Ellie Kemper is featured in the May 2013 issue of “GQ” magazine in the US.
Check out a behind the scenes video below and her article inside the continuation link.
The Office Finale 2013: Ellie Kemper and Angela Kinsey!
Join The Office stars Angela Kinsey and Ellie Kemper on their photo shoot with TV Guide Magazine!
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“Brenda Forever” Not Picked Up For Fall Schedule
Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the pilot for “Brenda Forever” was not picked up by NBC for the fall schedule, but it might stay in the running to be produced and aired at a later date!
Brenda Forever got a call too, but, while not an option for fall, I hear there is a possibility that it may stay in contention.
NBC Extends ‘The Office’ Series Finale
Fans of The Office will have a bit longer to say goodbye. NBC is extending the length of the final episode by 15 minutes. It will air from 9-10:15 PM on Thursday, May 16. Drama Hannibal will follow from 10:15-11 PM with limited interruption. The final episode picks up months after the airing of the documentary, when the workers of Dunder Mifflin, past and present, gather for a wedding and a final round of interviews. Mysteries are solved, hatchets are buried, pranks are prunked. Guest stars include Mindy Kaling, BJ Novak, Rachael Harris, Dakota Johnson, Joan Cusack, Ed Begley Jr., Malcolm Barrett, Matt Jones, Andy Buckley, Mike Schur and Bobby Ray Shafer. The Office is exec-produced by Ben Silverman and Greg Daniels, who developed the series for American audiences, as well Paul Lieberstein, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Howard Klein, Brent Forrester and Dan Sterling.
Angela Kinsey and Ellie Kemper on Saying Goodbye to The Office
After nine seasons, The Office is coming to an end in just a few weeks. I sat down with two of the show’s ensemble, Angela Kinsey (“Angela”) and Ellie Kemper (“Erin”), to discuss what it was like to say goodbye to Dunder Mifflin and what we can expect in these final episodes.
Note: I began speaking to Kinsey by herself, with Kemper joining us a few minutes in.
IGN TV: Angela, you were there from the very beginning. You wrapped production a few weeks ago, but you’re promoting the show still. Is it a bit of a weird period of having said goodbye, but still not being 100% finished with it?
Angela Kinsey: It does feel a little bit like a prolonged goodbye, and it’s still emotional, even if I think about those last few days. Now, promos are coming out for the final four episodes, and I’m getting emotional all over again. It’s like that breakup where you keep listening to the song that was your song or something. But I’m really proud of these last four episodes. I’m really excited for everyone to see them. Being there since the pilot, I woke up in a cold sweat the other morning because I was like, “Where am I supposed to be? Nowhere.” Also, just the group of people I’ve grown accustomed to seeing. I’m definitely staying in touch with people, but there is this ache, if you will, this part of you that’s gone. I haven’t really felt this way since I was a child — we moved from Indonesia to the U.S. — and I said goodbye to some people in Indonesia that I knew I would never see again. I think there’s part of me that wonders — there were about 200 people that worked on The Office on any given day, from crew to producers to writers to cast, and I know there are some of them that I may not ever cross paths with again. I’ve seen them almost every day for nine years, so it feels like a very big goodbye.
IGN: In the history of television, there’s really not that many shows to make it to Season 9.
Kinsey: Yeah, you start reading about it and you start thinking about it, and you see The Office in the same paragraph as Seinfeld or Cheers or some of those really longstanding shows. You just feel so lucky that you were in that club.
IGN: What was the vibe like on set the last few weeks and especially filming the finale, knowing what you guys were heading towards?
Kinsey: I’m telling you, it was really bittersweet. I remember the cast got together to talk about what we were going to get the crew as a farewell gift, three weeks before the end, and me, Kate and Jenna started tearing up. Then one day we were at a table read, and it was our second-to-last table read, and Phyllis is tearing up. It was just hitting us all at different times — the whole year, really, but it definitely started getting concentrated.
IGN: A lot of shows end in different ways and find out when they’re ending in different ways, so was it good for you to know that this was your “senior year” pretty much the whole time?
Kinsey: It felt like a luxury, in this business, but you get to sort of call your out. You know, like, “This is how we’re going out,” and then we got to plan the whole year for that.
[Editor’s Note: Ellie Kemper joined us at this point.]
