Amy Adams was almost not cast in 'The Office'—here's why
What's the story
Jenna Fischer, who played Pam Beesly on NBC's hit sitcom The Office, recently disclosed that Amy Adams was not the first choice to play Katy Moore because of their uncanny resemblance.
Speaking on an episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Fischer said that another actor had been hired and filmed for a day before Adams replaced her.
"We originally shot Hot Girl for an entire day with a completely different actress in the role of Katy," she said.
Praise
'Amy was so seamlessly Katy': Fischer
Fischer praised Adams's performance, saying, "I remember when Amy came on the set, she was so seamlessly Katy. She improvises a lot...But a lot of her improvs make it in. She just knew who this woman was."
However, despite being everyone's first choice for the role of Katy Moore in The Office Season 1 episode Hot Girl (2005), her resemblance to Fischer initially led to another actor being cast.
Casting concerns
'We can't cast her. She's like Jenna 2.0'
Fischer explained, "There was this concern that Amy and I looked too similar. I guess one of the writers even said, 'I'm sorry. We can't cast her. She's like Jenna 2.0.' And so they got cold feet and they cast someone else."
This resemblance later inspired a line in the show where Michael Scott (Steve Carell) refers to Katy as "Pam 6.0," a reference not originally intended for Adams's character but added due to the similarity between Fischer and Adams.
Character arc
Adams's character Katy and her role in 'The Office'
Adams's character, Katy, was introduced as a purse saleswoman in the episode Hot Girl.
She got romantically involved with Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) while Pam was engaged to Roy Anderson (David Denman). However, their relationship ended when Jim realized his feelings for Pam.
Adams reprised her role in the Season 2 episodes The Fire and Booze Cruise before being written out of the show.