Bring me Shem Bitterman!

Q

PLAYBOY: Not so long ago actors didn't have blogs. Why do you? FISCHER: I come from a theater back­ground, and I'm used to getting immedi­ate audience feedback. With television it's not like that. By having the MySpace page

I get to hear what people like and don't like about The Office: characters, plot points, relationships. And we've listened to the feedback, especially early on when we were struggling. In fact, I think it helped our show become successful, and it created a grassroots campaign. The Internet is one reason our show is still on the air.

Q

playboy: Is there a downside to being so public? Any stalkers or creepy e-mails? fischer: No stalkers—yet. I think it's really cute when people send me an invitation to their wedding. But I've also received uncomfortable letters in which I'm asked out on dates— but for real, not joking. The writers have obviously read about me and made up a list of reasons they think we would make a good couple—like we're both from small towns, or they also love animals. I just don't get it. Do people really go on dates when they get a letter?

Q

puayboy: Explain your fascination with Flip This House, the reality show about renovating and reselling houses. fischer: I just love watching people go into a house that is falling down, improve it and make a bunch of money selling it. The last show I got really into like this was Trading Spaces. I think that's because I had just bought a home and didn't know-how to decorate it, and here was this show that was all about how to deco­rate. I haven't flipped any houses. 1 probably won't flip any houses. I hate decorating my house. I don't like shopping for furniture. I don't like shopping for clothing. I have a lot of T-shirts that were sent to me—"Dear Jenna Fischer: You like animals, and I like animals. Here's a T-shirt. You can wear it on our date to flip a house." And 1 wear all of them.

Q

playboy: Your real first name is Regina. How tough was that growing up? fischer: That was my grandmother's name, but from the time I was a baby 1 was called Jenna. They liked the sound of Jenna better than Gina, so they went with that. The problem was I was registered in school under the name Regina Fischer, so in the first homeroom every year they would call out "Regina Fischer" and I'd be like, "It's Jenna." But one day in fifth grade we had a substitute teacher. She was going down the roster, and she said, "Reg-oc-na." So all the kids on the school bus that day called me Reg-fK-na Vagina. But that was the only time. No permanent scarring.

Q

P1AVBOY: What's the worst office coffee you've ever tasted?

fischer: The worst coffee is actually coffee that I make. I just can't seem to get it right. I've been trying so hard. It's either very weak and watery or way too strong. This year I've made only two pots of coffee I'm proud of. On the set of The Office they had all these fancy coffee machines, and I finally said, "Do you guys think you could just get a drip coffee machine? Just a pot of coffee? That's what I really love every morning." And they finally did. For season four I got my drip coffee.

Q

playboy: Can you imagine your show with cubicles?

fischer: If we put up walls between people, it would be hard to see us. But it could also be good because now we have to be in the background of every scene. I'd say I spend on average about two days a week doing background work, and I suppose if there were cubicles, you could sneak away and no one would know, just like in a real office.

Q

playboy: The show's conceit is that your lives are being filmed for a docu­mentary. Have you given any thought to what would happen to the final cut? What would your character. Pam Beesly, realize?

fischer: The British show aired its documentary. We've talked a little bit about that. I don't think it's totally unrealistic. I used to say before Pam and Jim got together that Pam would be shocked at how transparent her feelings for Jim were. Now I think Pam would be confronted with the lack of forward motion in her life. Pam is very focused on love and find­ing love. There's nothing wrong with that, but she would have to look at how she's always saying she has to do something artistic but doesn't. Watch­ing the documentary would be a big wake-up call for her.

Q

playboy: A theme from your life, it seems, is getting your head around your own sex appeal, at least for the camera. But you really strutted in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. Care to explain? fischer: Maybe I was a little skepti­cal of male attention focused on my body, because I was more interested in attracting a man through wit, humor and intelligence. And then it would be "Hey, let me take off these overalls and show you what you win!" Sort of

like a nice surprise, like "I didn't know that was under the baggy sweatshirt." 1 took the role in Walk Hard specifically because Darlene is comfortable with her sexuality. She flaunts it. I had done a movie with John C. Reilly already, so I was comfortable with him. We read together. We played around. I wore a real low-cut shirt. I put his face in my boobs during the audition. Something came out of me all of a sudden, maybe because I felt safe. And I was like, "All right, I'll do it."

Q

pi.wbov: When filming romantic or sex scenes, clothes or no clothes, do you bring anything from home? fischf.R: I can say two things to that: yes and no. My character in Walk Hard hits and strangles her lover while they're making love. 1 don't do that. I'm pretty comfortable saying I wouldn't strangle or hit someone while having sex with them. So in that way, no, I don't. But we did one scene that didn't end up in the movie. My char­acter and John's are just friends, but we end up in a bunk together, and I'm wearing a little negligee. Our faces are right next to one another, and I have to matter-of-factly explain to him why we can't do anything together sexu­ally because we're just friends. Then Jake Kasdan. the director, said, "What would be great is if you could give a whole list of the things you guys can't do together." So I did. I went into this whole long list, in graphic detail, of what we couldn't do. It was very fun and very funny. But when I was done, I realized I had revealed a lot about what I know of the things you can do sexually, because I had to improvise everything my character said.

