Ben Stiller
Appearances
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
I couldn't believe that they were putting it on the air because there was nobody from the show in it. And it was Jim Downey.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
I was just sort of like, Honestly, I've probably talked to you about this before, that, you know, it was for me trying to do what Albert Brooks, who I think was ahead of his time for sure. Very much so, yeah. In terms of like what he did, his first movie, Real Life, which was about reality television and making fun of it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And what he had done on the show and watching that when I was younger and wanting to do that kind of thing.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, he wanted to have big, thick forearms that were hairy. He wanted to be Jewish. And he wanted to. And he wanted to dance. And he wanted to dance. Again, Jewish.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
No, I was, I mean, it's a strange set of circumstances the way that this happened. We had done this little short for the MTV Movie Awards where I played as Stuntman. And that's where we, and we had met a couple of times over the years before that, but then we had a great time doing that together and had stayed in touch since then. And I had had this idea for the movie for a long time.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
I had been working on it with Justin Theroux. And Etan Cohen came on later, and we finally had this script, and I had talked to Tom about it. Originally, I wanted Tom to play my part. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. But I was like a little bit, I was like too, really too nervous to ask him to do it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Sure, yeah, yeah. He has other stuff to do. Yeah. And we were friendly and hanging out. He was so nice and just the greatest guy. But I didn't want to bother him really with this. But eventually I sent him the script and he was like, this is great. I'd love to be a part of this. And I was like, well, maybe you could play, there's like an agent role.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
He's like, well, no, I played an agent before, Jerry Maguire. He said, but it was his idea, this character. He said, you don't have a studio exec in the movie. Perfect.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
So this was like three months or maybe like two and a half months before we started shooting. And Justin and I were like, well, Tom is, you know, would like to be in the movie. And he had this idea of playing a studio exec. And so we went back and came up with Les Grossman and it changed the whole plot of the movie, but made it so much better. I think he has an amazing instinct about movies.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
He's so smart. It's crazy how he's a student of movies and he had this feeling like you need this element to the story. There's no element of what was happening back in the States the whole time in the Tropic Thunder story. We came up with this and Justin wrote a bunch of those monologues where he just goes off.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
But I have to tell you something, because I was actually, for another project I'm working on, this documentary, I was looking through some of this old behind-the-scenes footage from Zoolander that I have. And I found an old, this was literally last week, I found an old cut of the gasoline fight. And I had forgotten that originally... You know, they like he lights the cigarette.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And I think the way it is in the movie I watch for is like he lights cigarette. I go, oh, no. And then boom, they blow up. Yeah. But originally it was he lights a cigarette. I go, oh, no. And you watch the flame kind of like he drops the match on the floor and you see the flame like, you know, kind of track under the car and go up and then it goes up and it starts engulfing each one of them.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And it literally goes on for, I'm not kidding, for like maybe like two minutes where they're just like dancing in pain.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
When you watch it, you see it's awful. And also, this is like, you know, the year 2000. The year 2000. Where for real, like, you know, CG effects where like we had three stuntmen doused in those like the jelly where they put the jelly on and actually be on fire for real doing this. And then the explosion was a real explosion that like knocked the windows out of the buildings across the street.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Cause it was like bigger than our guy thought it was going to be. It's just like a different time.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And for me, that's always been the thing. It's like, I love working with people.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
It was just great. And I have, for this documentary I've been working on, I've been looking at some of that old stuff and it's just, I mean, I'm like, what was I thinking? Because it's such a commitment. And I mean, besides just looking at myself 30 years ago or whatever it is, and just like kind of like my attitude and like coming in with like, hey, I'm going to be funny.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And you know what I mean? Or like, I'm going to like have an attitude with you.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
But you were great. You played along and you were always so open to it. And you were always like, OK, let's go for it and let's do it. Right.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
But also, you know, I was thinking about it cause like I had to do a talk show next week and I was thinking, okay, what am I going to do? And I should think as I, and then I'm like, we'll just, we'll talk and we'll be fine. And I realized, I'm just like, I don't have the energy for that at all anymore.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Old school comedy team, they started in the late 50s, early 60s, and were two young actors who met and fell in love, got married really quickly, and then became starving actors in New York. And after five or six years, tried to figure out a way that they could make some money. And my dad was the guy who always wanted to be a comedian.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Grew up during the Depression, idolized Eddie Cantor and people like that. And my mom just wanted to be a serious actress, but she was really funny and really talented. And my dad had this idea that they should do an act, so he pulled her into it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, they did Ed Sullivan. I think it's 30, I always get it wrong. It's like 36 or 37 times.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And it kind of made their career. Yes. And that's a big- I had a memory.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
No, I mean, it was, yeah, that's part of the story is that, you know, the pressure that was on them as live performers, which, you know, a pressure, you know, as, you know, doing what you do. It's, but, but for them, not like every time they went out, they had to get re-invited back by Sullivan and they had to do well.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
So, you know, that was, and they had to do like five, it wasn't like two minutes. It was, it was like six or seven minutes, you know.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah. And luckily he liked them, uh, They did a number of different sketches every time they come out, but then they finally hit on this one sketch where basically they played off the fact that my dad was Jewish, my mom was Irish Catholic, and they had these two characters meeting off of computer dating, and it was Hershey Horowitz and Mary Elizabeth Doyle. Funny now. It's still funny.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And it was controversial at the time because, you know, they didn't know if people would go for it. But Ed Sullivan's wife, he was Catholic, but his wife was Jewish. Oh, wow. Okay. And he loved it. And that was sort of, you know, he kept on inviting them back. And that's, yeah. But, you know, you're in the documentary because...
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
so many of these talk show appearances, you know, I'm kind of also looking at it through the lens of, you know, for me over the years being asked about them, you know, and so many times and really trying to figure out like, well, what is it like? What was it like being their son? You know, who were they?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
What was, you know, what's the core of what my experience was with them as parents and stuff I never really questioned until you start doing something like this and you start looking into it. But we went on with you once, and there was a bit that I was sick, and my mom was taking care of me, and my mom and dad came out with me on the show.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, and it's so funny. It's so great. No, those are, I mean, you know, the... And then I have to tell you another thing, too. So I've been working on this thing for like four years, and... As a documentary develops, you start to... I've never made a documentary before, and what I'm learning is that as it goes along, you start to figure out really what it's about through the process of editing.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And then you think it's one thing for like a year or two, and then you realize, oh, no, I got to have more of this story or... You know, I have to have more for me. It's been more of like a personally like really like getting into like what is what's my experience with them? Because, you know, that's I'm the one making the movie.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And we we figured out this part of it that I've always felt, which is my dad on Seinfeld was. was, you know, he was so angry, right? And that was what was so funny was to see him blow up and scream and yell.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, yeah, amazing. And I always felt it was because he had all this suppressed inner rage in him that he kind of kept down He loved my mom. He was the most loving, generous guy. But he had to sublimate a lot. And over the years, doing their act together, the dynamic between them was that she would shut him up a lot. Like, Jerry, Jerry, stop talking, stop talking.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And I have all these clips from the 70s of them on all these talk shows doing that. And I thought, when he finally hit it on Seinfeld, it was because he was able to let out all of that inner... Yeah, it makes sense, yeah. I'm driving home and I put on, you know, your Sirius XM station. And it's literally, it's my, it's a clip of my dad on the show, on your show.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And you're asking him about, you know, Costanza and why is he so funny? And my dad said, this was like, literally, he says, as I turn it on, he says, it's because I had all this inner rage.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah. And I literally like pulled the car over and like, you know, texted my editor. And yeah, isn't that insane? That's fantastic. And we pulled the clip out and it's in the movie along with the other thing. Well, I don't give you permission to use it. That's actually why I'm here.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
I felt like it was my dad and the ether or something, just like this moment was happening.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Which is sweet. He always wanted that. You know, he had had so much success with my mom. But then there was a period of time after, you know, when being a comedy team was not something that was as viable in show business.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
As you go into the 80s and the 90s, it's not like there are shows that are, you know, like the Merv Griffin show or that. Sullivan show. It's just so, they were having to figure out their careers separately. And then, you know, Seinfeld happened for him in his 70s and it changed, you know, it just fulfilled everything that he had wanted.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And my mom, it wasn't as important to her because she was, I think, happier to kind of stay at home and write and, you know, read biographies, do the Sunday Times crossword puzzle. But my dad, that's what was, it was, you know, he was so connected to the audience, to being recognized. It meant so much to him. Because he was so deprived as a kid. His parents, he had such a tough childhood.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
His dad was a cab driver. You know, they moved 13 different times when he was a kid over the course of a few years. And, you know, so he was just like both loving and needy, but like in the most generous way. And, you know, they would like someone come up to him on the street and, you know, recognize him. He'd be with my mom and he'd talk to them for like 15 minutes.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And my mom would be like, Jerry, let's get the fuck out of here.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, it was. I had a friend in high school who was the band leader and he was really talented. We're still friends, Chris Roebling. And but I was not a great drummer. I really wasn't great at keeping time. What is that documentary about Ginger Baker? Ginger Baker. Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
there's a great documentary about him and he's like so like hard ass in terms of like, you gotta, like either you have time or you don't have time.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, it was a moment that hit me. I always loved directing since I was a kid. Then I was directing a lot of these movies I was in over the years. Except for Cable Guy, I'd never directed anything that I wasn't in, but I always thought of myself more as a director than an actor really. I felt like that was more where I was. I thought I was better at that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Definitely not a live performer for my short time on SNL. It was so nerve wracking for me to be. It's still anytime doing something live. It's like, you know, I don't enjoy it. I'm happy when it's over and if it goes well, it's great. But so directing to me was always like a comfort area and just happy. You know, it just made me happy. And so It was really after Zoolander 2 came out.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
That was sort of the inflection point where it's like the movie didn't do well. It was not well received. And it was this moment in time where I was like, oh man, what am I going to do? What do I want to do next? And I had some space just to kind of like think about it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And then this project that I'd been developing kind of right when the movie came out, Escape at Dannemora, this limited series about this prison escape in New York that happened in 2015, I think, that was there. And I had the time to work on it because I wasn't doing other stuff. First of all, Escape at Denim, I love that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Right. And which is daunting, too, you know, because it's like, all right, how do I do this? But it's also to me, it's like sort of the most subjective thing where you just go, OK, you know, how would how do I see this? How would I want to see this? I think when I just got to the idea of like basically like what would I want to see?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
What would because I do love comedy and I love comedies growing up. But I also really love just dramatic movies. So I just started thinking like, well, what would I want to see? And with Escape at Danmore, I was like, yeah, I would love to see this. If it was a movie, limited series, whatever. And the vibe and the feeling, I think for me was so much, like it was so clear that,
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And yeah, then you just take the time and work again collaboratively with people who you think are really talented and you have a similar sensibility. And, you know, you have these partners, you're a cinematographer, production designer, costume designer. Dan Amora was Michael Tolkien and Brett Johnson, these two great writers.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And, you know, the truth of what happened in that story was to me was sort of like what I was like most interested in because it scared me, too, because I'd never done a prison escape before. movie. And I was like, all right, well, I have no idea how to, like, how do I do this and make it real? How do I make it feel authentic?
