![]() ![]() ![]() As a kid, growing up, it was really important to me. I guess with Star Trek, I just really appreciate the ideas it digging into. So you’re a bit more into the depth of Trek? It’s more like, ‘How can we have some rip-roaring action adventure?’ Yes, it does have some mysticism, which they’ve pretty much drained out of the contemporary Star Wars. And Star Wars doesn’t give a shit about that. And Star Trek was created to be a kind of western in space, but also every episode was about something something insightful and challenging about what it means to be a human being, the advances of technology and our place in the universe, and using science fiction as a lens to think about our contemporary lives. And it’s done that on a really grand scale. But, I will say, that Star Wars was created to be a potboiler fun exciting B-movie adventure. It’s kind of like the debate between Marvel and D.C comics. Are you a Star Trek dad or a Star Wars dad? You’re in Star Trek now, but I know you dig Star Wars. But I’ve been really grateful for these last couple of years and being more intimately involved with this life. We try and travel and bring him to the sets that I’m on. When I did The Office, I was usually home at seven or eight at night, and so I could put him to bed sometimes. It’s tough and challenging though with a job like mine. And, yeah, I’ve been much more involved in his life in the past five or six years. My son is fourteen now and I’ve been done with The Office for five years. I’ve done a bunch of different projects since The Office ended, and though I’ve done many projects that were different and challenging, the freedom of not doing a weekly sitcom like that has allowed me to focus more on parenting. What’s the difference between Rainn Wilson as a father during The Office years and now? We want to use entertainment to educate and uplift with our son. Just the other month we had a screening of Selma and we talked about race in America and Martin Luther King. I mean, he can have fun, and watch The Simpsonsand South Park, but you know, we also want to show him stuff and talk about the ideas behind the content as well. I always try and show him stuff that has a little more meaning. He watches so many TV shows and sees so many movies. Like so many kids these days, my son consumes so much content. Is your son into what you’re doing? Are you sharing more with him? When you did The Office, you had an infant son. Star Trek, and the one thing all dads of small children should stop worrying about. Fatherly caught-up with Wilson to discuss his Star Trek directorial debut, his feelings about Star Wars vs. He might be a villain in the Star Trek universe, but he’s a family man on Earth, a low-key guy who, yes, definitely is the dude from The Office. Is he happier? Well, he sounds pretty damn happy - like a guy who has managed to balance two massive ambitions with profound success. ![]() Now, he’s re-animating the mustache-twirling villain Harry Mudd in Star Trek: Discovery and watching shows he likes with his teen. Wilson started tackling a wide variety of enviable projects, lending his voice to Adventure Time and penning a hilarious memoir called The Bassoon King. Freed from his career making role, he made other, very un-Dwight choices. He was relentlessly Dwight and relentlessly busy (though he made it home for bedtimes) until the show went off the air in 2013 - even though the work sometimes dragged him away from his young son. But Wilson was paid handsomely to ignore that message. The message was clear: Don’t be that guy. Here was a man driven toward conflict by his insecurity. As Dwight Schrute, a man immersed in the minutia of Battlestar Galactica and running a beet farm, Wilson held up a funhouse mirror to salaryman. ![]()
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