2 Major Disney Actors Turned Down Cameos In The Office, For Better or Worse

Those included Academy Awards winners, blockbuster movie stars, professional athletes, musicians, and so on.

Strangely, however, there were actors who, upon being offered to appear in The Office, at the time when the show already was big and famous, decided that they don't want to collect residuals for the rest of their lives in exchange for a brief appearance.

One such case was revealed in the recent episode of the Office Ladies podcast, where Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, stars of The Office, talked about both the show and various things which were going on behind its scenes.

In particular, they've discusses the Season 5 episode Stress Relief. That episode saw an especially big number of celebrity guest cameos due to the inclusion of an in-universe movie called Mrs. Albert Hannaday.

But one of the roles in that ridiculous "movie" was not played by a noteworthy star, like all others, (for example, Jack Black and Jessica Alba took its "main roles") but by The Office writer's assistant Nate Federman.

What caused this? As you could have guesses, Federman was a last-minute replacement.

And the guys whom the showrunners wanted to cast for the role he ultimately played were major Disney actors of the time. As Federman explained to Office Ladies:

"Originally, my part was supposed to be for Zac Efron, and there were actual lines, but he turned it down, and so did Corbin Bleu."

Then he revealed that Christopher Mintz-Plasse was also a candidate. But none of those three happened to be interested in the job offer.

"The day before it was supposed to shoot, they hadn't cast it, and all the lines had been cut. And they really just needed somebody who was young-looking to make out with Cloris Leachman," Federman explained "They didn't have to be handsome or famous. So enter me."

Federman did not expect the opportunity, but was grateful for it. And as to why all those actors refused the proposals sent to them, one can only speculate.