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And so I just went to the real facts and the, and, and the more I learned about what actually happened and got to the real places, I just said, all right, I'm just going to go for the real thing. Because that was what was fascinating to me about that story was that how could a prison escape like this happen in 2015? That feels like something out of like escape from Alcatraz or something.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And then you realize, oh, there's like the system that's in place at this old prison. You know, it's, it's, there's so many places where, you know, things can go wrong and also the hierarchy of how it works there in terms of with the guards and the prisoners and, uh, you know, the, I mean, the dynamics in a prison, it's a huge prison too.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
So, you know, it's like its own little, you know, city or something. And so the more I talked to real people who experienced it and got the details, I was just, that was really fun for me. And then cinematically, yeah, it's fun to like figure out how to do something that, you know, hopefully look cool and be intriguing.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, that's great to hear in that the trust you can have for the audience, which you have to sort of like take a sort of runner on and kind of, you know, just go, okay, I'm going to believe that they're going to get this. But, you know, you never go bad when you don't underestimate the audience.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Because people are smart. And especially now, people watch television so closely and they appreciate it so much and they look forward to it. And so that's a great thing to know that people will pick up these little things. But we made the show in a bubble during COVID. uh, with no, you know, no, you, you know, you make the whole series and then you put it out. So there's no feedback.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
It's not like, like the opposite of doing like a late night show or something. Right. Right. You're getting feedback every day, every second.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Right. And so it was one of the, a great experience making it. Um, and then near the end, I was like, Oh, I hope, wow, I hope people, I hope people get it. I hope they like it. This is, we've been working on this thing for a couple of years. Like this could be either good or it could just be like, oh, you know, maybe nobody's going to even see it. Um, and the reaction was, it was great.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
It was great. It's as great as anything I've been a part of. And, you know, and, you know, being in the business so long, like You never know how people are going to react to stuff. And when it's great, it's so great. And when it's not great, it sucks. But it's not that different, the experience of whatever you make, you know, something that gets well received or not.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah, it was a confluence of events that came together. I didn't even know he was going to dance like that. It's dancing. It's the same thing. Tom Cruise dancing like I didn't know Tom Cruise was going to dance like that.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
No, but, you know, that was also, yeah, one of those things where it was just like I was I felt the same way watching it. I was like, oh, this is so cool. And I love watching this. I could watch it over and over again. And I think as a director, you kind of not it's not like you want to like say, oh, my work is great. It's like you as you're almost like an audience.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
You have to act as an audience and you're the sort of like you have to make the choices based on being an audience that you're projecting would be watching something.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
So I was, I love it too. I was like, I love watching. I was like, oh, this is really fun. I could watch this all day.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
There's just a chip that's inserted into their head and it gets triggered when they go in the elevator down to work that they don't remember who they are upstairs.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And they just know their reality at work. And then when they leave, the chip gets triggered again and they don't remember what happened to work.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And it's all Dan Erickson, the creator, the writer, you know, it was the first script that he had produced. It was a spec script he had sent around. And Jackie Cohen at our company read our Reddit and thought it was good. And I read it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Hi, my name is Ben Stiller. And I feel... Hmm. About being Conan O'Brien's friend.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
That was a spec script, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's good to know, right? For aspiring writers. And he had this amazing idea and this amazing facility in terms of how, you know, the tone of his writing. But I agree with you. There's that analogy.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
You know, just the idea for me also of these people are like coming into work and doing their thing and having their banter and kind of, you know, it's very like kind of, you know, like an office comedy kind of vibe. But they don't know who they are. They don't know why they're there. and they don't know what they're doing. To me, that's like the life analogy. Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Like, you know, that's where we're all here, you know? And we get settled in and we figure out how to get through and do it, but, like, we don't ultimately know what it's all about. So I thought that was what was always resonating for me.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Well, Dan worked at a door factory when he came out to LA and that was where he got the idea because he was just going crazy every day working at this door factory and he wanted to forget about it.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah. I mean, it's hard. It's hard to get the access for people, you know, to get that that script in someone's hands. But I feel like in this business, everybody's always looking for that next thing, you know, always looking for talent, looking for something that they're going to read and is going to excite them and feel, you know, feel new and different. And that's just always going to be.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Yeah. Oh, that's nice. Well, she's amazing. I mean... Yeah, you know, I think we're all going through life and trying... I feel like a kinship, seriously, Conan, because I know how hard you work and how much it means to you, but you're also trying to figure out the work-life balance, which is part of the show, too. And... That's, that's important too.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And I hope over the years, over the, I don't know, last whatever, you know, 20, 30 years that I like, I figured out that a little bit more because you have to, there's a point where you work, work it and work and work it, but then you also have to like, also then be able to step back and go, okay, I can only control so much. Yes.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
I've got this little movie I did with David Gordon Green called Nutcrackers. It's on Hulu and that we did like super low budget and it was really fun. Yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
No, you know, your kids are older, too. I mean, my daughter's 22. My son's 19. And they will tell you. They'll give you feedback. Oh, yeah. And how you're doing. And I appreciate it. And we've actually, like working on the documentary, I interviewed both my kids and Christine. And we talked about stuff that's worked in our lives and stuff that hasn't worked in our lives.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And my kids were very honest with me about times when I put my work in front of the family. And I'm very grateful that I'm in a place now where I still have these relationships with them that we can work on and talk about that stuff. And and adjust because it's true. It's cliche, but it's true. But at the end of the day, that's what it's all really about.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
My joy comes from working and being creative, but sharing that with my family and going home and not having anybody to share that with. I've had that because Christine and I were separated for a few years. And, you know, if that's the right thing for people, sometimes that's the right thing.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
But, you know, for me, being together with her and our family being together, I'm so much more appreciative of it. So I feel really grateful.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
By the way, I just have to say also, there is one scene at the end of the last episode of season two of Severance that I'm really looking forward to you seeing. Because I feel like you of all people.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
And it might even seem to others who watch it maybe weird or indulgent, but I feel like it's like made for you.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
It's like the guy that Donald Trump would call into the post. Oh, yeah. Whatever that guy's name was. David Barron or John Barron. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
Thank you. That means a lot because you know how much I respect you. Seriously. No joke. Well, now people think it's a joke because you said no joke. I know. I said no joke too quickly or something.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
and John Mahoney was in it, and Stockard Channing, and Chris Walken, and this amazing cast. I made this short takeoff with these two guys, Steve Klayman and Ralph Howard, and I put all my money into it that I was making from the show. And we made this short and then we were like, okay, let's take it somewhere. And this was, I mean, it's just a proof of how old I am and we are. Not me.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
But there was nowhere to go. There wasn't anything to upload it to at that point.
Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend
Ben Stiller Returns
so it was like a video cassette and lovitz had come to the show he'd seen the show and he uh and i reached out to him because he came backstage afterwards and he knew my parents and was very nice and he you know and i reached out i said hey i've got this short can you is there any way you could get them to take a look at it and he literally like met me in the lobby at 30 rock and took the video cassette upstairs
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Let's go! Thank you. Thank you. Welcome to the show, Ben. I appreciate you jumping on with us, dude. It's great to be with you guys.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Those are some pretty heavy awards credits there.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Those are the big ones.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, I don't understand the astrology thing because it's like you have your sun sign, but then there's the rising sign and the moon and it can, right? You got like really three signs or something like that. And I don't know. And how does it really, I mean, let's not get into it. My sister is really into it. Oh, okay. Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I had seen, I think I saw you had like a Perkis Power show. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And I'd heard some, you know, rumblings that you guys were into it, which was pretty cool.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
That's one of the funniest intros. It was really fun to do. We had a great time. I mean, I remember the summer shooting the movie very well. We shot it down in near Asheville, North Carolina. I'm still buddies with the guy who was my trainer when I was doing the movie. Mickey Marino. Shout out to Mickey. Who's down in East Hendersonville.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
yeah it was just but like yeah today uh first of all the fact that that was a disney movie is it is it is kind of crazy yeah that that was i'd chuckle at every time i see disney across the top yeah it's a it's an edgy disney movie it's not it's not little mermaid you know it's And I don't even think they were aware of it at the time. It was a different time, right? It was pre social media.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I think there was less of a sort of a moment to moment awareness of, you know, if you're doing something right or wrong and all that. So it was, you know, and Judd Apatow was producing it. Judd and I were friends and had been working together on a show we had done and had gotten canceled. And I had gone and directed a movie, my first movie. And he said, hey, we're going to go down.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Steve Brill's the director, really funny guy. We're going to go down to Asheville and do this fun, you know, this camp company. You could play this like mean guy who, you know, is mean to these kids who are overweight. And it seemed fun and funny. In, I'm in. Yeah, it's right there. And it was like, and it happens to be Disney, whatever.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And I think they went off and they made the movie and Disney looked at it and was like, uh... This isn't quite, you know, this is down the middle for the Disney brand. And they kind of put it out there or whatever. And then that was it. You must have seen it on video, right? Oh, 100%. A few years after it came out or something, right? Because it's 30 years old. Exactly. Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But then it's had this life.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But yeah, it never would have gotten made today. Why do you say that?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
No, I think Tony is dealing with his own weight issues. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And his own feelings towards his parents and also that he's a kid who never, he never interacted with other kids. And, you know, he wants to be famous. And, you know, I feel for Tony. I feel like he's the most sympathetic character in the world.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
i was like where did he where did tony come like where did you find him is there any inspiration um there was a little bit of tony robbins in there okay the motivational guy uh just in terms of the voice and how he talks um and his kind of weird sort of like he you know tony robbins had this thing where he gets sort of like yeah he could kind of like hypnotize you with his eyes yes
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And I don't know. And then we just sort of like played around. And it's funny because I look back at clips. I saw a clip like behind the scenes on it. And I was like, God, we were so young back then, too. Just like kind of just doing it, you know what I mean? And just kind of going for it. And you don't really think about it that much. And the kids were so much fun.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And it was, you know, kind of like every day we're just in my folks were in it playing my parents. And we had we had just had the best time.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Oh, yeah, don't let anybody tell you. Best advice I ever got.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah. I don't remember. I think like we were we were improvising all the time. It's sort of I feel like there were some improv moments there. I think like that little moment where Tony goes and talks to himself when he's weighing the kids.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
How you doing little Tony?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah. The thing that's kind of funny to me about that scene is it was it was improvised. But, you know, if you've ever been in therapy or gone to therapy, that's, you know, a lot of people talk about talking to your inner child, you know, and finding your inner child, connecting with your inner child.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And over the years, I have been in a therapy session where the therapist says, like, you should go, like, let's talk to your inner child. And I literally feel like I'm just doing a scene from Heavyweight. So I always feel like it's just...
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
This is kind of silly because I've literally done this in a movie where it actually made sense that Tony was able to talk himself into understanding that he is not the problem. They are the problem. And he helped himself. So in a way, it's a very healthy connection that he's having, you know, with himself. With himself.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And I think, you know, the kids also like, you know, let's face it, the kids were cheating. They should have been following the rules.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
They were the ones hiding candy and not hustling. If you go to a camp where you want to lose weight, you got to play by the rules, right? It's like if you guys show up at training camp, right? If you're not going to put the work in, right? Nobody's going to be able to force you to do it, right? You got to have the mindset.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
100%.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And I'm not like a super football guy, but I know you guys, the plays, you have to like learn all the plays at training camp, and then those can be the plays for the rest of the season?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, no, no, no. I knew that. I was just saying. For this kind of inside zone.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
That's right.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
It's incredibly complicated, isn't it?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I mean, we're still football players.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
It's not that complicated, but- No, no, but honestly, I did once when we were doing Zoolander 2, Aaron Rodgers came to Italy and- That's a complicated man. Yeah. That's a guy that knows a lot. But I asked him like, okay, you know, how do you do that on the line when you're having to make those split second decisions?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And he said like, it's really not, it's not as like complicated as they make it sound on TV. And I was like, yeah, but you're Aaron Rodgers. So it's probably, it's a little bit, but it sounds like the same thing you're saying, which is kind of like you guys just have it for so many years instinctually, you know it.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Right.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And surprise of it, right? Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Can I ask you one other question about football? Are you kidding me? Keep going. I love this. No, this is as a fan. It's the pain aspect.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
As we watch numbed out, watching our TV sets being entertained all across America and the world, you guys are just like smashing into each other and you just take it for granted as an audience member. But when you really look at it.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But like, what is, I mean, like, what is the reality of that in a game? Because, you know, you see it when you see the play where a guy gets twisted around and you see, God forbid, an awful, you know, brain, and you're like, oh, my God, this is horrific. Yeah. But first of all, like, what does that feel like? And second of all, could a normal human being and, you know, guy like me. Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I would Tony Perkis, too.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, but seriously, what is the level of what's happening there?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Thank you. ,,,,,,
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
,,,,,,, ,,,,,, ,,,,,,
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
P P P P P 19實.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
,,,,,,, ,,,,,,, And it was called 17 or 17 minutes long. And it started my brother in law, Brian Taylor, who happens to be here today, who is not an actor. Brian is the worst actor. Which can also be really good at times. They have an alarm company in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He's not a professional actor. So the fun of the joke was let's put him in a movie with like real actors.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And he was obsessed with Tom's speech from A Few Good Men, you know, or the Jack Nicholson speech from A Few Good Men that he gives to Tom Cruise where he says, you know, you can't handle the truth, right? I said, Tom, we're doing this whole movie for Christine. Would you maybe come and do like a scene in it where my brother-in-law is going to recite the... Jack Nicholson speech to you.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And he said, yes.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yes, there is video evidence. And he came down and he was so professional and like it blew my mind. He was so good. And Brian did the speech to him. And then we had so much fun doing that that the Tropic Thunder came up. I called him. I said, look, let's maybe are you interested in this movie? And he looked and he said, you know, you make fun of
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
The actors, you make fun of, you know, everybody in the agents and all that. But you don't make fun of the studio heads. You should have a studio head. So his it was his idea. Oh, my God. That character. What? That character did not exist before he suggested it. I feel like it is such a good- And then it became such an important part of the story.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And this was three months before we started shooting the movie. And we rewrote, Justin Theroux and I were working on it, and Etan Cohen, and Justin and I rewrote these scenes and put them in. And then Tom said, also, I feel like I want to dance in the movie. I just want to dance. So this was purely like his instinct. I'm going to have a bodysuit on. Yeah. And then we did a makeup test.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And go crazy. Yeah. And we put him in the makeup and he started dancing in the makeup test. We gave him some Diet Cokes to crush. And then we put, and then I think I put Get Back by Ludacris in the makeup test. And I was like, this could be really fun. So good. And yeah, he came in and just, yeah. So, it was pretty crazy how that happened.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Brian, well, he was perfectly bad as he should have been.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I do watch every game. Nice. I do, yeah. You know, the last few years, like my whole life I've been a Knicks fan. Last few years have been pretty exciting. Heck yeah. So many years in the wilderness, especially like the last like 10 years before this. Yeah. Yeah, I try to watch every game, and I now have realized I have to actually put the games into my schedule.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I'm not going to them just to watch them on TV.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
To not plan a dinner or something. Because I start to resent that I'm at dinner. So I knew that the game was happening during the Oscars, but I was focused on doing the thing at the Oscars. And then once it was done, I was leaving and after I'd done my thing, I was going back to my hotel and I realized, oh my God, the Knicks game is on.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