Q

puayboy: Clearly, you have more than one character in you. Given Pam's wide exposure and popularity on The Office, do you have to be especially protective of her?

Fischer: To keep Pam authentic. I've held back from doing some things. I haven't had my teeth whitened. I haven't gotten porcelain veneers. And you'll notice other things if you look carefully. I don't get Mystic Tan treat­ments, for example, or any of that stuff. I need to keep it real so Pam can always look like a believable girl, not suddenly-all plasticky like a movie star.

Q

pl-vyboY: Speaking of plastic, describe the Pam Beesly and Jenna Fischer action figures.

fischer: Pam's has a removable cardigan.

It also has a telephone and a paintbrush

(concluded on page 118)

JENNA FISCHER

(continued from page 70) you can slip into its hand. When you press a button it says, "Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam." The Jenna Fischer action figure has a cat you can put under one arm: in the other hand it probably has a BlackBerry. When you press a button it sneezes. I sneeze all the time because of my allergies. The thing I want most is a cure for hay fever and pet allergies.

Q

playboy: How do you feel about the trend in movie trailers to put "Academy Award winner" or "Academy Award-nominated" before the name of every­one legally possible? FISCHER: Rainn Wilson and I refer to ourselves as Emmy-losing actors. We'll be on set in a scene, and I'll be like, "Seriously everyone, be quiet—Emmy-losing actor about to work." Maybe everyone should have something like that. Did you win the fifth-grade spell­ing bee? You can go with whatever your highest achievement is. That should precede your name at all times.

Q

playbov: You were raised in St. Louis. Defend the Gateway Arch. fischer: Anybody who's lived in St. Louis or has visited St. Louis has gone up into the arch. The experience is unique because of the elevator system. Since it's an arch, it can't go straight up, so it goes up and then horizontal and up and hor­izontal, sort of like a set of stairs. It is terrifying. And you're crammed in there with 25 people. It feels like it's too much weight; it feels like you shouldn't be in there. You watch the little movie before­hand about how they made the arch, and you realize you're on an elevator that was made when they made the arch, and it has probably never been improved. It's better than any amusement-park ride in terms of terror.

Q

playboy: What do you wash on delicate that you don't have to? fischer. I wash my sweatpants—no, I wash all my clothes in the delicate cycle. I don't want anything to shrink. And I dry on low. I don't like that feeling of getting something out of the dryer and

having to stretch it out to make it fit me again. That depresses me. I also don't buy jeans too small. I'm always saving, "Can I just get one size up?" And they'll say, "No, no, they'll stretch!" And I'm like, "Yeah, but in the meantime I'll feel fat. So can I just have the jeans that fit me?" Also I spill stuff on myself a lot. You saw: I spilled coffee on myself in this interview. So by day three, they're fitting perfectly, but I have to wash them and go through the whole horror show again.

playboy You kept Pam and Jim's screen kiss secret for a very long time. Can you now share a personal secret that is past its expiration date?

fischer: One night when I was young I came home wearing a pair of boxers, and I claimed I was at my friend Ellen's house. I was at a boy's house, and they were his boxers. So there. My parents can read that and ground me.

Q

playboy: There's a clip floating around YouTube of your doing an interview for the making-of documentary about LolltLove, the indie mockumentary you wrote and directed, in which you and your husband, James, play a rich couple who think they can help the homeless by giving them designer lollipops. In the clip, you're complaining that James constantly makes jokes about anal sex. Was that for real?

fischer: It wasn't scripted. I really didn't want him to say that. We got into a big fight. I was saying, "Stop making this so raunchy. This is a very simple scene about a phone call. Stop putting in things about anal sex and having sex with chil­dren and all these crazy jokes." So then they videotaped us getting into a little fight about it on set. It was a real-life tiff recorded for everybody. In hindsight I see the humor. We're having this ridicu­lous argument about whether or not he can make an anal-sex joke, and I'm tak­ing it seriously but he can't.

Q

pl-\ybc)Y: People magazine has named you one of the 100 most beautiful celebrities. Even though your photo was buried 37th in the lineup, was it an honor just to make the list?

fischer: I was so tickled by that because I loved the "Most Beautiful" issue when I was a little girl. I got it every year. I still have one with Julia Roberts on the cover, because I was just oh so excited. Now I think I'm going to put it in my movie contract that they have to call me "37th Most Beautiful Person 2006, Emmy-losing actress Jenna Fischer."

Read the 21st question at playboy.com/2lq.