Mike Judge has made a career out of satirizing his own life. He turned his upbringing in suburban Texas into King of the Hill, he turned his experiences working at California tech startups into Silicon Valley, and he turned his disillusionment with monotonous office work into the underappreciated ‘90s gem Office Space.
Starring Ron Livingston, Gary Cole, Stephen Root, and Jennifer Aniston in one of her earliest film roles, Office Space is both a brilliant satire of corporate America and a love letter to bored office workers. There are some really fascinating stories from the making of Judge’s beloved cult classic.
Mike Judge Arranged A Table Read For Fox Executives
While he was pitching Office Space to Fox, Mike Judge arranged a table read of the script for executives. He tapped some voice actors from King of the Hill to play each role.
Stephen Root played a few roles, including Milton, and Judge enjoyed his take on the character so much that he decided to give him the part on that basis alone.
The Cast Started Dropping More F-Bombs When They Heard The Studio Wanted A PG-13 Rating
While Office Space was in production, the studio executives at the top suddenly decided that the movie would be more marketable with a PG-13 rating and planned to get Mike Judge to seek a PG-13 rating. When this came down to the cast and crew, they were all horrified.
David Herman and some other cast members agreed to start dropping more F-bombs in each scene to make getting a PG-13 classification harder so that the studio would drop the idea.
Stephen Root Could Barely See Out Of Milton’s Glasses
The Milton character is famous for the ridiculously thick lenses in his glasses. When Stephen Root was wearing these prop glasses, he could barely see out of them.
He had to wear contact lenses just to be able to see anything at all. Even with these contacts, he had no depth perception. If anything, this added to Milton’s characterization.
Calling Michael Bolton An “Ass-Clown” Was Improvised By David Herman
In 2018, the term “ass-clown” was added into Webster’s Dictionary, crediting Mike Judge as the screenwriter behind Office Space for coining it. But the term “ass-clown” didn’t appear in Judge’s script.
It was improvised by David Herman while shooting the scene in which he discusses sharing a name with Michael Bolton, as he’d heard his girlfriend use the word the night before.
The Studio Tried To Remove The Rap Music From The Soundtrack
Tom Rothman, who was running Fox at the time of Office Space’s production, objected to the use of rap music on the soundtrack. Mike Judge managed to convince him to wait and see what test audiences thought before making a decision.
Unsurprisingly, after the first test screening, one of the most common notes was how much the audience liked the rap, so it stayed in the movie.
Office Space Has Some Famous Fans
Upon its initial theatrical release, Office Space didn’t make a profit. However, the audience that did watch it really, really liked it, as one can imagine.
Mike Judge got contacted by a number of celebrities who loved the film. Jim Carrey invited Judge to his house, Chris Rock left him a laudatory voicemail, and Madonna took him out to dinner.
Jennifer Aniston Shot Her Scenes In Two Weeks
In the late ‘90s, Jennifer Aniston had one of the busiest schedules in Hollywood. In addition to starring in a wildly popular sitcom for about half of each year, she was quickly emerging as a movie star.
She was cast in Office Space because the studio was desperate for some star power. Mike Judge didn’t object to this, because he thought she was right for the part.
Milton’s Red Stapler Had To Be Made Especially For The Film
Milton’s iconic red stapler had to be made specifically for the movie. The script called for a distinctive stapler that needed to stand out on film, so the prop department chose red.
However, Swingline had discontinued their red stapler a few years earlier. Ironically, after the movie came out, Swingline got so many requests for red staplers that they decided to bring it back.
Ben Affleck Was Offered The Role Of Peter
Prior to Ron Livingston’s arguably perfect casting in the lead role of Peter Gibbons in Office Space, the part was offered to Ben Affleck, who was a rising star buried under offers at the time, as was his friend Matt Damon, who was the studio’s top choice for the role.
Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, who went on to team up on-screen in Wedding Crashers and The Internship, both auditioned to play Lawrence before Diedrich Bader was chosen.
Despite The Box Office Failure, Mike Judge Was Offered The Chance To Do A Sequel
Despite the financial failure of Office Space, the studio was eager to make a sequel. The original film had made back its money in cable broadcasts and home media sales after becoming a cult classic.
However, Mike Judge had a nightmarish experience making the first film and didn’t want to go through it again, so he turned down the opportunity to direct a sequel.