So, then I like checked it because I hadn't checked it the whole day or been aware of it as much to be honest. But I knew it was happening. And then I saw the Knicks had won. I was like, oh, this is great. I just finished the Oscars and the Knicks won. I'm happy. Knicks win. Yeah. And then I guess somebody picked up the fact that I had been like at the Oscars. Oh, you're backstage right now.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But I mean, I genuinely do. You know, I went to the Lakers game where Brunson got injured and, you know, I genuinely love going to the games.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Oh, okay.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Honestly, when any game, if it's a good game, it goes crazy. Like, it's just so intense. Yeah. But, you know, the playoffs, there's like nothing like like when they beat Philadelphia in the playoffs last season. Oh, yeah. And Dante DiVincenzo hit that shot. I don't remember that play, but like it was just it was I never felt anything like it.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, for sure. For sure.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, even just seeing LeBron in person, you know, like I was watching the other night. I mean, it's just he's just so big and he's so strong and he gets the ball and all of a sudden it's just like the tension level goes up and the defender gets up on whoever it is because it's like LeBron's got the ball and he's like he can impose his will still.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And he's 40 years old doing it, which is insane.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, it's very impressive.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I don't know. I mean, I think the Knicks, you know, realistically, I think the Knicks winning a championship. It's in the cards. All right. All right. So I'm definitely down for that. Yeah. But if I was forced, like if I was forced, like definitely. And I've heard John Stewart was asked this question and he said Knicks too. So I'm not going to not say Knicks. All right.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But I also feel like I really think like at the end of the day, if I knew that I had the choice, I would give it to the Knicks because I knew at least I had the choice.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
In this weird. This weird. This weird. Hypothetical.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
No, no.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah. The Knicks winning a champion, like it's so, it's still a little bit like, it seems a little bit like, oh my God, I can't imagine that. But we're just starting to feel like it. But then always something happens where- Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Donovan Mitchell is a New York guy, too.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
It really makes no sense, that move. At all. But it was so funny. I remember we had, well, we were like, you know, like Jim, we wanted to come up with like some insane set piece where Jim would just be, you know, just the biggest kind of asshole guy who comes in to play a pickup basketball game. Yeah, and Jack Black, I guess, is like he runs up on Jack Black.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But I remember we put like an Apple box or something next to Jack. It was very low tech. There was no like... Like if we did it today, there would be like CG and it would be like, it probably, it was just a very like, kind of like a simplistic way of doing it where he's like on an Apple box right behind him when he jumps up. But then, yeah. And then he shatters the backboard. I remember that.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But we had such a good time making that movie and Matthew Broderick is so funny in it. Yeah. Yeah. And Jim is just insane. Have you ever had him on the podcast? He's so, he's so funny. Yeah. I mean, he's like one of those guys who'll just do something to make you laugh and then he'll just keep doing it until you stop laughing.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
It was fun to just be working with him at that moment where he was just sort of willing to take any chance and just do whatever he thought could be funny.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Dude, are you kidding? I just did it, yeah, just one time back in the day. I forgot about that movie. It was not a blockbuster at the time. But one of the actors was not as into improv.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
and a lot of the other actors were and we were kind of figuring it out as we went along and that ended up sometimes being a thing okay yeah where that actor would want to just like hey can we can we just do what we planned and by the way a great actor just it wasn't his process as much yeah you'd be surprised you do it on the football field too really yeah oh yeah this is like you sound like you're gonna do your own improv does the coach get mad or not oh yeah sometimes
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
It's a waffle party.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
This is a Dan Erickson who wrote the pilot and is the creator of the show. And we've been working on it together over the years. He has a brilliant mind and waffle party being some, I don't know where that came from in his mind as the, you know, the celebration, the reward when you get to a certain point. It's not a pizza party. It's a waffle party. These might be a little raspberry.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But for a long time in season one, you know, we didn't know what... what the waffle party actually was. Eventually, we defined it in the, like, I guess, like the second to last episode. But it was fun to think about, like, what is a waffle party? What's the metaphor? What is the, you know, what does that mean? What does it mean? Well, I mean, I think it's more than just waffles. Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Like, what would be the best reward you could have if you're working in this place every day and you don't get to leave and, you know, you're a human being? And so some what party aspect? I don't know that. Yeah. I mean, I love it.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Well, they're kind of like kids because they've only had consciousness for a short amount of time.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And they don't really have any freedom. And they're told, yeah, a waffle party is like the best thing.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, that building is a real building. And it is huge. It even is bigger in real life when you go there than it feels, I think, when you see it on the show. Because it's just... Feelings are so freaking tough. It's in New Jersey. It's in Holmdel, New Jersey. And it's now kind of like an office complex and a mall. But it used to be the headquarters of Bell Labs.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And they developed the transistor chip there, I think, in the 60s. So it's pretty that's why the water tower there has that interesting shape where it kind of looks like a transistor. Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And when we found it, Jessica Lee Gagne, who's our cinematographer, we were Googling stuff and she found this place and we looked at it from above and it looked like this giant sort of like almost like an egg shape with this or the building was there. And then the parking lot was like an egg shaped oval around it. And we're like, this is so crazy, this view and this shape.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And then we went there and it was just gigantic.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
and kind of empty so and nobody had filmed anything there that was the that's so when you're making movies and you find a location you get so excited when you find a really cool location that nobody's ever filmed at because you don't want to have something that's been in another movie yeah yeah and so when we found that that was the first thing we found and then we designed the sets and all the interiors and everything are on sound stages that we shot up in the bronx but um but that was like the design sort of
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
the first sort of Inspiration for the rest of the show.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, and it was a guy named arrow Sarnon who's an architect in the 50s who made that building did you always imagine the the characters having that fun kind of comedy banter or Like because it's such a it's a very serious show or at least it feels very like no you're right though like in the the when I read the script that Dan wrote it was a pilot he wrote spec pilot on his own that he brought to our company and
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
When I read that banter, it reminded me of shows I love, like The Office or Parks and Rec, this back and forth thing that they had. And what was so fascinating to me was, oh, these guys are like doing this kind of funny office humor, but yet they don't know who they are, why they're there, what they're doing. It's so good. Yeah, they don't know anything.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
It's like so that's like this weird sort of Twilight Zone aspect to it. And it's very surreal and kind of abstract in a way. Like, well, what what is going on here? So that humor and that office workplace thing is actually for me always been sort of the core of what the show is. And then it's definitely developed into. Oh, yeah. Into what it is. That's awesome.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Strawberry butter. I haven't had a waffle in... I think since we shot the waffle party. I was about to say, yeah, you had to jump in there at least one time. When we shot the waffle party, we had these waffles. And I was like, I got to have a taste of one of those waffles. And that was like three years ago. For old time's sake. Yeah, it's crazy because we were off the air for three years.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Well, I appreciate that you were a fan from the first season because a lot of people didn't discover it until now.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Thanks.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, yeah. He's at Devin and Rick and he's like, she's alive. Yeah, that's right.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I know. I know. When we got hit with the strike, there was a writer's and actor's strike. Yeah, yeah. And it took us a little bit while a while to kind of like regroup after that. And the show, which I think we shot for 186 days on season two. Yes. There's a lot of shooting and editing and editing takes a while. But thank goodness that the audience was like was there when we came back on.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah. And the challenge was just to get people who hadn't seen the show to watch the first season. So Apple did a really good job, I think, of getting the word out. And we did as much press as we could.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But also three years later, Apple TV Plus is actually a different it's a different situation there now because they have more viewers, too, because when we started out, we were one of the first shows. That's a good point. I didn't even think about that. That's pretty cool.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, that was really crazy. We set up the office cubicle in a glass cube in Grand Central Station. That's where it was, Grand Central Station. And it was an idea that they had. And Adam Scott said, well, if the actors, the real actors can go in there and do it. And the fact that they were willing to go in there. And I said, they have to do it for like at least three hours.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Cause like, it just has to be enough time that people can be walking by and just go, what's that?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Oh my God. People going home from work. Like, wait a minute. Like people who knew the show, people who didn't know the show. And of course people started filming with their phones and stuff. And it became, it did become a viral thing. And that I think ended up probably getting more attention than if we had just done a premiere or something. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And because it was so organic and it was so much fun to watch them just in this cube because the actors just started improvising.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
They couldn't be heard. So they knew that. So they had that freedom and they knew that they were going to be in character. So they're actually doing, you know, Dylan and Mark. Yes. And and Patricia came in as Miss Cobell and she started throwing stuff at Adam and made him stand in the corner and There's just like so many funny moments.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But I knew as actors, I knew they were just going to sort of fall into it because it's like what you do. So like it's like for them, it's like, okay, this is like a performance art piece. And they had so much fun with it. And I was just like watching, taking pictures. And yeah, it was awesome.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I mean, it just becomes, I've been directing for most of my life, I guess, and I love it so much. It's such a collaborative experience. You're working with cinematographers, the production designer, costume designer, actors, editor. All these people, it's a group effort. And I just love the process, what we were talking about earlier.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
So for something like this, when you have everybody who's sort of like focused on this vision that Dan laid out in his script, everybody's working sort of like towards the same goal. And you want to get people to just be as creative as possible and work with people who you want to bring as much of their own personal sort of inspiration to it. Sure. So I think that's like a big part of it.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And then it's become it's basically been my full time job for the last five years. And I've loved it. It's just you go to work every day, you know, and you have your, you know, whatever scene you're going to approach. I think acting is is harder, honestly.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
You know, when you have to get in front of a camera and like show up in the morning and do an emotional scene where you're going to break down crying in your car or whatever it is, that's you know, that's. As a director, you can come set up the camera, try to help the actor as much as possible, create an environment, but they have to do that thing.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And so, for me, using that part of my brain as a director, I really enjoy because in a way, I feel like, you know, every day I kind of know what I'm going to be doing. Acting stresses me out a little more because, you know, it's like, oh shit, I have that scene today where I have to pull that up. And I really admire, it's made me admire actors so much more as a director, just working with them.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Because I just see when you're doing both, because a lot of over the years I did it, I acted and directed in a lot of movies I made. When you're really just directing, I think you can just focus on what you're doing, be there for the other actors more and be connected to the crew and sort of adjust things. And I love the process of it.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And by the way, I just have to say, we have other great directors. Jessica Lee Gunye, our cinematographer, directed our episode seven that just came out.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
We have amazing people working on the show.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, Patricia Arquette.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Oh, to her going back to her last episode? Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, there's so many on this show and people put out, there's so much fan art and fan edits and theorizing and podcasts about it that I don't, I try not to get into it. I consume a lot of that. Yeah, I try not to because we have to focus on what we want it to be. But of course, you hear ideas that are like really interesting and you go, oh, yeah, that could actually be something.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
But you don't want it to really influence like what we're doing. But yet you are aware of the audience. You want the audience to enjoy the show. But everybody seems to have a different way into the show to different things that they they love the Mark Kelly relationship. They love the Mark Gemma relationship. They love Miss Cabell or Milchick, you know.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
So, what's interesting is you make the show, we made the season, we basically locked the season and finished in, I'd say, September, October, and I was doing some mixing and visual effects stuff through the fall, but it's done. So, as you're watching people react in real time, it's not like, oh, you're watching a sports team where you go, they really should have this guy play that position.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
You can't make any changes. It's all... set in stone. So I'm watching people react and they go, oh, this episode was the best episode, or I really didn't like that episode, or I wonder what's going to happen, you know, or they should do this or that. I'm like, well, it's just, it is what it's going to be. Next week is going to come out. You're going to find out.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Exactly. Yeah. And so we know what it is and like what we've done for the season. And I'm just watching in real time because it's not a binge show, too. It's coming out week to week. So that's very different, too, as opposed to, you know, if you're watching something where you can watch every single episode. People can then go like, oh, that frustrated me.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I'm going to watch the next episode and I get the answer I wanted. But here you get people for like a whole week going like, oh, you know, that's is going to go this way. It's going to go that way or that frustrated me. So it plays out differently than I think once the show's out in a couple of weeks, then people will be able to binge the whole thing.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And that'll be a different experience for them watching it, too.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I have two people, three people who I show the show to when we're in process, which is my wife, my son, and my daughter. Nice. Okay. Just get the family, yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Well, they see it as, like, I'll show them a rough cut. Oh, Brian, too. Brian, I've shown, right? Yeah. And so, I'll get feedback from them. But you can't show everybody the whole series. So, you can only pick a few people who you go, okay, do you want to watch cuts as we go along?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
He was always the first choice for me from the second I read the pilot script that Dan gave me and- And I think Dan had been thinking about him, too, and I reached out to him immediately. And then Apple had some other ideas about about about casting it. And I was very firm, like I really felt Adam was the guy. And Adam luckily stuck with it and stuck through with me and and ended up
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
doing it, and I'm so happy because again, for that same reason of like the office workplace comedy vibe that he brings. But I also know he has this deeper thing underneath. Oh, yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
And to watch him really embrace that over the course of making the show and even just the way he approached playing Audi Mark and any Mark, his voice, his physicality, it's all so different, you know, and he really works so hard to do that. And he's also like this crazy like
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
robot actor guy who can do anything like he and i mean that in a good way because like somebody say robot actor but like he is so specific and so precision in terms of being able to make an adjustment yeah you know like he can make an adjustment that's sort of just like a you know a thing where like you know if you could just like lean a little to the right because the camera sees this behind you and still do the moment or you know just he's amazing yeah that's awesome
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah. And John Turturro and Irv. Never worked with him before. And he's just an intense, great guy.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That moment with Helly.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
No, Brit this year.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah. This year, Brit having to play Helena and Helly. Yeah. And again, the same thing Adam has been doing. But these actors are thinking about the characters so deeply that they always come in with so many great ideas. And I really listen to them even just on story level, you know, just tone, everything. They understand it so well.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
So, you know, we'll be talking about an idea for a scene and Adam will say like, you know, I don't know if that really feels like
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
severance to me you know and it's hard to define it sometimes but it's that kind of thing also when you're trying to push the boundary a little bit and take some chances like we've done in season two you know you're trying to define like okay does this still feel like the show and i think when you trust your actors and you know that they have a sense of who they are in the show yeah you know i really rely on that a lot yeah yeah well let's ask the biggest question maybe would you get severed
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
would I get severed?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The idea of it does not seem like a great idea to me. It's a lot of control you're giving her. Yeah. I feel like, you know, yeah. So for me, it's no, because like, I want to remember, I want to experience my life, the life that I have left with, right? Because like we're here for not so long. Like I want to feel it all. Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I feel like there's so many metaphors for severance in life though, right? In terms of how we suppress or cut off, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And I feel like, you know, people do that in all different sorts of ways. And I, you know, and I probably do that in my life in a lot of different ways.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
yeah i think that's very much about what the show is you know like it's this life is you know pain is such a big part of our experience and of course there's that duality thing of like well you can't have you know pain and and and enjoying life you know these things are separate right yeah uh pleasure and pain but like you can't have pleasure without pain what is pleasure without pain yeah what is it jason i don't know please tell me
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I believed you when you said that.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I mean, that's the fun. Again, I think that's the fun of the show is that you have people like Milchick and Cobell. For sure. And Helena and all these people that you don't quite know, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I like that she's always kind of had her own severed version of, even though she's not severed, that she, you know, that she's Ms.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Selvig and playing his, you know, she's kind of imagining a life as a normal person, too, when she's living next door to Mark. So, yeah, the duality thing is a big part of the characters. And I think that's fun for the audience to sit in, you know?
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Oh, yeah. Okay. We will have answers by Wednesday. Yeah. Yes. All shall be revealed.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Nice. That is good. That is good. Yeah.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
I can't tell you, the spoiler thing, but yeah, I just had an idea, but I'll tell you that later.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
No, no. The plan is not. Definitely not. Let's go. Yeah. No, the plan is not. And hopefully we'll be announcing what the plan is very soon. That will not be that. All right.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Let's go sit in a cube together and see what happens. Don't you threaten me with a good time.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
By the way, I went to a Knicks game with Taylor. She was there. This was like 10 years ago. And I was there with my son. And she literally, we FaceTimed my daughter, who's a huge Swiftie. She's 23 now. And we had the best time. She was incredible. Oh, yeah. I appreciate that.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Yeah, well, this is the time. You should definitely come, though, if you want to. I mean, I can hook that up. Say no more. Say no more.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Well, it's fun for us, you know, as like talking like I'm talking like the Sandler, like we were working on. Oh, yeah. Happy Gilmore and. You know, it's a it's a kick because like you guys, like when you were kids watching this stuff and that it resonated and and we enjoy watching you guys do your thing. Yeah, super cool.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be... A big flop. From Wondery and Atwill Media, I'm Misha Brown, and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
and the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Record-Breaking Signings, March Madness Mayhem & A Severance Waffle Party with Ben Stiller | Ep 130
Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco. Enjoy The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Get started with your free trial at wondery.com slash plus.
