Q: As all of your ‘Office’ co-stars go off to do movies, when you come back to do the show, do you notice a difference in skills or styles?

RW: No.  The main change that’s happened for all of us, since we’ve gotten famous and since the success of the show and the addition of movies, just has to do with time and energy.  There’s just a lot more demands on your time.  There’s a lot more press and photo shoots and movies and rewrites and meetings, and stuff like that.  I have one day off in the month of March.  March 10th is my day off, so don’t ask anything of me on March 10th. [Laughs] That’s one of the challenges.  When you read stuff about celebrities and how they’re bitches, you realizes that there’s so many demands put on people and so many requests.  And then, you have old friends writing and they want you to send head shots or they want you to host a charity event, and you don’t want to let them down.  You want to keep everyone happy, but it’s hard.  But, it’s great.  I’m not complaining.  It’s definitely a dream come true.

Q: Have you directed an episode of ‘The Office’? Do you even want to go in that direction?

RW: I like directing.  I’ve directed a lot of theater and I directed a short film, and eventually I’ll direct more, but I really decided early on, with ‘The Office,’ I just want to show up and play Dwight.  I don’t want to write, I don’t want to direct, I don’t want to produce, I don’t want to be involved in that way.  It’s just cleaner if I show up and play my character.

Q: How much of that is ad-libbed between you and Steve Carrell, and all of the other cast members, and how much do you really stick to the script?

RW: The scripts are really brilliant, so we’re fortunate to have really great writing.  I would say that what you see is about 3/4 scripted, and about 1/4 ad-libbed.

Q: Did you watch the British show?  There was worry that we wouldn’t like it because the British version is so good, but you really took it and made it your own.

RW: I was always a big fan of the fact that there was going to be an American ‘Office.’  I loved the English ‘Office,’ but the English ‘Office’ was like a mini-series.  We adapted an English mini-series for American television.  It’s a very different thing.  They made 13 episodes.  We’re on our 50th episode right now, already, and we’re not even half-way done.  I just thought there was always a great deal of potential in the show and, when I met Greg Daniels and saw how passionate he was about it, and his intelligence and sense of humor, I knew we were in good hands.  I was always a believer.

Q: Have you ever had a boss like Michael, or would you want a boss like Michael?

RW: I’ve had bosses worse than Michael.  People are always like, “I don’t believe Michael Scott would be the boss at that company,” and it’s like, “Dude, I have worked for people so much worse than he is, so much less funny and more boorish and domineering.”  They’re out there.

Q: Do you think that adults and kids, in this modern world, have lost their sense of wonder?

RW: I think what drew me to the story of ‘The Last Mimzy’ is that the children go on this metaphysical journey that ends up saving mankind.  We’re at a crossroads right now where we, as humans, can choose to destroy our planet and destroy ourselves, or we can unite and spiritually transform the planet into the paradise that it was meant to be.  I think this movie has a lot of resonances and I think people are really going to respond to this film.  It’s going to last a long time.  I don’t know about opening weekends, and stuff like that, but when people see it and pass it on, it’s going to really be a small classic.

Q: Were you interested in the science in this, either from a research perspective or just for your own curiosity?

RW: Yeah.  I guess I was most interested in how DNA works.  I didn’t know you could be carrying junky DNA and that toxins can affect your DNA, and how that works.  I still don’t quite understand it, but it’s pretty amazing what can happen in the future with genetic modification, and stuff like that.  But, I do believe that the impurities of today -- mental, spiritual and physical  -- are going to take their toll on the planet. 

Q: What did you think about working with these kids?

RW: Don’t print this, but they are horrible. [Laughs] They were great.  They didn’t have much experience, but they’re both naturals.  It was really fun.  We goofed off a lot.  We had a great time.  We really did.

Q: Did you ad-lib any of the funny lines in this film?

RW: I think so, yeah.  I seem to remember doing ad-libbing.  You can’t stop me from ad-libbing.  It’s kind of what I do.  It’s kind of what I bring to the equation.  I’m just going to say what pops into my head.  I try to stay in character and stick to the story.

Q: Were you in Julie Taymor’s ‘Titus’?

RW: I was in the stage production, yes. 

Q: Did you end up in the meat pie, or were you alive at the end?

RW: I ended up falling into a pit and having my head cut off, not dissimilar from my end in the Rob Zombie masterpiece ‘House of 1,000 Corpses.’ [Laughs] Julie Taymor and Rob Zombie.  I was clubbed to death by Scarecrow and sawed in half, and my torso was attached to a fish’s tail.  I was turned into fish boy.  That was my first leading role in Hollywood. [Laughs] I can say I was discovered by Rob Zombie.

Q: What’s the origin of your name?

RW: Kind of crazy bohemian parents, living in Seattle in the late ‘60's.