I always compare it to improv. If you have a great laugh and you go out on a big blackout of lights with the applause — what you don’t want is that slow fade of lights, the brown out. That’s, like, the worst. And I feel like we got to have that really great ending, because we called it from the beginning, Greg [Daniels]and the writers started writing that way from the beginning. They were like, “Okay, every character’s going to have a goodbye,” and you just don’t always get that. Had we stayed on the air, you just don’t know. We would have lost people with contract things, and then at what point is it still the show? You don’t want to fade away. You want to be able to go out.
Ellie Kemper: On a really strong note — and I agree. I remember we were shooting “Work Bus,” right, when we all got the email from Greg.
Kinsey: When it was official, right.
Kemper: Yeah, and we all had a break, and we all went back to our trailers. Then everyone came out, and we had all gotten this email from Greg that said, “This will be the last season.” I’m always the last to know anything, but I felt like it wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility that it might be the end, but it is so nice that he was able to call it on his own terms and, like you said, get a strong finish.
Ellie Kemper To Appear On “Hollywood Game Night”
More than a dozen actors have signed on to appear on Hollywood Game Night, NBC’s new game show series executive produced by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner and hosted by Jane Lynch that features celebrities hanging out and playing games with fun-loving non-celebrity contestants in a cocktail party atmosphere. Set to do the series so far are Amy Poehler, Matthew Perry, Jason Bateman, Kristin Bell and fiance Dax Shephard, Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Minnie Driver, Kal Penn, Martin Short, Ellie Kemper, Kristen Chenoweth, Cheryl Hines, Molly Shannon and Max Greenfield, with more expected to join. The series, which has an eight-episode order, is based on Hayes’ real-life “game nights,” featuring A-list celebrities hanging out and living it up in a cocktail party atmosphere. In each episode, two contestants will be treated to a night of fun and celebration where they get to rub shoulders with the celebrity crowd. At the end, one of the contestants will walk away with a cash prize and a night of stories and memories. Hollywood Game Night is produced by Hazy Mills Prods., Mission Control Media and Universal TV. Hayes, Milliner, Michael Agbabian and Dwight D. Smith are the executive producers.
“Ellen” Interview Video
On March 4th, Ellie Kemper was a guest on the talk show “Ellen”. You can now watch her appearance on the show in the video below!
Ellie Kemper Officially Starring In “Brenda Forever”
Ellie Kemper has landed her post-Office gig.
The sitcom star has been tapped to star in NBC’s Brenda Forever, a comedy centered on stories from Brenda Miller’s past and present, which are interwoven to give a unique portrait of how a chubby, awkward, but incredibly confident 13-year-old grew up to be a 31-year-old woman who still marches to the beat of her own drum.
David Lampson and Andrew Leeds, who co-wrote NBC’s Rex is Not Your Lawyer pilot in 2010, are set to write and executive produce the pilot, which is based on a spec script that the network nabbed following a bidding war with Fox. Rescue Me’s Peter Tolan and Michael Wimer (2012) will join them as EPs on the single-camera effort from Sony Pictures TV and Tolan and Wimer’s Fedora Entertainment.
Kemper, who appeared in a string of recent movies from 21 Jump Street to Bridesmaids, has been among this season’s more coveted actresses. She is repped by WME and Mosaic.
Kemper is the second former Office star to land a pilot Wednesday; David Denman booked a key role on CBS’ Beverly Hills Cop reboot at CBS.
Ellie Kemper May Join Pilot “Brenda Forever”
It’s been a very tough January spec market this season, with several scripts taken out and none of them selling. Until now. I’ve learned that, in a competitive situation with NBC and Fox bidding, Brenda Forever, a high-concept comedy script by writers Andrew Leeds and David Lampson, just landed at NBC with a pilot order. Casting on the project is yet to begin but I hear Ellie Kemper, who is close friends with Leeds and Lampson, has had informal conversations and is interested in playing the lead. That would be coup for the show as Kemper has been among the most sought-after actresses this pilot season.
Brenda Forever takes place in two time periods, following Brenda growing up as both a 31-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl. The project was developed internally at Sony Pictures TV with studio-based Fedora Entertainment. Lampson, Leeds and Fedora’s Peter Tolan and Michael Wimer executive produce. Sony TV took a gamble with Leeds and Lampson, signing a deal with the duo back in April to develop a project in-house instead of going through the regular pitch process. It just paid off. Brenda Forever reunites Leeds and Lampson with NBC where they landed their first network pilot, the 2010 Rex Is Not Your Lawyer.
Ellie Kemper & Michael Koman tackle Life’s BIG Questions
Ellie Kemper and Michael Korman talk about their life’s big question including how they find peace in a chaotic world and what they would do if they had an hour left to live.