Part Of The Problem
The Dangers of Free Speech
Yeah, I think we probably, I don't, I think everybody's going to have their own personal reaction and it's impossible not to be aware of the fact that people feel this, you know, that, oh, wow, you know, there can be retribution from the government if you say something wrong. And that's really scary. So just to even be thinking that way is, but, you know, of course I'm aware of it.
Part Of The Problem
The Dangers of Free Speech
I think everybody's aware of it. And, you know, certain people are just naturally more outspoken and always have been. And I've sort of like, you know, had my own path with it. But right now, yeah, I think it's definitely a thing that people feel. And in a way, for me, it makes me think about it even more about what do I really want to say and how do I really feel about something.
Part Of The Problem
The Dangers of Free Speech
And I think for artists in times like these, their creative energy is really goes into expressing what they feel. And there's a lot of them.
Part Of The Problem
The Dangers of Free Speech
Amazing work coming out of times like these that I hope we see.
Part Of The Problem
The Dangers of Free Speech
Maybe the first time around, it was more about Trump. And then this time around, it's more about the realization that our country is really deeply divided. And for me, it's less about the fact that he won by a majority and that many, many, many people are willing to go down that road. And what is that? So that's actually something that it's always, I think, been about.
Part Of The Problem
The Dangers of Free Speech
And that divide is something that I think- You can pause it there. You have to sort of-
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
But ultimately, we're all just people who want to work and be happy and fill our time with something that we think is meaningful. And it can be really distressing when you're
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah. I mean, to me, again, it's one of the really interesting aspects of the premise of the show is how much of a person can be cut off from, I guess, if it's your brain, if it's your mind. There are technologies that are approaching trying to do something like this. But what is it that can cross over if you don't remember anything about your life?
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
What are the innate human desires or characteristics that make you a person? And so that's constantly what we're looking at and asking in the show. And for the actors, it's great because that's a question they can ask in literally every scene.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
They can, you know, wonder about, well, how much of this is coming through, you know, my feeling for, you know, Dylan and Irving, if they're having a conversation, how much of Dylan's outie life is coming through for Dylan, even if it's not what the scene is about. Or, you know, for Adam Scott playing Mark, he's constantly going back and forth between that.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
And I think, you know, that's, to me, what's really interesting about the show, too, is finding... those places where something transcends the severance barrier an emotion or a feeling there's a time in an episode i think it's like i forget which episode so season one where dylan says basically you know do you think does love transcend the severance barrier
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
And that's the question, what transcends? And when we suppress feelings, how much can you really keep out of what you're experiencing? I mean, it goes to the questions of post-traumatic stress disorder, suppressed memories, repressed memories, all those things.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
I mean, as a person, I've been in therapy in my life, and I've talked a lot. And, you know, that question of how much talking about your past or talking about memories and issues, you know, there's questions about that, how much that really can help, right? And alternate therapies that are much more, you know... in the body and actually, you know, not really just about analyzing.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
And I think that to me resonates because I feel like a lot of this stuff is internal and there's even, you know, questions about generational trauma, you know, that people talk about now. And really, it's really interesting because, you know, you think about like what is cellularly in our bodies that we carry with us.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah, well, in terms of the Audi world and the Indie world too, what I thought that Dan had written in the pilot was a very sort of generic kind of world. And I think he was commenting on that, I think, in a way in terms of like what working for a big corporation can kind of turn you into. And that sort of blandness, that corporate blandness, I felt... we should mirror in the outside world.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
And I didn't want to have any actual reference points like, you know, like CNN or, you know, brand names or things, you know, when you saw the news. Just, you know, and that was sort of the idea was like, we don't quite know where or when this is. It's kind of now, but we don't want to have...
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
any sort of touchstones or, and even in the technology, and look, I grew up in the 70s, and I do feel like ever since cell phones and smartphones were invented, it's really changed our lives, obviously, but also storytelling, because so many things that you'd have to do before that you'd tell a story, you'd have to go and do research or whatever, and now you just get on your phone.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
It's not very cinematic. And that's why I like a prison story, too. Inside of a prison, you don't have access to that technology. Prisoners aren't allowed. And in a way, severance has a prison aspect, too.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah, and I think, you know, that world should be as kind of interesting and off and generic in its own way as the innie world, the outie world. And so that's kind of why we sort of gravitated towards that. And so the duality aspect, though, is just inherent in the theme. So just that's a natural sort of, you know,
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
tendency for us then to look for in the imagery that because it just it's just telling the story in a way and it lends itself to that so you know i think that's uh part of just the sort of visual world of the show and i think when you have a clear theme and you have an idea that's really um specific you know you want to stick with that theme and let that everything build off of that so it feels organic and not forced hopefully you know and that's what i think the great thing about this idea is that it allows for that
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Right, and we are constantly dealing with that question all the time, the question of how much Lumen knows, how much they're listening to, how much they're seeing within the severed world. I think there's always a question of, how much they're letting happen, how much they know is happening, how sometimes the technology isn't quite great there.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
So there's like, you know, there are places they can find like, you know, like a closet or something like that. And, you know, that's like a specific aspect of the reality of the show that, you know, maybe if we were doing this as a modern day show, everybody would be like, oh wait, well, there's no way you could do that because they would have microphones everywhere.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
But I think there's something to the sort of clunky nature of this corporation too. that that is kind of fun and and uh you know we at we don't have any there's one security person in the first season grainer um but early on we had experimented and thought about having security guards on the floor and any time we ever brought security guards in
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
It always felt to me like it turned into like a Star Trek episode or something. There was something about it. And we realized, oh, well, like the more we don't tell, the more we don't show, the more the audience has a chance to fill it in themselves. And that's always been for me a little bit of the question as I put the show out into the world.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
When we were making it in the first season, we made all nine episodes and nobody had seen it. It's like, oh, I hope people will buy this conceit because, you know, you have to buy into it. But it's there because I feel like those aren't the questions as much that I'm as interested in as opposed to the sort of greater themes of the show.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah, not at all. I mean, yeah, the first season we made starting right when COVID started. And we were delayed actually six months in production because of it. And so when the show was finished and people were starting to go back to work, and a writer wrote about it as like, oh, this is like one of the first return to work shows. It was purely, you know, that's just happenstance.
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On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
So it was just, I think, the timing of how the show came out. And it seemed like both the aspect of being sort of severed from everybody else in the world, you know, as we were, And that weirdness, even making the show where the actors were, you know, we were first season, everybody was in full PPE and, you know, face masks.
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Do you know that Trump was president before?
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I mean, I really enjoy all the characters equally. I like them. Adam is the key, I think, because, you know, he's the protagonist, but...
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Well, Milchick is, yeah, I mean, I'm excited for this season with Milchick, too, just because I feel like, you know, he's an enigma and he can be scary, but there's so many different aspects to who he is that, you know, make him, you know, a really fascinating character. And, you know, everybody works for this corporation, so... At the end of the day, there's a chain of command.
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And I think that's something that's interesting to us in the show is sort of like how, even if it's this weird kind of world or these maybe possibly scary characters that work at the company, they're also working. And so they have to deal with all of the office politics too.
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Yeah, the pineapple fruit plate as a way of luring people back. It's sort of like the shitty little perks that you get. Yeah.
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that you know in contrast to what these people have experienced that that's huge for them i mean though they are trying it in season two on the audis but the the it's funny to me that when they have an office party it's still just them there's nobody else there so it's just like the lights change but it's still the same four people who are like mingling with each other right so that was one of my favorite uh sort of setups that we had with
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You know, the idea of like, well, okay, where is this going to go? And all of a sudden, you know, when you get this next level perk, it's, they're going to like change the color of the lights in the room and you're going to dance. And the combination of, you know, Milchik is like, he's kind of like, you know, obviously the best dancer there.
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An amazing dancer, Trammell Tillman. And Adam, the best, like, white guy dancing, I think, I've ever seen.
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The white man overbite? Save that Billy Crystal, right? Yeah, it was, to me, the weirdness of that moment is kind of like, well, that's what's in the show. It's motivated because it's a, you know, it's a party. It's a perk. It's, you understand why they're doing it, but it's also just so weird and really fun to be able to like explore that.
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Honestly, yeah, I know very little about it. It's a weird world to be in. From the beginning, it was a new, strange experience because when we started developing the show, Apple wasn't even up yet. And someone called up and said, yeah, Apple's going to do a streaming service too. And I remember like, what? Laughing, going like, okay, everybody's doing streaming services. This is crazy.
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And we went out and pitched the show to different HBO, all these places, and Apple was the only one that bought it. And they weren't even up yet.
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Well, you know, no one ever really tells you it's Hollywood.
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They say we loved it. It just wasn't for us. Yeah. But that's just the way it is. And that's par for the course. But they said yes to it. And then it was like, okay, we're going to develop this thing for Apple, you know, Apple TV. That's weird to think of. And then a couple of years go by and then all of a sudden they're up and running and we're a show that's in production for them.
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And so honestly, I had no sense of what success would be other than I hope people watch it. And, you know, they don't really tell you the analytics
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No, they show us graphs and charts, but without numbers attached to them. And it's weird. I think that's weird for any creative person, especially when you're used to... You make a movie, you know exactly how many people went to see it on opening night, how much money it made you, the show, you get Nielsen ratings. So...
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In a way, it took the pressure off of us because there wasn't some number we were waiting to hear. All we wanted to hear was like, yeah, we're happy a lot of people are watching it and you want people to watch the show. But the first season, we were lucky enough to get very positive, critical response, which hardly ever happens. My life. And it was, I was so happy about that.
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And it seemed like people were watching it, but I didn't know how many people. And then we went into our process of making the second season, which got hit by the strike. And, you know, it took a long, much longer than we wanted. So coming back after three years
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in this culture is you know it's like a hundred years in terms of just any guarantee that people are still going to be there but in the meantime apple had grown they'd built out their subscriber base and i think they also really get the show, have always gotten the show.
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I thought they did a great job of marketing it the first season in terms of just like the aesthetic of it with the show and Apple.
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Yeah, it does. And that wasn't intentional. I've never been to Apple headquarters. You know, I've seen like aerial shots, but like really we designed it, but it always felt like it's, you know, yeah, this fits on Apple. And then the second season was,
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they really put a lot behind it i think they believed in it and they you know had money invested in it too um and luckily our fan base our core fan base really was still there for it and i felt like it could go either way it could go you know it's three years and we waited for this you know no thanks or like nobody cares it's back or it could be you know hey it was worth the wait and that's totally out of your control when you're making something so you just put your head down
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Yes, I saw that article, but that's all, yeah.
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I have no complaints. It's like, they've gotten behind the show. They, I, you know, and... These things are so complicated. I was really happy to see that article because I didn't know, but I also feel like they've always been like, yeah, we love the show, we're behind it. It's never been a thing.
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You mean like in terms of just my own sort of moral?
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For me, just the concern that not knowing what Apple TV Plus would be, like whether or not they were how serious they were about it, whether or not we would be looked at as, you know, a real show company.
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early on you know in that way i think like and you know that's also the not knowing what they had really planned for and what they were trying to do uh other than them saying they wanted to make really good shows right um but you know you do hear of course there is like well you know ultimately it's a phone company you know they're making phones yeah
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Yeah, and look, for a creative person who grew up in my generation, it's weird to see. It's weird to see that Amazon Prime is on there when you're shopping for Amazon stuff, and you can just click on that and watch movies and shows. It takes away something of the... the specialness of movies, you know, when you look at it that way.
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And then there's the other aspect of what's informing their decisions based on, you know, their analytics and the level of information that they're getting that will create for them, you know, ideas of what they think they want to produce for their platform.
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Yeah. You know, yeah, I think their chances are really good. And, you know, that, yeah, I mean, for us, we just want to be able to tell the story in the number of seasons that it should be to finish the story. And that's what's
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i mean that's the upside of working in this era is that you know we we're not a show that has to keep going because the network it's a network hit show that they're saying we need 22 episodes right and you got to keep doing until the ratings drop um there's no that pressure is not there and that that i think is something that gets lost a little bit in all the sort of weird negatives of this world too is that you're you have that creative freedom
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I don't know in terms of how it's all settling out. I know it's a crazy new world. I know Netflix has changed everything. The amount of shows that they produce, movies that they make, the level of what they're putting in and spending, it's just changed everything. Everybody who makes stuff, you want your stuff to be seen.
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And so it's that sort of push-pull where if you have something on Netflix, you know that you have a chance for more people in the world to see it than probably ever. But it also could be just go down the queue very quickly and never even, you know, get any attention. And so that's a real thing, too, you know?
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Yeah, sure. But I mean, like, who wouldn't be, you know, feeling like, oh, I don't want to just go down, you know. But it's just such a crazy world now that the cultural moment that you have for something. I actually like being on Apple because they don't drop everything at once. We get to have an episode every week. And I think for our show, that benefits our show.
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Because we get a chance for people to chew on it and to think about it and to talk about it and to go online and go back and forth.
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Yeah. And to want it. And and I like that. And maybe that's just a generational thing. And just I'm an old guy who's like, oh, I remember when shows would come on and, you know, every week. But it's it is succession was like that. Right. And you look forward to that. And I think, you know, it's just the new world we're in.
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But yeah, Netflix has turned has turned the movie business upside down and is still trying to find its way. I think in terms of what defines a movie, you know, I'm hoping And I really do believe we're going to get back to what people went to the movies for besides spectacle and giant IP and all that stuff. And I feel like that will come back around.
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Yeah, but, you know, back in the day a little bit. And I haven't done it for a while in, you know, in movies. And it's hard, too. You know, the thing is, like, the movies had that version of it where you have an opening weekend. And if your movie didn't do well on the opening weekend of a wide release, then it would go away pretty quickly.
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So it's kind of the same version of, like, being on the queue at Netflix. It's just the kind of, you know... on steroids or something.
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Um, I mean, existential dread is sort of something that creative people have all the time. And that I think could be like generational trauma that I have too. I mean, I grew up around that too. It's, you know, it's, it's not a very, uh, you know, business being an actor or a creative person. I mean, I can't remember a time when people were as off balance as they are now.
