Harvey Keitel to Join The Office?

With Steve Carell set to bow out of The Office at the end of this upcoming season, rumors have been swirling about who will take over the reins at Dunder Mifflin. According to E! Online, you can add Harvey Keitel to the list of possible applicants.

Executive producer Paul Lieberstein told E! that he thought Keitel would make the perfect replacement.

“He’s probably the only guy who can do it, and he’s doing TV now,” he said. “He’s a real tough guy, but I saw him in Life on Mars and I saw a lot more comedy in his work, just little slivers of it, little things he would do that made me think he’s capable of a lot more than what [he’s done].”

Lieberstein said he hasn’t yet initiated talks with Keitel, but he’s serious about casting Keitel. So serious, in fact, that he’s already come up with a backstory for his character: “He’s an old salesman who thought he could retire and the stock market went down, and he has to come out of retirement to work for a few years,” he said.

Season 7 of The Office premieres on Sept. 23.

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