- John Krasinski appeared on an episode of Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey's
podcast "Office Ladies " to recap "Casino Night," the sitcom's season two finale. - Notably, Jim and Pam share their first official kiss during the episode, after Jim confesses that he's in love with her.
- Although "Casino Night" is best known for the kiss, Fischer and Krasinski agreed that they worked hardest on the parking lot scene where Jim admits his feelings.
- Fischer wrote in her episode script that Pam tells her mom on the phone that she thinks she's in love with Jim, and the actors were purposefully kept apart before the kiss.
- Fischer thinks that the characters officially kissed for the first time on "Casino Night," but Krasinski believes that it happened on the season two premiere.
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Jim (John Krasinski) and Pam's (Jenna Fischer) relationship changed forever on "Casino Night," the season two finale of "
After two seasons, on which Jim was silently in love with his coworker (even though she already had a bumbling, longterm fiancé), he finally confessed his feelings for Pam — then, they shared a kiss.
"The Office" stars Fischer and Angela Kinsey (who played Angela) recently discussed the iconic episode on their recap podcast, "Office Ladies," and Krasinski joined them to provide even more behind-the-scenes information.
Fischer and Krasinski agreed that they worked hardest on the scene where Jim confesses his feelings for Pam
Towards the end of "Casino Night," Jim and Pam are enjoying each other's company in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot, and Pam's fiancé, Roy (David Denman), has already left the event. Suddenly, Jim admits to Pam that he's in love with her. Although she initially rejects him, he tearfully says, "I just needed you to know. Once."
Director Ken Kwapis decided that the crew should hide the cameras so that the two wouldn't be able to see them, making an already important scene feel even more vulnerable to the actors.
"I remember genuinely being extremely nervous," Krasinski admitted. "I think I had interpreted it as the biggest scene I had done on the show. Something to that level of intensity was like super terrifying to me and I remember being like, 'Hey, bro. Remember when you thought you were an actor? Tonight ruins that whole mirage.'"
He also joked that he was able to pull off the parking lot scene because he could relate to what Jim was going through in that moment.
"In my high school yearbook, I have every single girl in the school being like, 'Thank you so much. You were the shoulder to cry on. You were such a good friend when I was in love with Adam,'" he said. "So when [Kwapis] was like, 'Hey, do a scene about the love of your life having another guy instead of you,' I was like, 'Bro? It's called my default setting.'"
"People always ask about the kiss, but this was the scene we worked hardest on. And it makes sense to me," Fischer added. "Saying 'I love you' is such a vulnerable thing, and you do it so honestly, John."
Fischer wrote in her script that Pam told her mom she thought she was in love with Jim
After Pam initially turns down Jim in the parking lot, we see her in the office, discussing what has just happened with her mom over the phone. We never hear what Pam's mother is saying — Fischer said that she wasn't actually talking to anyone while filming the scene, but she prepared for it nonetheless.
"I invented in my head what the dialogue was, and I had written down in my script for what I thought my mom was saying to me so that I would have good reactions, and I was going through it in my head as I was doing the scene," she explained.
The actress added that many fans had written in asking what Pam's mom had asked her when she says, "Yeah, I think I am."
"I had written in my script that my mom asked me, 'Well, sweetie, are you in love with him?'" Fischer said. "And that I answered, 'Yeah, Mom, I think I am.'"
The actors were purposefully kept apart before the scene, which Krasinski said was his first 'acting' kiss
The moment at the very end of "Casino Night" where Jim walks into the office and kisses Pam was strictly planned and choreographed during filming.
The two actors had multiple meetings with Kwapis and "The Office" creator Greg Daniels beforehand to discuss all the details of how the scene would play out, such as to what extent Pam would kiss Jim back.
Fischer also remembered that the crew purposefully kept her and Krasinski apart for an hour before filming the kiss, in order to build tension.
"We never rehearsed it on stage together," Fischer said. "And I remember they brought me to set. All the lights were dim, there was no one around, it was super eerie."
Although the kiss was undoubtedly a big deal for Jim and Pam, it also marked an acting milestone for Krasinski.
"That was my first acting kiss ever," he claimed.
"It's not even a big kiss, it's a little kiss," Fischer noted. "But it's the perfect kiss."
Fischer previously revealed on the podcast that she and Krasinski disagree about when the couple's actual first kiss occurred
On the season two premiere ("The Dundies"), a drunken Pam accidentally kisses Jim on the lips, in what some fans believe was their first kiss.
The cast had varying opinions — Kinsey thinks that it is, but Fischer insisted that the couple's first kiss was in "Casino Night," the season two finale.
"The intention was that Pam was going for his cheek, and it was one of those moments where he moved his head in a way that I wasn't expecting and I just followed through," Fischer said. "That was what was in my head as Pam, so I wasn't thinking that I was intending to kiss his lips… Pam kind of doesn't register it."
"John said that Jim, who is not drunk, was very aware that they just kissed on the lips," she added. "This was a whole conversation that we had off-camera."
The kiss scene was filmed so that viewers couldn't see Pam's reaction. The cast also had to wait to find out what would happen next in her and Jim's relationship.
Citing the episode's DVD commentary, Kinsey noted, "[Cinematographer] Randall Einhorn said that he really wanted it to end so that you couldn't see Pam's face. So you never knew what her reaction was after that."
"We were not told what would happen to [Jim and Pam]," Fischer added. "It was a cliffhanger to the cast as well."
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