Steve Carell says filming his final scenes on ‘The Office’ was ‘emotional torture’

Back in 2011, Steve Carell leaving The Office after seven seasons was kind of a big deal (that’s what she said). But for every teary-eyed fan out there who was sad to see the actor stop playing the Dunder Mifflin boss, Carell reveals that he may have been even more devastated to pack up that World’s Best Boss mug. In fact, saying goodbye to Michael Scott was downright torturous.“It was almost more than I bargained for...I had [goodbye] scenes with everyone in the cast and it was emotional torture... it was like just fraught with emotion and joy and sadness and nostalgia," Carell said on the An Oral History of The Office podcast. "But it was also really beautiful. I treasure just doing that episode because it did allow me to kind of have a finality with everybody."[video_embed id='1957077']RELATED: 'The Office' cast reunites for a fan's wedding on 'Some Good News'[/video_embed]In the “Goodbye, Michael” episode, Michael spends some time saying farewell to everyone individually as they plan his goodbye party. However, what no one knows is that he’s secretly planning the old Frank Sinatra exit, as in he’s leaving a day earlier to meet his fiancée Holly (Amy Ryan) in Colorado. By the end of the episode Pam (Jenna Fisher) figures it out, and she rushes to the airport to say goodbye to her former boss for real.The scene didn’t involve sound (how could the “documentary” crew follow her?), but it did capture visuals of the emotional exchange. According to Fischer, she used the scene to say goodbye to Carell the actor. “I ran up to Steve and I just told him all the ways I was going to miss him and how grateful I was for his friendship and the privilege of working with him,” she told podcast host Brian Baumgartner (who played Kevin Malone on the series). “And I'm sobbing and he's sobbing and we're hugging and I didn't want to let him go and I didn't want the scene to end.”

 

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This photo was the first photo I ever took with Steve Carell- Back in 2004. On this weeks episode of an #oralhistoryoftheoffice “When We Said Goodbye to Steve” we look at Michael Scott’s journey throughout the show, and how painful it was for all of us to say goodbye to Steve at the end of Season 7. You will hear from Steve and the cast as you truly never have before. You don’t want to miss this one. THIS ONE IS HUGE. (That’s what she said.) @spotifypodcasts @propagatecontent

A post shared by Brian Baumgartner (@bbbaumgartner) on Aug 25, 2020 at 10:10am PDT

It has previously been reported that Carell didn’t want to leave the series, something that was brought up again on the podcast. The reason he did was because of a miscommunication over his contract with NBC after it had been acquired by Comcast. Still, when it came time to wrap up the Michael Scott of it all, Carell was as involved as he could be. He revealed on the podcast that it was even his idea to have Michael leave before the party."I said specifically on his last day, I thought that there should be a party being planned, but that he should basically trick people into thinking he was leaving the next day... Because I just thought that that would be the most elegant representation of his growth as a human being, because Michael lives to be celebrated,” Carell said. "You think that's all he wants. He wants to be the center of attention... And he, he wants pats on the back. He wants people to think he's funny and charming and all of those things," Carell continued. "But the fact that he'd walk away from his big tribute, his big sendoff, and be able to in a very personal way, say goodbye to each character. That to me, felt like it would resonate."According to John Krasinski, who played Jim, it did resonate—not only for the fans, but for the actors too. In fact, he revealed to Baumgartner that the real-life loss was for sure harder than the fictional one. "It felt like the end of an era," he said. "It felt like the end of something more than even losing Steve or losing Michael, it felt like the end of our show in a way, or that evolution of our show. It's like when you graduate college, your life isn't over. But that version of your life will never come back."Carell left The Office after seven seasons and sparked a giant debate over who would “replace” his character on the show. Several actors came in for rotating gigs in the episodes that followed, including Idris Elba, Will Ferrell, Kathy Bates and James Spader, who lasted for an impressive 15-episode arc as CEO Robert California.Over The Office’s nine-season run it was nominated for more than 40 Emmy awards. Carell notably never won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy trophy, but he was nominated in the category six of the seven years he was on the series.[video_embed id='2021520']Before you go: Jennifer Garner has relatable reaction to ‘The Office’ finale[/video_embed]