Ed Helms recalls shooting The Office and The Hangover simultaneously: ‘I was drinking six red bulls a day!’
Ed Helms opened up about the chaotic stretch when he was filming The Office and The Hangover at the same time.
American actor Ed Helms is looking back on what he calls one of the most demanding yet rewarding stretches of his career — the time he was juggling shooting for popular American sitcom The Office and popular Hollywood movie The Hangover , at the same time.
On the latest episode of the MeSsy podcast, hosted by Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, the 51-year-old actor opened up about the grueling work schedule that came with trying to shoot a hit sitcom and a blockbuster comedy simultaneously.
Ed explained that both The Office showrunner Greg Daniels and The Hangover director Todd Phillips were “gracious” enough to work around his availability. Even so, the schedule was relentless. He shot The Office in Los Angeles on Mondays and Tuesdays, before boarding a flight to Las Vegas to spend the rest of the week filming The Hangover.
“I worked seven days a week. Because I was crossboarded on The Office, they were extremely full days of production. And then on The Hangover, Bradley [Cooper] and Zach [Galifianakis] and I are in literally every scene. Like, there’s no scene without all three of us,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“I worked seven days a week. Because I was crossboarded on The Office, they were extremely full days of production. And then on The Hangover, Bradley [Cooper] and Zach [Galifianakis] and I are in literally every scene. Like, there’s no scene without all three of us,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}If the long hours weren’t enough, The Hangover also came with a heavy dose of night shoots. Ed recalled days where he would wrap a scene at 4:30 a.m. in Las Vegas, then catch an early morning flight to Los Angeles just in time for a 6:30 a.m. call time on The Office. “It was completely and totally insane. I was drinking, like, you know, six Red Bulls a day or something to get through it,” he said.
Ande despite the gruelling work hours, somehow, Ed still found himself showing up for commitments outside of work. Ed remembered attending a charity event hosted by Hollywood star Ben Stiller, right in the middle of those back-to-back shoots.
Looking back, though, there’s not a hint of regret. “It was the greatest,” Ed said about his time on The Office. As for the Vegas set of The Hangover, the memories are just as positive: “It was a pure joy. I honestly loved every second of it. I just felt so psyched to be a part of these things that were so cool and so fun,” he said.
