Rainn Wilson: My Life During the Strike

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How are you and your Office castmates doing? Are they experiencing strike fatigue?
RAINN WILSON: Yeah, it was a really lovely break, and it's just turned into a living hell. I just spoke to Jenna [Fischer, who plays Pam on The Office] the other day and we are so ready to go back to work. I feel bad because they had so many amazing things planned for season 4 with Dwight and Angela, and I was so excited to film those. And we may not have a season 4! Period. That may be it. It's a very real possibility.

Have you been out to the picket lines?
Oh yeah, I've been out three or four times. The Office writers are very active in the strike. I hope the people hold strong.

What's everybody from The Office doing for entertainment? Have they become Netflix addicts, or engaged in other hobbies like competitive eating?
Well, I think Leslie [David Baker], who plays Stanley, has taken up rock climbing and Meredith is actually a prostitute now. Steve Carell is a pool shark. And John Krasinski has gone into international diplomacy. So people have stayed very active and are doing a lot of very interesting stuff. I've taken up spelunking. Do you know what that is?

I've heard the word, but I'm not sure what it actually is.
You don't know what spelunking is and you're a journalist?

My vocabulary is terrible, obviously.
I think so. You need like a vocabulary builder. There's only one definition of spelunking and that's cave exploration. It's like that horror film where those cave creatures were eating those female spelunkers.

I'm not big on zombie films, to tell you the truth. Was that The Descent?
What? What are you? You call yourself a journalist and you're not a big zombie-film-watcher?

What else are you doing during the strike? We all know about Shrute Space, of course, but are you on MySpace?
No. You know, I tried MySpace for about two or three weeks and I was getting about 3,000 friend requests a day, and people were getting really mad at me for not friending them and sending me nasty letters, and I was like, ''You know what, this is going to be a full-time job. I can't handle this.''

How does Jenna do it?
I think she got her assistant to do it. She writes a lot of the blogs and stuff, but I think her assistant writes people back and friends people and manages it and the pictures and all of that stuff.

What else are you up to? A film titled The Rocker?
Yes. The Rocker comes out April 18. I think it's really funny. I saw it. A former heavy metal drummer gets a chance at fame by joining his high school nephew's rock band. It's a sweet coming-of-age rock & roll comedy, kind of like Say Anything or School of Rock, a little bit like Almost Famous. It's a terrific little film, really low-budget.

Are you hoping to get some beefier film roles on the heels of Juno and The Rocker?
Yeah, I mean it's a little pricklier when you're on a TV show, because you only have a two- or three-month period to try and fit a film in, which is easy if you're Steve Carell, but it's harder if you're trying to get a film career going. But I don't even know if we're going to have a hiatus this year. I've been writing some and developing some movies and I'm excited to see what happens with those, but we need this goddamn strike over first. I'm writing a script for [Juno director] Jason Reitman, this ninja project, Bonsai Shadow Hands. I will be writing in it and acting in it and executive-producing it, and Jason will hopefully be directing and producing it. It's about a down-and-out ninja living in the San Fernando Valley. I would play the titular character.