With great ratings come great responsibilities.

	Jenna Fischer Click photo for larger image.

Jenna Fischer, who plays Dunder Mifflin receptionist Pam on "The Office," is often asked by lovesick men how they can get their coworkers to notice them. "What should I do? What should I do?" they press.

Nothing may top the woman who wrote and said she was engaged to be married but secretly in love with a colleague. "I'm watching 'The Office' and I'm going to do what you do," the stranger confided.

"Wow," Fischer says. "I was always curious if she called off her wedding at the last minute, too."

Pam did that on the NBC series. In real life, Fischer is married to James Gunn (he wrote and directed "Slither" and penned the 2004 update of "Dawn of the Dead"). In "Blades of Glory," she plays Katie Van Waldenberg, Jon Heder's love interest, who must try to seduce Will Ferrell at the insistence of her siblings.

Ferrell and Fischer share a memorable moment in a hotel room. "When I read that scene, that was the reason I wanted to do the movie, because I found the idea of a reluctant seduction so funny," Fischer says. "I thought, oh, this could really be fun."

And it was, although the two-minute scene took 12 hours to film and many costume consultations.

Melinda Sue Gordon Jenna Fischer, center, plays a member of a skating family that includes Will Arnett, left, and Amy Poehler in "Blades of Glory." Click photo for larger image.

"Before we started, Will said, 'If there's anything I do that makes you feel uncomfortable, I want you to let me know. I'm married, you're married, I'm not trying to pull anything funny,' because he's a nice guy. He's a nice guy, super sweet, but then, also, man, just so good at what he does."

Besides, the actress who calls herself "a rather modest and shy person in real life" was wearing a corset and a decent amount of padding when Ferrell made his clumsy advances. "It's a way you're not used to seeing me, but in many ways, I have more clothes on than most actresses do in movies."

While funnyman Ferrell is a fan of improv, Fischer says he arrives prepared. "He comes in with all his lines memorized. He's a very professional, very prepared actor, but at the same time, he's incredibly quick-witted and very smart, and so he would improv often, and my job was just not ruining the take by laughing."

Although Fischer is starring in a movie about professional ice skaters, she doesn't take to the ice.

A date scene between Fischer and Heder originally was set on the ice, as they skated in circles. "In the end, I think they decided we had seen enough action on ice, and they had the idea of us going to get Sno-Cones and sitting by an ice sculpture."

Like millions of others, Fischer was a fan of "Napoleon Dynamite," which put Heder on the movie map.

"He is much more handsome in real life than I think people would imagine, because he always plays these kind of nerdy guys in movies, and he dials that up. He's so different from that in real life -- he's tall and has broad shoulders, and he has these blue eyes that are so sparkly. He's just the nicest guy."

Heder is married and expecting his first baby any day. "He and I would just have lunch on the set and talk all about impending fatherhood," Fischer says. "He's got such a soft heart, and he's so sweet, and we bonded pretty quickly. It was very easy being his love interest."

Even before the movie, which features figure skaters Scott Hamilton, Nancy Kerrigan and Sasha Cohen in small or cameo roles, Fischer was a skating fan.

"We look forward to the Winter Olympics and watch all the skating. I remember when Sarah Hughes won the gold medal, my husband and I were, like, man, that's one of the greatest sports moments in history. I would say I'm a skating enthusiast in that way, but I'm not a super fan."

At the time of the phone interview, Fischer had just finished filming the 50th episode of "The Office," directed by Harold Ramis, and was preparing for the one-hour season finale. "It's so exciting for a television show that we thought might be canceled after six episodes."

The TV series allows Fischer to have her summers off, and while she plans more movies, don't look for her behind the camera again anytime soon.

She directed, co-wrote and appeared in "LolliLove," a mock-umentary in which Fischer and her husband play a well-off Hollywood couple who decide to help the homeless ... by passing out lollipops with original artwork and upbeat slogans.

"It was a great experience as an actor to see everything that it takes, everything that goes into making a film, because the movie I made was such a low-, low-, low-, ultra-low-budget movie." She did everything from cooking the food and phoning cast and crew with their call times to making the props, picking out the wardrobe and, of course, directing the scenes.

It reminded her how hard it is to make a movie and how many people arrive on the set long before the actors and stay long after.

"There are people who get paid very little money to make movies happen and work very hard, and so that was a good experience for me, to know. And also, it taught me that I never, ever want to do that again. I'm going to be very happy just acting."

Even if that means being the long-distance confidante of the lovelorn now and then.