The Office: Every Pop Culture Easter Egg In “Threat Level Midnight”

Michael Scott's self-made film, Threat Level Midnight, was finally revealed in The Office season 7 - and it was packed with pop culture references. After a decade of writing, shooting, re-shooting, and editing, Michael screened his movie for his coworkers, specifically the love of his life, Holly Flax. The episode, titled "Threat Level Midnight," is a fan-favorite and one of the last high points of the Michael Scott-era before Steve Carell exited the series.

Threat Level Midnight was first mentioned in The Office season 2. While Michael was out with a client, Pam found a screenplay for his movie starring himself as secret agent Michael Scarn. The movie then followed Scarn, who was asked with preventing Goldenface from blowing up the NHL All-Star Game. Scarn went into retirement after the death of his wife, Catherin Zeta-Scarn, but agreed to learn how to play hockey to work undercover and stop Goldenface.

Related: The Office: How Dwight’s Baseball Bobblehead Connected To Michael Scott

Many of Michael's Dunder Mifflin Scranton employees played characters in Threat Level Midnight. Certain scenes were even filmed to make it look like Michael shot the movie many years prior. In doing so, certain cast members made special cameo appearances. The guest appearances included Rashida Jones as Karen, Melora Hardin as Jan, David Denman as Roy, and Mike Bruner as Tony. The various pop culture Easter eggs and direct references made by Michael and his film counterpart also made the episode extremely memorable.

• Micheal mentioned being a Woody Allen fan but claimed to only see Antz, an animated movie that the filmmaker voiced a character in. He then added that he liked A Bug's Life better.
• Michael was upset about Holly's review of Threat Level Midnight and brought up that he cared about how his movie turned out and compared the situation to Ocean's Eleven.
• The opening music heard in Threat Level Midnight was taken from the Bourne movie franchise starring Matt Damon.
• Scarn learned how to play ice hockey from an expert trainer by mopping the ice. This method was inspired by Mr. Miyagi's teachings in Karate Kid.
• Creed's character, Cherokee Jack, was named after a character the '60s film, Red Zone Cuba, a title featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
• Goldenface, the villain in Threat Level Midnight played by Jim, was named after the popular James Bond villain, Goldeneye.
• When Scarn entered the bar, everybody said "hi" in unison just like the cast did in Cheers.
• Scarn saw flashbacks when he looked at he hockey puck and one resembled a scene between Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler in Armageddon.
• Goldenface interacted with the hostages in the same manner as in Die Hard.
• The Threat Level Midnight episode of The Office featured a few deleted scenes in the extended version and one of which followed Scarn talking to the camera in the hallway like in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Michael Scott's Threat Level Midnight movie is easily one of the best long-running gags on The Office, and there were a lot. The fact that the series managed to actually show fans clips from the movie was great, and the writers - or, really, Michael Scott - filling the movie with pop culture references made it all the better.

Next: The Office Revival Should Be The Real Threat Level Midnight

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