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I mean, it's, it's, everything has changed in such a big way. I'm trying to think of, you know, like when VHS happened or something like that, or, you know, things like that, but it's, It's just all been sort of thrown out there in a way that we don't know. I don't think the people who are making things know where it's going to land either. So they're trying to figure it out.
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And there's a lot of fear because those people want to keep their jobs, which I understand. But they have to make these choices based on what they think the audiences are doing. And so, yeah, I can't remember a time like this.
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Well, yeah, that's just sort of... That's old school.
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Yeah, it is. And, you know, it really is, you know, people don't ever say... I don't know of any business, because I've only done this, but, like, what people tell you when they reject an idea or something, if they always tell you the actual, their honest, you know, reason why they're doing it. But I think...
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You know, in this business, people want to keep their relationships with each other and they want to stay connected because they don't know what the next thing is going to be. And that's just always been a part of Hollywood.
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I think it's so unknown, it's scary to think about what people could do with it, the potential, what is actually possible to do. I do believe that creative human beings are always going to be what people want to connect with and see their stuff. There are little places where AI... I mean, I feel like almost what's going on with CGI really is...
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in terms of visual effects is basically into that world anyway at this point.
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Using those tools. I mean, there are little ways that if I feel like, oh, you know, to be honest, I'd say like, oh, you're doing ADR, which is when you're like doing looping extra lines or something and an actor's not available.
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If the actor said, hey, it's okay, you know, you can use my voice and we can get the, you know, those words that you need to put in because I'm not available to do it because I'm doing another movie, something like that. Those are like kind of like mundane practical things that I think would be really helpful. And I don't know. I mean, I think I love the brutalist.
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I, you know, I don't in any way look at that as that making that movie lesser in any way at all, honestly. I also am very impressed with that movie as a lot of people are because the price it was made for. But the unfortunate thing is that a movie like that has to be made for such a low price.
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You know, it's just it's hard because I know how much creative people will, you know, will really stretch themselves to do what they want to do creatively because they you know, and it's really hard to get the opportunity to make a movie that's not something that everybody in the world is going to want to see. But yet those are the movies that we celebrate with awards and and move us.
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So, you know, that's that's what I feel for are the creative people who are forced to have to really sacrifice a lot so that they can get something made. And now whether AI could in some way help that, I don't think that's a bad thing.
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But where the rules are around it, I mean, the idea of somebody taking your image and then being able to do whatever they want with it, it's very concerning to me when I see what it could be done
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That's always happening, that kind of thing. I think ever since the internet, you know? Yeah. But I do think it's concerning when you see in the political world how political ads can be created and people doing things that they didn't do. That's really scary.
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I have very little interest in his whole thing and what he's doing.
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No. Yeah, that was not at all. It's the opposite of what I was saying. I don't know why he has so much time on his hands that he's retweeting something that was written about me. I know he really likes Tropic Thunder, great, good for him. But I think he's, you know, after that, you know, the Nazi salute, the double Nazi salute, I'm just, I'm not, yeah, I'm not into it, never was into it.
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And I think, you know, what's happening, honestly, not that anybody needs my opinion, but What's happening in terms of him being so close to the president and, you know, all the questions that that brings up in terms of conflicts of interest. All of that stuff is really, really concerning.
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And what he cares about, pop culture and all that stuff, it's like, you know, who gives a shit?
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Yeah, I mean, I don't think it makes anybody a victim. I mean, what the temperature is in terms of what movies are getting, you know, made or not. The reality is, yeah, sure, the environment is different and it would be tougher to get it made. I don't know if it could get made or not. I think it would be harder to get it made.
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But that doesn't mean I'm commenting on, you know, the state of our culture.
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Yeah, sure. I think about it. I mean, yeah, I don't know. Like after, you know, when October 7th happened and, you know... This is in Israel. Yeah. I was trying to think of like, well, what should I say? And it was really...
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I realized like, I'm not going to be able to express myself in a tweet or a blue sky post or, you know, it's just, I don't want to go into that arena of like having to sort of like distill some idea down into a thought that then people are going to debate and you know what's going to happen with that. But so to me, it's more a question of like, where do I express myself and what do I do?
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And I don't think having to legislate all this stuff on the, you know, on your phone all the time or, As much as sometimes there's an instinct to, to me, that's not something that I'm going to really do well with, or it's just not going to make me happy to do that. But I feel like that's why I wrote a little something about October 7th and just put it out there because I wanted to express myself.
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I just think it's the social media debate and what it turns into is not, never really goes well.
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Yeah, I'm trying to get that movie made. We almost got it made a couple of years ago. I think it's more important now. Look, I think artists are incredibly inspired now to speak out. in creative ways about what's going on in our country. And my daughter's an actor. She just graduated from drama school and she's a writer and she wants to make movies.
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And she said, you know, all I wanna do right now is make stories about women and what they're going through because of what's going on in our country right now. So I think people are really inspired and you're gonna see a lot of amazing art come out of it.
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Yeah, I think you have to be true to who you are and, you know, in terms of what you create. But yes, for sure. And I think we all have to like kind of look at ourselves and say, okay, you know, what message are we putting out there with whatever it is we make? But even if a comedy or drama, whatever it is, it doesn't all have to be political. It has to be true to who you are.
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And, you know, we're all affected by the world that we're in. So it's hopefully going to be a reflection of the experience that you're having in some way. I don't put that pressure on people to have to go out and do something. I think you have to be and do what feels right for you.
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Well, I mean, honestly, though, I still think it's good to have, you know, stuff that you can watch that can make you laugh and give you a reprieve.
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Do you want to know? You know what? We shot that in the Trump Tower.
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And the movie was originally called Trump Tower Heist, but Trump wanted them to pay him for the use of his name. So they changed it to Tower Heist.
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Yeah, but no, look, I, like many people after the election who, you know, didn't vote for Trump, kind of wanted to just sort of hide for a moment and just not have to deal with the reality. And I think, you know, now it's sort of this moment in time where it's like, okay, this is the reality we're in. It's not the first term.
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We have to look at it, look at ourselves and do what we feel is right to, you know, to be who we want to be in this moment. And So I think it's, that should all be, you know, what you're expressing and it should all be part of, you know, what you want to say.
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So yeah, that movie, Bagman, I'd love to get that movie made right now because I feel like it sort of tells the story of what happens when people do the right thing in the face of somebody who's trying to, you know, go past the bounds of what their power is.
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Yeah, I mean, they worked together as a comedy team. They got married in 1953, and they weren't making any money as actors, both separately trying to get work. And then my dad came up with this idea of them doing a comedy act together about who they were. And then we were born, my sister and I, and so grew up around it all.
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And for me, it was exploring in the movie, this life of living in a household that was constantly part of their creative process because they would work at home and they would write together and they would perform and come home and be parents and actors. And it was all sort of intermingled. And then of course, you grow up and
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I had got married and had kids and became an actor and my kids want to be actors. And I was looking at, you know, what is it inside of us that the creative process is and how that connects with relationships that we have in our life. When you do this kind of thing, you know, when you go to an office job, you know, you go to the office, then you want to maybe sever and not think about it. Right.
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You know, but, But in a life where you're a creative person, it melds through and it's always part of who you are. So it affected my parents' marriage. They stayed married for 60 plus years, but there was a lot of stress and tension in there. And I was able to, my dad recorded a lot of stuff, audio recordings, Super 8.
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and he recorded them rehearsing and then sometimes the tape recorder would keep going and they'd get into an argument or they'd talk about what was going on in their life. So I was able to take those tapes and kind of see something that I hadn't seen in their private life together and how they navigated this relationship and their careers together.
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It's going to be Apple, Apple movies. Yeah. And it's going to come out later this year, I think.
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I think I came away with a better understanding of my parents in terms of my dad's creative process in particular because he was very focused on that. And sometimes it sort of took him away from – the family in a way, just kind of in his head a little bit. And I think I inherited that from him.
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And I think it's kind of made me look at my own relationship with my kids and my wife and have a little more perspective on that and maybe
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kind of you know i don't know like less uh angst about that because you know an appreciation of like okay we've gotten to this place things have not always been perfect but you know you keep evolving and both my parents i think were were constantly evolving and questioning themselves and looking inward and i think that's that's something i got out of it all right ben thank you so much i really appreciate it great talking to you all right bye kara
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She's asking, what if Russia breaks the ceasefire?
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You know, recently I've been thinking about it, actually. But I think, you know, the innies are more innocent. They're less corrupted by life experience. And so I guess my innie would be like a little bit more... You know, fun-loving, innocent, playful. Though I think I am still playful in certain situations.
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But I do feel like I'd probably be maybe like a little less sort of like hunched and like stressed, you know?
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yeah i mean i think heli is you know she's rebellious and curious and not a rule follower and uh yeah she's got a lot of um you know it's like i don't know if it's necessarily anger as much as you know sort of like this questioning of authority and not taking things you know at face value and accepting them just because they tell us we should accept them
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Yeah, I mean, we looked at it sort of like the first season was these outies were sort of kids. They're pretty young. Mark's only probably like two years old, and Irving's maybe was there a few more years. They're kind of innocent and childlike to a certain extent, but also have developed personalities.
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And then as the season evolved and as the second season is starting to evolve, I think they're kind of becoming more adolescence and more, you know, kind of, yeah, self-empowered and questioning authority. And so I think there's like a maturation that's happening with them slowly.
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I mean, I don't know if I'd want to be totally cut off from part of my life experience. I think in retrospect, when I look back at painful situations I've been in or things that have happened in life that didn't feel good, I could imagine not wanting to go through that pain. But I also think that one of the ideas of the show is this questioning of...
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You know, what can you actually cut off, right? Because we all have to deal with everything on some level. And I think it's also what I was really attracted to when I first read the script, too, was there's so many different ideas of what, you know, severance could be a metaphor for. And I think we all do sever to a certain extent when we...
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you know check out if you have a drink or you know you take a gummy or you you know watch a tv show or if you go on your phone i mean we all find ways to cope with the everyday sort of you know torrent of stuff that's coming at us in life
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Well, honestly, you know, the script came into our production company and it was a spec script, a script sent to see a writing sample. And Jackie Cohn, who worked at our company at the time, read it and she gave it to me and I read it. And I was like, this is great. It's a great writing sample. And also, is anybody doing this show? It was so unique.
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The tone, the dialogue, it reminded me of shows that I'd seen before, but it felt like its own thing. I was one of the you know, ideas bandied about to be in it, but really the second I read it, I was like, this is Adam Scott. And I felt just a desire to make it.
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And sometimes it's hard to actually analyze what it is that draws you to something, because sometimes I think it's something subconscious you don't necessarily know, but you have a feeling for it. And I've tried to listen to that. over the years in terms of just kind of going with my gut feeling about something and not even knowing what it is. I just thought it was good.
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I thought I wanted to see it. I thought I could see it in my head and wanted to make it happen. So that was it.
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I am the voice of Keir Egan in the, I guess it's episode eight.
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On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah, when you hit 100% and you got like the little video of Keir on the mountaintop. So it's not actually, it's an actor playing Keir because we actually have the voice of the real Keir Egan that Mark Geller portrays when you see, and he's who Keir Egan is when you see him.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
I mean, I think it was the mix of humor and weirdness and the basic and the tone of the humor, which related to me to a lot of comedies that I loved. The office banter, this feeling of sort of like this weird sort of like the movie Office Space or Parks and Rec or The Office, you know, that sort of genre of office workplace comedy.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah, where it's like a lot of the humor is based in sort of everyday stuff, but then there was this other layer to it, which is these people don't know who they are, where they are, what they're doing, why they're doing it.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah, I feel like it's rooted in the workplace comedy genre. And then it also has these aspects of, you know, thriller, but also like 70s sort of, you know, style thrillers. And then also the weird kind of Twilight Zone vibe to it also. And I mean, to me, that was what was exciting was it's a combination of all these different things.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
And when you see something like that where you haven't seen it before, but in some way it triggers, you know, these ideas for you, it makes you want to lean into it. Dan had never had anything produced before, ever before. And so I had obviously worked for a long time. So I, you know, he and I sort of partnered up and it's always been his vision.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
But I think we really collaborated a lot in terms of the, you know, just the feeling and the vibe of it and the direction of the story as we looked at, you know, building it out from this pilot that he'd written.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Well, these are formative movies for me, the Planet of the Apes movies. I went to the Lowe's 84th Street Cinema and watched the Battle, the Planet of the Apes, you know, marathon where they go from Planet of the Apes all the way through Conquest or whatever. So yeah, that's deeply rooted in my, you know, my DNA of like just things that I love to watch.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, technically Lumen is sort of a med tech company, you know, and they go back to the 1860s and 70s when Kerrigan founded it. And, you know, it kind of is really...
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
know a one of those companies that does a lot of things and you shouldn't quite know everything that they do and obviously the severed workers have no idea what they do there and i i always think that's interesting when you see the characters having to talk especially uh for mark in the first season when he just talks about you know supposedly i'm a corporate archivist or something like he doesn't have any idea what he's up to and i think that idea
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Of people who are working for giant corporations with the tech or whatever, you know, who actually, you know, knows what they're really working towards.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
And, you know, I don't know about that world that much, but it seems to me.
Pivot
On with Kara Swisher: Why Ben Stiller Made Severance
Yeah. And I think that goes just back to human nature. It's like we all want to work. We all want to have something to do with our lives. And then there are certain people who, you know, have ideas of doing things that are, you know, who knows what they want to do. I mean, you could pick any tech billionaire, you know, what are their goals and their aims?
