In addition to Goldstein, the film stars Jennifer Lopez (‘Maid in Manhattan’), Betty Gilpin (‘The Hunt’), Tony Hale (‘Toy Story 4’), Amy Sedaris (‘Elf’), Bradley Whitford (‘Get Out’), and Edward James Olmos (‘Miami Vice’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Betty Gilpin, Tony Hale, and director Ol Parker about their work on ‘Office Romance’, Brett Goldstein and Joe Kelly’s script, improvising on set, working with Goldstein and Jennifer Lopez, and what it was like for Gilpin to play pregnant and shoot the birthing scene.

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‘Office Romance director Ol Parker.

Moviefone: To begin with, Ol, what was your first reaction to Brett Goldstein and Joe Kelly’s screenplay, and did you know immediately that you wanted to direct it?

Ol Parker: My first reaction was that it was incredibly funny, and I had no sense that I should because it’s the first thing I’ve ever directed that I didn’t write. I’m lucky enough to be sent things occasionally to direct and I always don’t really respond to them. They just don’t feel like mine and about halfway through this, I was reading going, “Oh, this is great. I’m really looking forward to seeing this when somebody makes it.” About halfway through, I was like, “Maybe I could direct this.” So, it took a little while to see myself as any part of it but then I was thrilled that they asked me. I loved making it with them.

(L to R) Jennifer Lopez as Jackie Cruz and Brett Goldstein as Daniel Blanchflower in ‘Office Romance’. Photo: Ana Carballosa/Netflix © 2026.

MF: Did you leave room for improvising on set, or did you stick to the script for the most part?

OP: No, we played around a fair bit. I mean, Betty Gilpin plays around a lot and that’s part of her genius. But Brett, obviously, and Joe, the other writer, were there as well. So, if something’s not funny enough or it’s not working, then you try something else. Generally, we shoot some and I go, “Let’s try a take where you just do anything else.” You know, Jennifer’s incredibly funny, off camera as well, and Brett obviously is a brilliant comedian. So, it would be missing an opportunity. Plus, so many of the others, Tony Hale, Amy Sedaris, these are incredibly funny people. Do you know what I mean? So, for me to be like, “No, I think we’ll stick to the script,” would be wasting an opportunity. For us, it’s just a great gift. We could do takes where you play around and luckily, we had enough time to do that and plenty of improvisation is in the script already.

Tony Hale attends the Netflix’s ‘Office Romance’ World Premiere at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on May 26, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin / Getty Images for Netflix.

MF: Tony, what was it like shooting your scene with Brett, and was he open to improvising even though he wrote the screenplay?

Tony Hale: There was a lot of room, and anytime you came to him or Joe with an idea, they were like, “Let’s do it.” That’s the exact environment you want. He’s so open to it. Also, it’s that kind of thing when you’re doing it, and probably if you throw the ball, you’re expecting them to throw it back. So, that’s what they do, and there’s that back and forth, that’s always like, now we’re riding the waves together, which is always nice.

Betty Gilpin attends the Netflix’s ‘Office Romance’ World Premiere at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on May 26, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin / Getty Images for Netflix.

MF: Betty, can you talk about Sydney and Jackie’s friendship and creating that relationship on screen with Jennifer Lopez?

Betty Gilpin: It was easy to create that friendship and chemistry. She’s both very powerful and so available. She’s so open and such a great scene partner and egoless in being willing to make fun of herself and find the funniest, weirdest version of the scene that feels the truest. I think she and I are both very different from our characters, but she and I both love being at work and love what we do, like our characters do. So that that part felt very easy.

(L to R) Jennifer Lopez as Jackie Cruz and Brett Goldstein as Daniel Blanchflower in ‘Office Romance’. Photo: Ana Carballosa/Netflix © 2026.

MF: Ol, what was it like working with Brett and Jennifer on set and can you talk about their onscreen chemistry together?

OP: You can have the best script in the world, the funniest supporting characters, and you can shoot it beautifully, but if you don’t want to see the two people kiss at the end, none of it will mean anything at all. So, these movies exist and function on the chemistry of the leads and succeed or fail on the on the chemistry of the leads. I went for lunch with Brett and Jen a few months before we started shooting and we sat there for 3 hours and I’m not sure I said anything at all. I just sat and watched them laugh and just thought, “Oh, this is going to work.” I remember driving away, thinking, “I just got lucky.” It was just immediate. I failed chemistry at school, but I know it when I see it and, just straight away, it was like, “Oh, this is going to work.”

Betty Gilpin as Sydney Bloom in ‘Office Romance’. Photo: Ana Carballosa/Netflix © 2026.

MF: Betty, can you talk about the challenges of playing pregnant on screen and shooting the birthing sequence?

BG: Well, I think that having been pregnant twice and given birth twice, I think I thought, this is going to be a cinch, but then there were so many things. I mean, for humans to continue having children, you forget so much of it on purpose. Your brain just kind of resets so that you think, I should do that again. So, you forget how awful it was. So, there were so many times where I would get up from a chair and Ol would be like, “You have to get up as if you’re pregnant.” So, then the birth scene was insane, having an animatronic baby being pushed out of a prosthetic vagina that you’re sewn into, and the pop sound that incurred when that happened. We filmed placenta coming out as well, which was cut. I talked to people who had seen early cuts of the film where that scene was included, and they were like, “What you did in this movie is so brave.” So, it’s grizzly, but not as grizzly as it was.

Ol Parker attends the Netflix’s ‘Office Romance’ World Premiere at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on May 26, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin / Getty Images for Netflix.

MF: Finally, Ol, what was your experience like shooting the birthing scene?

OP: We had fun that day. I thought it was such a funny scene that it needed to be shot in an extreme way. It was so mad and so heightened that it was my idea to build a rig and to do all of that. So, yeah, it was a great day. We laughed a lot.

(L to R) Jennifer Lopez as Jackie Cruz and Brett Goldstein as Daniel Blanchflower in ‘Office Romance’. Photo: Ana Carballosa/Netflix © 2026.

What is the plot of ‘Office Romance’?

Jackie (Jennifer Lopez), President and CEO of Air Cruz, runs a tight ship in her business, including a rigid anti-fraternization policy for all her employees. When a new sexy lawyer (Brett Goldstein) begins working for her, that policy becomes very tested.

Who is in the cast of ‘Office Romance’?

• Jennifer Lopez as Jackie Cruz
• Brett Goldstein as Daniel Blanchflower
• Betty Gilpin as Sydney
• Amy Sedaris as Julie Schatz
• Tony Hale as George Zein
• Bradley Whitford as Peter Vance
• Edward James Olmos as Captain Jack Cruz

(L to R) Brett Goldstein as Daniel Blanchflower and Jennifer Lopez as Jackie Cruz in Betty Gilpin as Sydney Bloom in ‘Office Romance’. Photo: Ana Carballosa/Netflix © 2026.

List of Ol Parker Directed Movies:

Buy Tickets: ‘Office Romance’ Movie Showtimes

Buy Betty Gilpin Movies on Amazon