Severance: Ben Stiller and Adam Scott on Making the Apple TV+ Thriller Series
213The Apple TV+ series Severance, which premieres on February 18, tackles a whole new kind of work-life balance. The show created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller and Aoife Mcardle follows the character of Mark, played by Adam Scott, who recently underwent the controversial procedure known as "severance" in order to take a job at the mysterious Lumon Industries. Clocking in for the day effectively activates the implant in his brain that flips the switch to his work memories, meaning he forgets everything that happens to him outside the walls of the company (which is referred to as his "outie" side). When he's not working and living his life, he doesn't remember anything about Lumon either — or any of his quirky coworkers, like the goals-driven Dylan (Zach Cherry) or the by-the-company-handbook Irving (John Turturro). The arrival of a disruptive new employee in Helly (Britt Lower), however, could do more than just threaten the status quo; it could upend the authority inside Lumon as it exists, led by company devotee Ms. Cobel (Patricia Arquette) and her loyal right hand Milchick (Tramell Tillman).
Ahead of the series premiere, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Severance star Scott as well as Stiller about how they first came to the project and what drew them to the material. Over the course of the interview, which you can watch above and read below, they also reflected on the moment when Stiller first called up Scott to tell him about the show, and Scott discussed his approach to playing a "severed" character like Mark.
Collider: Ben, you helm a lot of the show's pivotal episodes, I would argue, from behind the camera. What was it about the project that drew you to it specifically?
BEN STILLER: Dan Erickson came up with this script, and he had not been produced as a writer and came through our doors, and I was immediately taken by the tone and sort of the influences in it that felt very original, but also familiar and something I hadn't seen before in terms of just the world of this show and the concept, the very simple concept that he came up with.
So I was immediately in. And it's taken a number of years to get it to this point. Really, it's been like, I think maybe five years since, or more. I forget when I first called you, Adam. Because I read it, and I called Adam up immediately too. Because he was the first person I thought of to be Mark.
Adam, is it fair to say that you were involved with this project before you even knew about it? I saw that Dan had envisioned you for the character of Mark before you were even aware of it.
SCOTT: I mean, that's so flattering and nice to hear. I mean, from the moment Ben kind of gave me the big idea of the show, while I was standing in the snow in 2017, I just couldn't stop thinking about it because it's just such a great idea. It's one of those ideas you can't believe no one's explored before. And then a couple years later, I actually got to read a script. And it's just exactly the kind of thing that I like to watch as an audience member. And it had everything in it. It had this fun workplace comedy, just with this weird sinister vibe underneath it. It has satire and kind of thriller elements and suspense and science fiction. It had all this terrific stuff yet. It's completely character-driven. So as an actor, it was just a dream role and truly felt like something I'd been waiting my whole career to be able to do.
In terms of your approach to the character, you're playing somebody who, in the world of the show, has been severed. So your work-life and your life-life, the memories are completely separate. Do you look at it as playing two separate people or is it more [that] you're playing two halves of the same person?
SCOTT: Definitely the latter. It had to be the same guy and just have it be a matter of addition or subtraction from one to the other. What does the one on the inside not have that the one on the outside does? It's a whole life of experience, but what does the one on the inside have that the outside does not? There are different things, and they manifest themselves in different ways, some physical, and some emotional.
So it was a constant sort of dance, figuring that out as we went along. And luckily, I had Ben there to sort of augment and keep track of, because we were shooting the whole show at once. So keeping everything straight, which "innie" or "outie" we were doing and where we were in the story was always a really fun puzzle to work at.
#Severance #BenStiller #AdamScott
For interviews, movie reviews, and more visit https://collider.com
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
https://twitter.com/collider
https://instagram.com/collider
https://facebook.com/collider