Mike Judge and Cast on the Impact of Office Space 25 Years On

l-r: Office Space actors Ron Livingston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, and Stephen Root (photo by John Anderson)

As the moderator of Saturday’s Office Space reunion panel pointed out, the comedy classic was the first movie to introduce the concept of “quiet quitting,” a hot topic of late.

That’s not the only way the 1999 film – in which fictional company Initech brings in a couple of efficiency experts to help downsize its workforce – has proven prescient: Given the general flux, layoffs, and dissolution experienced by tech companies in recent years, one has to wonder whether Initech would have even survived the last couple of decades. (I’d bet anything that AI could churn out a TPS report better and faster than any human being.) Meanwhile, Office Space, after a brief and lackluster theatrical run, has gone on to become an enduring cult classic, seen via a variety of home-viewing platforms by more people than can be added up through mere royalty checks.

Moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Stacey Wilson Hunt, the celebratory panel was attended by filmmaker Mike Judge and co-stars Ron Livingston, Ajay Naidu, David Herman (sporting an Austin Ice Bats T-shirt), and Stephen Root. Wilson Hunt led the panelists through an oral history of the making of the movie, beginning with Judge’s short film that laid the groundwork for the feature, the first table read, executive notes and interference (i.e., wanting Livingston’s Peter to smile more and use less rap music throughout – both skirmishes in which Judge’s acumen prevailed), and the disappointing release, which was far different than the studio’s raunchy but sweet There’s Something About Mary, a smash hit the previous year.

Mike Judge (photo by John Anderson)

The movie, which I described in my review 25 years ago as “something like Norma Rae with a college degree and a sense of humor,” has indeed stood the initial test of time. Here in Austin, where the movie was filmed, it seems like there have been anniversary celebrations of Office Space with great regularity, so a lot of the panel’s tidbits may have felt well-known to devoted listeners.

Still, among my takeaways are the knowledge that Aniston and Herman attended high school together and that she claims to have had a crush on Judge during the filming; Judge kept demanding that the Coke-bottle glasses Milton (Root) wore be even thicker to the point the actor couldn’t discern distances and had to practice reaching for his cherished red stapler; Chris Rock called to congratulate Judge upon the film’s release, along with others like John Landis and Amy Heckerling; Dave Grohl told Livingston that Office Space “changed his life”; and that Madonna had the hots for Herman’s character saying, “There’s just something sexy about how angry that Michael Bolton character is.”

Of the film’s continued cultural footprint, Mike Judge summed up its bittersweet success: “To have it fail at first makes it even better.”

Celebrating 25 Years of Office Space, with Mike Judge, Cast, and The Hollywood Reporter

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