Pivot
Trump's Tariffs, Elon's Government Takeover, and OpenAI's New Funding
There's so many different ideas of what, you know, severance could be a metaphor for. And I think we all do sever to a certain extent when we, you know, check out if you have a drink or, you know, you take a gummy or you, you know, watch a TV show or if you go on your phone. I mean, we all find ways to cope with the everyday sort of, you know, torrent of stuff that's coming at us in life.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And that divide is something that I think you have to sort of wrestle with and acknowledge and figure out and look at your own point of view in that too, and your own prejudice towards people who don't have the same point of view as you.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
But I also feel like there's a reality to where we are, and we have to figure out how to go forward and be productive and call out when the line is being crossed, which it seems like it's being crossed. I mean, January 6th, violent offenders being pardoned. That's a line, you know?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, I guess. I mean, and also I think it's like what, you know, what people are getting out of it and what they want out of it. And I think everybody, you know, in the country, people want to have a better standard of living and they don't want to have to you know, pay so much for housing and they want to, you know, or food and all those things are very real and legitimate.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
It's just, you know, how you get there and whether you believe that, you know, what Trump is saying. And, but I don't think that motivation behind that is necessarily wrong to want someone who's going to fix those things.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I think that anything you say on that can get twisted around in some other way. I've experienced that. I think the bottom line with that is you just have to go out and, and do it. And you have to go do what you think is funny. Do what you think is creative. Do you know, make what you want to make. And I,
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
yeah there are realities to what gets made these days that you know it's harder I don't know if it's necessarily related to that as much as to just you know economics in terms of the box office and you know just sort of boring things like that well I think you know broad comedy has not really worked at the box office for a long time until that happens that you know then that will open up the floodgates more but you know to politicize it is tough because everybody has a different point of view on it and a lot of it is legitimate but
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
There's no one person saying, oh, you can do this or you can't do that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah. And I think that's kind of always been there on a certain level in show business. That's been always been part of it. I mean, but honestly, like even like looking at our show, you know, Our show has elements of corporate satire or whatever, or commentary. But Apple makes our show, and I've never, ever experienced them
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, he was taking out $10,000 or $20,000.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
It seems quaint. It definitely seems quaint. But that's what is kind of amazing about the story is that you see how at that time... doing something like that, you know, was so, so far over the line and that these guys actually did something about it and how much our, our, our culture has shifted, you know, in what is 50 years.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, yeah. And he, you know, just deny, deny, deny. He was the guy who did that and had, you know, kind of some weird sort of like, you know, early 70s charisma type thing where he just used that and just basically said, yeah, no, I didn't do it until he was guilty and he admitted it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I mean, yeah, like, it's sort of like... I would think he might have better things to do with his time or with his rocket ships or whatever it is. The guy's got to be busy. But I think what's more disturbing is how close he is to the president and how involved he is in making decisions about people's jobs and our government when he has no position there.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Maybe he wants to finance it. Yeah. It's a drop in the bucket. Give him $200 million, $300 million.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I would be happy to keep him busy doing that so he's not doing the other stuff he's doing for the next four years.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, I don't understand how we got here, but I think also the whole... The thing that's going on now with the super rich people in the world who are all behind him has been really concerning, obviously. And I think it's not really that surprising, I guess, that it's human nature and it's greed and it's power and it's all the things that human beings do and have done throughout history.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
But it's happening. There's no revelation there.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
No. You know, see him around, see him at Knicks games. I think he's a genuine sports fan. I know he's like an Upper West Side kid, you know, who like genuinely loves sports. So I feel like he was just kind of leaning into and smartly kind of going like, hey, let's do this a little different. I feel like it's organic for him.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I think what you've been talking about, and I've heard you recently talking about it on the podcast, about just that the Democrats need to figure out a way to get in touch with the electorate that is really connecting with them in a way that the Republicans have. is a huge thing.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And I don't know what the answer is to that, but the reality is that, yeah, it seems like that isn't happening right now. I think everybody's still sort of like regrouping from what's happened, but that's concerning to me for sure.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
So like, there's gotta be, although people get mad at, you know, on X or Twitter or whatever, and we'll say, now I'm not going to watch your movies and all that. And it's like, all right, I, you know, I guess fine.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I, I really, I'm not coming at you in any way other than I'm just expressing how I feel, you know, and I've never really been super political in my, you know, the, what I, the movies I've made, like night of the museum isn't a political screed.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
That's their choice. That's your choice. Right. If you have to really look inside and go like, okay, I can't accept what you do because of, you know, who you endorse for president.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
who you know we had once been a beacon of hope for we've always been you know obviously some you know times in our history where it hasn't been perfect but yeah yeah the united states has always been a place that's uh accepted people who are fleeing from political persecution is there any stories you have from those trips or anything like something that inspired you
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
You know, I thought about people when recently, you know, what happened in Syria with Assad. And I thought about the people that I met in displaced persons camps in Jordan who've been there for, you know, seven, eight years at a time I met them waiting to go back home. And when you're meeting with someone who's living in a tent, who's a doctor or whatever,
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
a lawyer or someone who just is not someone who wants to be there and just by the fate of living in a country that was in the midst of war and was displaced through no fault of their own that their life is completely put on hold and all they want to do is go back home and start their life again and i thought about them you know maybe being able to go back we don't know what's going to happen in syria
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
The other is so demonized in a way now and feared. And that's the most concerning thing to me is that the message that we put out of welcoming people and welcoming people who can contribute to our country and to our society. And that's the overwhelming evidence is that's what happens with refugees who do come to America.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, it's going to be a really tough time, but it's really about, and these are human beings, people, kids who have got, I met a kid who had to go to work taking care of his family at 10 years old. And I said, like, you're a really strong kid. He goes, I'm not a kid. I'm a man. And he was 10 years old, taking care of his whole family in Jordan.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
So yeah, I just would hope that we get back to being the country that represents that acceptance and what's positive about having people from all over the world be a part of our country, which is how our country was made up originally.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
The camps are there and necessary, but like I said, you see people whose lives are just put on hold, and those are not a solution, obviously. The neighboring countries are really the countries that take most of the outflow when there's a situation going on in a country that is at war or whatever it is. I think something like over 100 million displaced people in the world right now, 100 million.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
So it's hard to kind of even comprehend that. But yeah, the root causes are what it's about. And I think Filippo Grandi, who's the UN Refugee Agency High Commissioner, is a really good person who spends most of his time going from country to country and talking to governments about what they can do to help. And it's sort of a never-ending process for him.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, three episodes in. When this goes on, well, episode four comes on Thursday night.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
It was a script that got sent to our production company, a spec script. Somebody wrote Dan Erickson, who now is the creator of the show. And he had never had anything produced. And it was just, it reminded me of just all my, I don't know, favorite shows. It reminded me of Twilight Zone. It reminded me of The Office. It had just like a weird, just kind of sort of like alternate reality vibe to it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
But it was also a workplace comedy and the dialogue was so funny. And I met with him and it just, we were in sync. I was like, this could be great. And yeah, It took a few years to make it, to get it off the ground, but it was just something I wanted to see. Why?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Because Apple didn't exist yet, Apple TV+. They were just starting up. And then we developed it for a while, and then you kind of go back, like writing out the rest of the season. And then we had a casting issue where we didn't settle on Adam Scott because I wanted Adam Scott for a long time. And we finally got to the place where everybody was on the same page. And...
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I wasn't going to make it if he wasn't doing it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Adam, to me, there was never anybody else, but also the synchronicity, I think, of just being on Apple TV+, which we didn't know what it would be, but it just feels like that's the home for it. And we pitched it to all the different streamers and nobody wanted it except Apple.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah. Before I didn't know him, I'd just been a fan and we'd cross paths a couple of times. I remember I ran into him once in an editing room. I was editing something. He was editing something. We'd, talked about maybe working together someday. He's so intense and he's so committed. And I feel like he's one of the reasons the show works is because you just believe him.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
You believe that he believes all that lore and all those crazy ideas. And when the actor believes it, then you invest as an audience. And yeah, it was fun. I feel good now that I know him because at first, The first season, it was a little bit like, I just, you know, a little intimidated by, you know, Totoro. Intimidated by Totoro because of the Jesus character? Yeah, well, the Jesus character.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
He's a director. He's frigging intense. He's intelligent. And he's smart because he like, trusting for him is the big thing. And I think that's why he wanted to work with Chris Walken because they were friends. And they had a, you know, built-in trust already. And I think once you earn his trust, it's, you know, then it's just like really fun.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, that was Dan Erickson. I mean, it's all out of his head. Watching them develop that was really beautiful, just as a fan, to see that. And it was really fun to see that the fans of the show really embraced that, too.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
there's a you know cobell uh patricia arquette's character has a vw rabbit yeah one of my favorite cars it feels very like relevant to the moment like a lot of the themes and a lot of the topics so like how did you feel like that that all worked that all came together well sometimes i think it's easier to do something that is not of the moment and you know it doesn't it was very important for me that we didn't have like cnn or
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
you know, any brand names that we really recognize. They're like, you know, maybe like a few things you could see there, but really we do everything we can to keep them out because it's its own universe in its own place. And I think that allows it to then, you know, not be commenting on something that's specifically happening right now in the moment.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And I think hopefully it gives it a little bit more of a sort of an, you know, a lifetime, you know, for people to react to in whatever time they watch the show down the line.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
speaking you know kind of to like any place any time there have always been these these sorts of sacrifices you make i think the idea of working at a big company a big corporation is you know what's there in the show and you know he wrote that script close to 10 years ago the pilot oh wow we started making it before covet and then all of a sudden we were making it during covet and then it was like a show about you know isolation
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
So it's interesting how certain ideas, I think if there's something that's universal in them, and I think this idea of going to a job that you work for this sort of unknown boss who we don't know who the board is, we don't know who the CEO is really, and we know who he is, but we don't know what they're doing, why they're doing it. These people literally have no idea what they're doing there.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And I think there's something that people can relate to in a certain level. I also love the metaphor of just life, of like, you know, we get up, We do our thing. We work hard. We get upset. We fall in love. We do all this stuff. And we have no idea why or really where we're going or what happens when we die.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And so, to me, that greater metaphor is kind of like what's going on with them in the show.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Well, it's also that question of what you're severing from. What do you actually experience as Tim? Do you experience your innie or your outie, which is the one that you really remember? Because when you're innie, you're innie, and when you're outie, you're outie. Yeah. Do you love doing the podcast or do you dislike doing the podcast?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
makes you like you know what is your essence you know and what are what is the thing that like makes you want to experience it makes you you know quote unquote happy you know where's the place you want to be and a lot of people don't want to be at work and that's why dan wrote the show i think is because he was working at a door factory that he had to go to for whatever like eight or nine hours a day and he just wanted to forget that part of his life
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
There's an element of that. I personally love doing what I do, but it can be really hard sometimes, but I'm also grateful that I'm not, like you said, you know, Derek Zoolander in the coal mine, you know, it's like, I'm grateful for that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I, so I don't want to forget what I'm doing, you know, when I go away from it, but then there's always the painful parts of life that we would, I think we all fantasize about forgetting and, But I think one of the themes in the show is really, is what can you forget? You know, what can we really, you can't, you know, what can you suppress?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
You can't, we experience things, we can try not to remember them, but something inside of us is going to feel it, whether it's in our body, it's our, you know, memory, whatever, repressed memory. And, you know, there's a lot of research about that, too, about what's, you know, generational trauma, things like that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I mean... You know, what do you want me to tell you? I, you know, I don't know.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
From what I've seen, what I've seen in the show, you know, yeah, there's, you know, the myth is that Keir went into the cave and tamed the four tempers. That's what that painting is. We don't know why. Well, I think, you know, it has something to do, maybe the idea of, you know, the 19th century, he was, you know, creating some sort of way of, dealing with, you know, he was kind of a doctor.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
He had to, you know, had the first sort of medical med tech company for the 19th century. And he was the humors, you know, the idea of like how people would sometimes try to cure people that weren't necessarily medically oriented and those beliefs. So I can't tell you much more though, Tim, because then I'm in trouble. Yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I don't know. Honestly, I wish I even knew why those movies were working back then. Really. Do you not feel like you know? I feel like at that time, first of all, people were going to the theaters to watch movies. And again, it comes back to that thing of, well, the studios will produce stuff when, when they're making money. So that was happening.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And I feel like until we do that again, now in terms of ideas, like you're asking the wrong guy. Cause like, I feel like I'm always trying to figure out like what's a good idea. And I'm always sort of like ripping it apart. So comedy is hard. I think it's really hard because not everybody's going to laugh at what you think is funny. And when you can find something for some reason at that time,
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And everybody was laughing at the same stuff and going for it and enjoying it. And I feel like, you know, studio movies these days really need to get a really, really big audience. And it's a little bit of a chicken and the egg thing when I'm saying because I don't have the answer to it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
you know people are high all the time people have got to be way higher than they were now in the 2000s so you've got to be able to provide something to make high people laugh right they just had to get to the theater and get high that's the thing because it's easy when you have that to stay home and just watch what's on the couch or what you're on from the couch okay well we could start with some apple comedies then or one of the streamers yeah look i'm i'm into it i'm trying actually i'm trying to figure it out but i think it's also we have there's a much younger generation of really funny people out there and
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
You know, there's attention span and stuff like that. But I think there are really, really funny people out there. It's more challenging for them than it was for us at the time to get a movie made like that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I mean, for me, movies like Step Brothers, I could watch that movie all day. That's actually the first thing I saw Adam Scott in when he played Derek, the asshole. It was so funny. Look, I also love the comedies in the 70s too, and there were some great funny movies.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
We don't have it happening in the movies right now, and somebody needs to break through with it, but I don't know if I have the answer.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Right, except nobody has cable anymore, so.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Albert Brooks' first movie, Real Life. Did you ever see that? I don't think I have. I've heard of it, but I haven't seen it. He made it like 1980 and it was basically he was doing a parody of... the PBS series about the loud family and American family that they, that was the first reality show. They followed him a family around for a year.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And then he did a takeoff on it where he was a filmmaker doing a documentary about a family. And it's one of the funniest movies ever. And it foresees everything that reality television became.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Did I make it? Was it entertaining enough and fun? Because I feel like we just talked about heavy sort of stuff.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I enjoy you and Bill Kristol together. You're a good team.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I used to prep a lot more in the early 90s when I would go on and try to really do it. And then I just sort of got old and tired. But TV talk shows have changed so much. If you watch those shows from the 70s again... Oh, this old guy, Ben talking about like, it's so interesting, because people are talking about real shit.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And then TV talk shows became like, what's your funny story, you have to talk to a pre interviewer. And then they write it out. And it's all it's all like, yeah, yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
It is that's I feel like podcasts are the new talk shows of the you know, what talk shows used to be.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
But maybe secretly because, I don't know, he felt like he was double thinking and thinking for his bottom line, but he really doesn't have a bottom line. He doesn't make enough money that he's going to get the tax break, but he wishes he...
