As paper-pushing
prankster Jim Halpert on NBC’s Emmy-winning comedy
The Office, now in its fourth season, John
Krasinski won our hearts as he awkwardly romanced Pam the
receptionist. Punching in for his first chat with gay
media to promote his new football comedy
Leatherheads -- he thanked me afterward
“for being so gentle” -- the 28-year-old
holiday Gap model opened up about costar George
Clooney’s irresistible superpowers, his own
sex-symbol status, and riding high on Beyoncé’s
radar.
So this is your first gay press interview?
Wow, now that I think about, it is. There’s so
much pressure! But I’m very excited.
Which burning question do you think the gays want answered?
Oh, my God. My imagination’s running
wild.
Were you aware that you had a gay following?
Oh, is that why everyone in West
Hollywood’s so nice? I thought they were just
big Jim/Pam fans, but you’ve totally decoded it for
me. No, I was not aware that I had a gay following,
but I think it’s great. I mean, I live right in
West Hollywood, so I’m constantly walking through the
neighborhood, seeing how enthusiastic and extremely fun
everybody is down there, so those are the fans to have
behind you -- the people who can make a party out of
anything.
How did growing up Catholic in Newton, Mass., influence
your views on homosexuality?
Luckily, I have two of the coolest parents
around. They’re so open about having any and
all experiences, so they never hindered us in any way by
categorizing or judging anything. Having people be that open
was actually incredibly wild, because I was always a
little confused when I heard anybody have issues with
anything like homosexuality. It was very foreign to
me. But I probably never gave it too much thought until I
went to Brown, where I had a whole lot of friends who
were gay. They talked about the fantastic parts of it
and the really difficult parts of it, and
that’s when I fully realized the scope of the
experience, rather than the classification of being
gay as having some weird romantic idea.
Who’s the most important gay person in your life?
One of my acting teachers from Brown,
who’s probably one of the most important people
in my life, period. He was the guy who basically helped
me transform from someone who just wanted to get a laugh,
and who used humor as a way to distract people from
being insecure in acting class. He really got me to
face a lot of different stuff, like who I was and who I
wanted to be.
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