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
They all voted for Kamala. I don't think that's true. Ellie definitely voted for Trump. No, you're right. Helena. Yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Definitely Helena went for Trump, for sure.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I do not. I'm just, you know, I'm going to keep listening to your podcast, keep doing your thing. I thought the episode you had with Jon Favreau, you know, post-election was great. I got emotional listening to that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I feel really good. The trade deadline is imminent. You're not going to do anything. I don't think so. I think Mitchell Robinson is in place of the trade deadline as he's going to come back and start playing for us. I feel really good. I feel like the Knicks are starting to gel and Jalen Brunson has changed the culture.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And he's thriving. It's crazy. I had the same concern. I didn't know what was going to happen. And just seeing him, and we started calling Brunson Cap.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
it's certainly just right from the the get-go they bonded and he's having a career year he's had a little issues because he hurt his thumb but i'm i feel like i love tibbs i'm all in with tibbs he's playing uh the starters less minutes it's you know it's in a good trajectory yeah it's good i'm i mean i don't want to jinx you so i won't say that i'm rooting for the next because my my rooting interest with the obvious one nuggets exception usually don't turn out that well but um
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
team I think even for people that aren't like Knicks fans like you they're very accessible they're good guys they don't have a lot of attitude at all you know they're just like regular funny guys and uh Josh Hart come on Josh Hart there's like no one better did you go to the games growing up like I did so so what what era would that have been Ewing I was there at eight years old in 1973.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Clyde Frazier had been on that team already?
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah. So I remember my dad taking me. And I remember what that felt like. So it's been a long time. It has been a long time. We're ready. We're really ready. And then, obviously, the late 90s. I was living in LA in the late 90s and wasn't really there that much. But as a teenager through Bernard King era, I was there and it was, he was my guy.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I feel like this year, next year, these are going to be great years.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
But I've gone through, I mean, nothing can hurt me because I've been through the pain.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I mean, I feel like I don't understand it. I don't understand why they would do that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
It was like a weird Rob Palenka, Nico, yeah, like dual severance thing. I don't know what was going on there. I don't understand it. And I like Dallas a lot. And I think, weirdly, maybe the Mavericks might do well in the short term. Yeah, I do too. But, I mean, Luka is Luka.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Right. And then you got the Spurs now with Fox and Wembley. I mean, it's shifted a little bit.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Well, nobody got a chance at Luca. I know. This happened in the dead of night, this deal, this weird severed deal. Yeah.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, and also you can get in shape. He's 25. It seems like everybody's afraid to say, oh, we want you to be in shape more.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Hey, man, it's great to be here. I'm such a fan.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And it's mutual, obviously. Yeah, especially I think even the last couple months, it's been great to have you to listen to. you know, sort of work through our reality.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I think about people like you who have to do this and deal with it. Because for me, my first reaction was to do that, was just sort of retreat and go under the covers. And also be grateful that I don't have to deal with it every second of my life. Now then, of course, at a certain point, your conscience kicks in and you're like, I have to say something, I have to do something.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
But for someone who has to go out every day and deal with this Really, this craziness, I commend you and appreciate you.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
what I've been eating or I don't know, but it's just sort of every day is, and then maybe it's also like where I'm at in my life in terms of, you know, like I'm 59 years old and I'm just thinking about all of that, um, how time goes by and then the actual reality of our world and yeah, the political situation, um,
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
You know, I think everybody creates in a certain sense their own reality and that like you're it's all so subjective. That's what I think, you know, the nature of reality. That's we could talk about that for hours and hours. I'm not going to give you any insights on it other than I do contemplate it a lot, actually.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
It's a little bit... I mean, it is a little bit crazy, the speed at which things are happening and what's going on. And I guess, you know, it's not really a metaphysical thought, though, but it's just... It's hard to comprehend when things are going. It feels like things are going very, very fast. And also what the actual repercussions of things in our lives are going to be.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
I know the people who get affected directly by all the things that are being done right now in the government. But just in terms of when we go through our daily lives, how do we deal with this? It's really that question, coming back to your conscience of what is it that you need to do as a person? Because that's a personal choice that everybody has to make.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Yeah, I think about it day by day and sort of moment by moment and try not to think about it too much in terms of, you know, yeah, like my own sort of like personal sort of my image or something like that because I really feel like you have to go from a place of like, well, just what feels right for me. You know, when it comes to...
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
engaging on social media and things like that i feel like people feel like if you're going to be on social media you have some sort of responsibility to speak out on everything that's happening and that's just like ridiculous and impossible and nobody needs that no nobody needs that pressure nobody needs to hear everything that ben stiller thinks about everything it's like you have to issue a statement on every public news item as if you're a politician
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Or it's like, you're saying too much about this. You're not saying enough about that. And when everything happened over the last year and a half or so with Gaza and Israel, I realized there's no way I'm going to start going back and forth on social media with people about this. That's just a no-win game. And also, I don't want to put my energy into... Into that.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And so I decided to say something by writing something about it and just decided that I'm not going to get into that back and forth, but I have my own feelings about it and I'll express myself when I feel like I need to express myself.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
It's so early. I think everybody's going to have their own personal reaction. And it's impossible not to be aware of the fact that people feel this, you know, that, oh, wow, you know, there can be retribution from the government if you say something wrong. And that's really scary. So just to even be thinking that way is, but, you know, of course, I'm aware of it. I think everybody's aware of it.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
And And certain people are just naturally more outspoken and always have been. And I've sort of had my own path with it. But right now, yeah, I think it's definitely a thing that people feel. And in a way, for me, it makes me think about it even more, about what do I really want to say and how do I really feel about something? And I think for artists in times like these, their creative energy...
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
really goes into expressing what they feel. And there's a lot of amazing work that can come out of times like these that I hope we see.
The Bulwark Podcast
Ben Stiller: 'Severance,' but Real Life
Maybe the first time around, it was more about Trump. And then this time around, it's more about the realization that our country... is really deeply divided. For me, it's less about the fact that he won by a majority and that many, many, many people are willing to go down that road. And what is that? So that's actually something that it's always, I think, been about.
The Commercial Break
Putt Putt Rawr
Hey, I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott. And we make a TV show called Severance. Severance is back for season two on Apple TV+.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And find yourself.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But I think a lot of that is because of how social media has changed how people can upload their lives to everyone directly, you know?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Just that she was making a little documentary on her video camera that then she had to give to Michael to put on the MTV version of what that was. And now you just go straight to the internet. And I think young people are expected to do that now and to create their own movie and get it out into the world.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And I think it plays into what you're saying, which is it's almost like if you're not selling out, you're not doing what you should be doing.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And I feel that with my kids. I see that pressure on them when I see their friends and what they post and their image of what they put out to the world. And it's a responsibility. And if you don't do that, you're not part of what's going on. So I feel like there's almost a pressure to have to do that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Well, I thought the story was kind of, you know, it's this prototypical story of a guy who comes from nothing to do whatever it takes to get to the top. And I think Bud Schulberg always saw it as kind of a metaphor for anybody who wants to get to the top of that mindset of it doesn't matter, you just do whatever it takes. That's why I think the novel resonates.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I think there's always been a resistance to it, and I can understand why. For a long time, I was very frustrated because I felt like, well, this story should be made. But, you know, the flip side of it is that it can be looked at as you're shining a spotlight on a Jewish character who is this self-hating Jew who is willing to do whatever. And, you know...
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I mean, partly, I think so. I think it's always been hard to make show business stories, you know, in Hollywood because people in the business feel like the outside world isn't interested in the inside baseball of it, though I've always been attracted to those kinds of stories. And I do, you know, it's funny, I think about it now and I would love to see that story made.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
What I worry about is how people would interpret it On the outside, you know, and that's as a Jewish person.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I think just being a Jewish person feels different. And I think it's an environment that growing up, I grew up in an incredibly sheltered Upper West Side environment. I never experienced anti-Semitism. I heard about it, but I was, you know, never around it. So the reality of that is
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
to start feeling that now where other people have felt it their whole lives in other parts of the world and, you know, in other parts of our country.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And to see the spike and the rise in anti-Semitic violence is, you know, something that I never thought I'd experience in my lifetime and feeling what my kids are feeling too and how incredibly politicized it all is and how complicated it is because, you know,
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
With the social media universe and all of it, it's almost impossible to really talk about it in a really level-headed sort of way where you can hear other people's ideas because people are just kind of like shouting at each other on social media. But the reality of it is really frightening. Yeah.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I don't know. I mean, I think it's also a choice of as a creative person where you want to put your energy, you know, in terms of the business. I think there have always been those misconceptions of like, you know, of what of how, you know, Jews are involved in Hollywood. And that's always been a thing.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And a lot of that also is, I think, a result of the fact that there were a lot of successful Jewish people who started the Hollywood movie industry. And so it's sort of like folded in on itself. But the reality of that world now is so completely different. It's just, you know, the Jewish population is so small.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
You know, it took me a long time to even realize that in my sheltered world, you know, what is it, 20 million people?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
jews in the whole world or something like that um so the the proportion of success i mean it's it's a very tough thing to navigate and i feel like right now in the world there's just so much hate and antipathy that's out there and it's not limited to anti-semitism but that that's a you know that's something jewish people are feeling but people are feeling it all over too
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
It's funny because I just, you know, I don't categorize it specifically. And I think I find that stuff very funny. I mean, I think whenever anything is very specific, it's always funny. And I feel like the show sort of has its basis in the workplace comedy, like The Office or Office Space or Parks and Rec. But where it goes off, I think this season we probably went to some, like, stranger places.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, I think around that time I moved back to New York. I'd been living in L.A. for 20 years and we decided to move back here where I grew up and I wanted to try to spend more time there.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
at home but also it was yeah it was like a point where for me really where it like kind of changed in terms of my outlook was after zoolander 2 oh it was the feeling of like oh okay this is what everybody wants this all right i'm gonna do it and i had fun doing it and then nobody wanted it and i was like well but you said you wanted it and really was it that bad
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
That was where I really was like, oh, I have to make a choice here where I'm not going to do that if I want to do these other things and wait for the right opportunity to come up and not go off and, oh, if somebody's offering me Zoolander 3, then I'm going to go do that. But Zoolander 2 gave me the gift of nobody offering me Zoolander 3. Because nobody wanted it at that time.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
So it was like, okay, here's some space. I have to live with that feeling, the feeling of not winning. And also, you know, my marriage wasn't in a great place. And there's a lot going on that really, for me, kind of, I think I got a little bit clearer on what I wanted and what my priorities were. But I think 2010 was sort of like the beginning of that moving out of L.A.,
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Um, well, when we separated, it was just, you know, having space to see what our relationship was, what my life felt like when we weren't in that relationship, how much I cared about my family, how much I loved our family unit. Um, I think we both, as she said, we both kind of took care of ourselves separately. And, um,
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And eventually, it was almost like three or four years, really, that we weren't together. But we always were connected. And in my mind, I never didn't want us to be together. And I don't know where Christine was. You'd have to ask her. But COVID put us all together in the same house.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And it was almost like a year of living in the same house before we were actually together. Yeah. But I'm so grateful for it. And not that many people do come back together when they separate. I mean, a lot of people do, I'm sure.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But there's nothing like that when you do come back because you really do have so much more of an appreciation for what you have because we know we could not have it, too.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But I felt like that was also just part of what the show is. The show has to continue on its journey and can't just stay doing the same thing. But I love that stuff.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Well... I think it's really made me look at my own relationship to my parents more than anything. Every time I want to make the movie about them, I'm realizing it's all kind of reflecting back on my own issues that I have with them. And how much, you know, I mean, you're right.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Like, I feel so fortunate that I have all this footage of my parents and our family from these Super 8 movies that my dad took and then I took. And recordings my dad made hours and hours and hours.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Talking with my mother as they were writing sketches. Or sometimes he'd just record us just because he wanted to have our voices. But I see my... I see the world I grew up in. I see my father. I was just thinking about it this morning, just how much of... I love my father, but also that tension of not wanting to be my father.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But everybody loves my father, and so I would love to be loved as my father is loved because he was a lovely person. But then there's also the thing of like, oh, but I'm me. And that was something I was feeling... since I was, you know, a teenager.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
No, I think it was more just wanting to individuate for my father, wanting to be my own person. not being into their comedy and their thing. I wanted to be a serious director. And then when I discovered comedy, it wasn't like what they did. It was like, I like SCTV or Saturday Night Live. And not until I was older was I able to really just appreciate what they did.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But all the while, my parents were so supportive, especially my dad. My mom was a little bit of a...
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
tougher audience um and i think my dad was very overprotective and concerned about the rejection in show business that you get have to deal with um yeah i don't know i mean it's a hard thing when you're when you look up to a parent so much in terms of just their like what their essence is like jerry's essence was so sweet um that you know you look at i look at myself and go you know am i
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
The second season probably gets a little bit stranger than that. Yeah. But it is based in the idea that started the show, right? That these people are in a workplace doing a job that they don't understand. They don't know who they are or what they're doing or why they're there. And that to me has always been sort of the, you know, that's the sort of like the blueprint for the show.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Am I that person? Am I as good as he was? And maybe that's a good thing to want to aspire to, but I feel like that's what he was. Are you? I don't know. I mean, I try, but also, by the way, he obviously wasn't perfect, but he wasn't one of those guys who was like... you know, win, win, win. That wasn't his drive.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
His drive was just to kind of create and to try to protect his family and to be loved. Because he came from a background of parents who were very poor and there was a lot of fighting between his parents and depression. And he wasn't nurtured like that. But he didn't go on to not nurture his children. He went the opposite way. He was so nurturing. So, you know, that's what he was.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
She was. She was. She was Irish Catholic. Very funny. I think I actually share more of my mom's sense of humor than my dad's. She... was a serious actor who then my dad drew into comedy, who came up with the idea for them to do their comedy act to make money after they'd been married for five or six years in the 50s. And I think she never loved comedy. She was very good at it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I think she was more naturally adept at it than my dad, actually. My dad was funny, but his dream was to be Eddie Cantor or Jack Benny. My mother was more of like a polished stage, you know, like a nightclub. She really just knew how to work a crowd. And she wrote plays. And she wrote plays. And she was more interested in writing and reading and acting and different kinds of things.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
She, I think, always was like when she saw me doing comedy, she was like, oh, that's great. But I like, you know, I liked Greenberg or I like Permanent Midnight. Yeah. Yeah.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, right. What was that about? Well, in the idea of the movie was, that's funny, I'd forgotten about that. My family had to play my family. And also there was a psychiatrist who sort of like kicks off the whole thing. I think it gives my character a pill or something. But I wanted Gene Wilder to play that guy. And I sent it to my mom and to Gene Wilder and they both nixed it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Gene Wilder, he's like, I think you're great, but I do not like this project. I thought it was really good. Yeah. My mother didn't want to go there. Now, that's very atypical of her because when I was starting out, like audition tapes or I did an audition reel for Saturday Night Live where I had my parents in it and they were in so many things that I did. It was never a thing.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But for some reason, that specific role and maybe it was what I don't know. I wish I could ask her.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
That's my lore. Ben's going to do what Ben's going to do. It wasn't great, but I knew that I couldn't do well there because I wasn't great at live performing. My mom would have been better on that show. I got too nervous. I didn't enjoy it, and I wanted to be making short films.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
In the moment, there were reasons why, and I had this opportunity to do this MTV show, and it had been a dream to be on Saturday Night Live. But Looking back on it, I don't remember exactly how I had the... Fortitude. Gumption. I was going to say, yeah.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Gumption. Thank you very much to do that. But for whatever reason, I followed that instinct.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Hmm. That's interesting because when I hear that, I know that my dad knew why he wanted to perform. It's a good question. I think so. For me, I think it's about trying to get closer to expressing my true self. trying to somehow make something that feels truthful and real and maybe is just more opening up myself in a way that's closer to the bone.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
trying to have the sort of courage to kind of keep going for that. For me, it's figuring it out as like just what life is about. It's the big question, like, what are we here for? I haven't figured that out yet. And I think as I continue to try to figure that out while I'm still here, I feel like that's what I want to try to make the work that I do about too.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
No, they're not. They're totally different. One has blonde hair and one has really dark hair. One has a mustache.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
No, I mean, it was like, you know, like those are two of like the most fun experiences I've ever had on movies, playing those characters. And we did the reading for Dodgeball. Ross and Thurber had written the movie and was directing it. And I was like, I don't know, like what voice to do. I don't want to have that many different voices. And I kind of just went into that voice.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And he's like, that's great. I was like, well, I kind of did that in headway. It's just like, oh, it's all right, whatever. And I honestly never thought, not that I was like trying to like pull one over. It's just like, I never thought anybody would really like, you know, 30 years later be talking to me. Here I am. On the New York Times about like, you know, calling out heavyweights and dodgeball.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
It just wasn't in my, you know.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
You didn't think about that?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
If I could go back. But no, yeah, it was just sort of like, all right, I'll just go for it and do this, do this one.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, I've never really believed that idea of like, you know, you have to have friction or something on a set or, you know, I've heard directors talk about that to keep sort of tension on set. I think just the nature of making this show over the last, I mean, it's five years now, has been a learning experience and
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, it was great talking to you, man.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, yeah, right. You do the little follow-up.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Isn't it usually like a phone call or something?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I think it was just like kind of a, I don't want to say a more innocent time 20 years ago because it wasn't that innocent, but weirdly kind of it was.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Hey, it's the follow-up, the little follow-up.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I don't think that's a spoiler to say that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Um, I'm not going to say anything and, you know, I want to leave all, all options open, but also know I'm a Gordon Lightfoot fan. I think it was incredible. Oh my God. Yes. And I used carefree highway at the end of escape a day in the world. And I will hopefully always be able to use his music and movies.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Cause I think he's just one of the great artists of our time.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
yes the interesting thing is it was you know came out a couple years ago i think that i was like the same age that de niro was when we did the first movie and kind of like what would have evolved in that you know that now that i my character that greg would have kids who maybe one of them's getting married so it kind of you know was an interesting sort of mirror to the first movie but uh for me i guess i look at it differently as a as a director
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
than as an actor. And if there was something that came together on Fockers that everybody liked, that was fun, you know, I'm open to that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But I think maybe for me as a director, my head is in a different place, you know, probably even post-Sanamore and Severance and stuff.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
No, it's just a, well, no, it's just a different, like a different creative experience for me, I think. you know, like it's, um, it's really more like my, my personal interest as a filmmaker, I think right now is like, kind of like, I don't know.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Like, I think it's, I think it's really hard to, it's really hard to make a comedy, you know, in a way, like when I'm as a, you know, when you're directing, uh, I kind of like the freedom also of not having to direct a comedy where you can, any comedy that comes into something that's a dramatic, uh,
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, sometimes, you know, creatively, it's been the questions of like, which way do we go with it? And I really believe that the show comes out of the different creative perspectives of the people who work on it. And so, yeah, it's not always perfect. We went through patches where there were difficulties, but it's also, I think it all came out of everybody wanting something different.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
is usually welcome if the tone is clear, but it's sort of like a bonus, you know, and not an expectation.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And if I'm really being honest, like that's part of it too.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I think it's just, it's just the freedom, you know, the freedom to like not worry about how something was going to get interpreted. And I do think it was sort of in a weird way was a more, it was a freer time because there was less analysis given to even to the people who were making the comedy.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I think it was just like kind of a, I don't want to say a more innocent time 20 years ago because it wasn't that innocent, but
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But weirdly, kind of, it was, you know?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Well, I can only speak from my own experience, which is I definitely am aware of that. But again, I also never really thought about it that way back in the 2000s, too.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I don't think I was ever... I think I'm the same person I was on that regard, in terms of... I wasn't the guy who was going to go out there and say whatever. I think I always had that self-awareness that probably just was...
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I mean, he, cause you know, he, he just basically, you know, like created it all on his own.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And I think he had a persona that he, you know, developed. And I think, I guess, you know, you could say Woody Allen did it too, but for me, there was just something about the tone of his humor that is so unique.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
So yeah, for me, the answer is no. I mean, I think I've, been able to make some things that I feel proud of, and I love being a movie director and actor and all that, but I feel like what he did is unique and really has not ever been equaled.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I mean, I really just want to keep on getting closer to, like, making something that I feel is as good as, you know, it can be and that is...
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
as honest as it can be, that to me is, you know, really satisfying.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, I've enjoyed it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And this was a good follow-up. I feel like it wasn't like a little whatever, you know.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Your little New York Times thing you got, babe. Good for you.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
to be as good as it could be. And I really believe that all those different points of view ended up making the show what it is. So, yeah, there was some stuff that happened, but it wasn't a big deal.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
We have the end. Yes.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yes, of course. Do you know the answer?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yes. We definitely have an end. I think we now know exactly how many seasons, which I won't say at this point. But, yeah.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I mean... In my mind, the series has always been about Mark and, you know, his innie and his outie and what happens with his innie and his outie and what is the ultimate sort of destination for both of them.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I do think, you know, what you said is true that at a certain point, there's always somebody making a decision who is not making it to your face or telling you or you even know who that person is. And it can be really, really frustrating. I think in show business, even probably more than, I mean, just from my own experience, the
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
You know, how something happens, why it happens, why someone gets rejected, why a decision is made is never explained to the artist or the creative person. Or if it is, it's usually not the truth. You know, it's a cliche in Hollywood, but it's kind of true is that everybody, you know, will say yes, and it doesn't mean yes, it means no. Or let me think about it. Or yeah, great.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
This was a great meeting. And then like a day later, yeah, they're passing. More than ever, honestly, these days, because, you know, it's a very tough environment now to get things made. I think just with post the strike, post COVID, it's more expensive to make things.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And I think the decision makers are, you know, trying to keep their jobs and trying to figure out how to make things work for them, which means constriction and choices that are safer.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Honestly, yeah, I never, I had no, I mean, it's funny because at the time, I remember like a moment in time when like people started having that reaction. Like I would like open up a newspaper and be like, why is Ben Stiller in every movie? Like I remember opening up the LA Times and a guy like wrote, it was actually a funny inside joke with Ricky Gervais for a long time.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Because there was this writer who wrote like a letter to God, dear God, stop putting Ben Stiller in comedies. And it was like, yeah, but I wasn't thinking, I was just like, I don't know. I'm, you know, I'm here. I'm doing it. I love doing what I do. But, you know, it's only in retrospect more to look back and go, oh, yeah, that was like, wow, there was like, you know, a thing happening there that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I was very fortunate to be a part of, but I don't know what the zeitgeist was. And you can look at 2000s comedies now and go, okay, they were a specific kind of thing, a tone. And there were a lot of great things in those comedies, too, that we don't have now. But I don't know if you can recreate that now. But at the time, I really wasn't analyzing it too much.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I was kind of just trying to figure out how to navigate it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
It's not something when you're in it that you... are really able to analyze because it's happening.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I don't think so, because I don't think I'm that smart, really. I think I would make decisions based, like, I remember very clearly Night at the Museum was a decision because I grew up near the Natural History Museum. And I thought, oh, I love this. Like, if I was a kid, I'd love this. And it'd be fun to do. But then the Night at the Museum 3 decision is a little different, right?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, but it's also, you know, at that point, you know, you've got a team together, and those were all fun to do. I'm like, you know, I'm not going to not want to work with Robin Williams or, you know, Sean Levy getting this group together, but...
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
You know, when I was in that period, I don't think I had the ability to kind of like hover over and go like, how am I looking at... And a lot of actors and filmmakers do have that ability. I just wasn't at that place. So, you know, the only part of it that... was sort of like nagging at me. He was like, I like to do other kinds of movies as a filmmaker.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And I just never really stopped to make the time to do that. I was directing a lot of those movies myself, directing myself in them. And a lot of times getting movies made as a director because I was in them, they say, well, if you would be in it, then we'll make it. And also I think it's just sort of like something that happened and you don't have control over that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, sure. And, you know, that's a personal choice you make at the time. I mean, I think fear is always a big thing as an actor. I think, you know, I saw a Q&A with Jeremy Strong, that movie The Apprentice, and somebody asked him, why did you want to do this role? He said fear.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And I totally identify with that because, you know, fear is what drives you sometimes to go away from something or sometimes to jump into something, depending on where you're at.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I mean, I think so many decisions are based in, it's underneath. It's like whether or not the fear is going to push you away from something or you're going to jump off the cliff with it. I had a chance to do Glenn Gary, Glenn Ross on Broadway, probably around that long-came poly time. I decided not to do that. I look back, oh, maybe I would have liked to have done that.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But it's also just where I was at at the time.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, I mean, I think as you get older, it changes everything in terms of, you know, what you look at as what's ahead of you in terms of the things you think you want to do, then really looking at, okay, well, I'm at this point in my life, I'm at this age. You have to think more about, well, do I really want to take this chance right now?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
How much do I care about what the quote-unquote bad result is? And I think as you get older, you... For me, it's like you care a little bit less about that if you wanna do something because you're like, well, why am I letting this intangible thing, which is like fear of what? It's fear of people saying I suck, fear of people not going to see it or saying, I mean, what is that?
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
That's still like, and I've experienced that because as you know, I've had successes and failures and the day after something doesn't do well or if it gets bad reviews or people don't go, It's not like anything in your literal life has changed, you know, your real life, your tangible life.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
It's just how you feel, you know, when you feel embarrassed or you feel like I, you know, damn, I wasn't, you know, I want to be the winner. But, you know, winning doesn't always happen, usually doesn't happen. So, you know, how do you live with that? And when you take the chance, it's still important that you took the leap and you went for it. And failure can be in... Not taking the chance.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
And as you get older, I think that's something that you start to feel. It's like, well, I just want to have this experience while I'm still here.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Yeah, I mean, sometimes the audience has to sort of have time to... I feel like this has happened to a bunch of movies I've done, which is it takes the audience a few years to get it. Like Zoolander or something like that. Like Zoolander, when it came out, was not a big hit. Because what a weird world, what a weird character.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
But once they became acclimated to it, then it became something that they really liked.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I feel like the film is a timepiece of where we were at that moment in time as put through a kind of a pop culture lens. And it was written by Helen Childress, who was taking her experience and trying to kind of encapsulate, you know, the issues that she was dealing with.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
I think I was coming to add more as my character, honestly, you know, the Michael character who was the guy kind of trying to commodify it a little bit and was outside of it a little bit. So in a way, I feel like that's what the movie is. Like Helen was Lelaina and I was Michael. And we improvised a lot as she was rewriting the script when we were working on it.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
So that was my experience of making that movie. I do feel like generationally, though, the issues in that movie are kind of evergreen sort of issues.
The Daily
'The Interview': Ben Stiller on 'Severance,' Selling Out and Being Jewish Today
Well, I just think it's that moment in time where you're having to figure out how to, if you have parents who've supported you or whatever, you're having to cut the cord and figure out how to go out into the world.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, it's worth winding back a little bit to what Trump inherited in the economy. Because by many measures, it was pretty solid, right? Unemployment was low. Job growth was solid. Corporate profits were good, right? There were a lot of things that were pretty good. We know there was one really big thing that was not good, right, which was inflation.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
It had gotten a lot better. But we know cost of living had gone up and that was in inflation and it was in housing prices and it was in all sorts of things. And we know that Americans did not feel good about the economy, right? That was a big part of the reason that Trump was brought back to office in the first place.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
So, as you said, when he is elected, there's a surge in optimism among businesses. There's a surge of optimism among many consumers. There was this sense, right, of the economy was actually in pretty good shape, according to the economists. And now it was maybe also in good shape, according to everybody else. And yet, in the last few weeks, all of that has turned around. All of that.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Markets are way down. Consumer confidence is way down. Business confidence, crucially, is way down. And so all of these measures of how consumers, how businesses, how investors feel about the economy have all taken a really sharp turn to the south. Now, that's how people feel. So far, most of the measures of actual activity
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
of what consumers are doing, of what businesses are doing, have not shown that same sharp deterioration.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Yeah, and I think that's particularly a risk in a situation like this where the drop is so sharp and with a very clear set of reasons.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
So it has, I think, potential effects in two different ways. One is just the direct effect, right? The layoffs of these workers, cancellation of programs, you know, rescinding of grants, right? All of that is real economic activity that has been pulled back. But the second piece of this is the confidence hit, right? Musk and Trump have cut however many thousands of jobs it is at this point.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
But there are many more thousands of people who work for government contractors, who work for companies that sell to the federal government. And you can imagine all of them and all of their employers are feeling pretty uncertain right now. You look at what's happening in higher education. Major universities saying that they're pausing all hiring, right?
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
These are, in many cases, good, pretty high-paying, you know, important jobs that then maybe have ripple effects of lots of other jobs.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
It has that potential, certainly within the sectors that are most directly affected, is clearly having a big impact. You can think about it also on these programs, right? If you rely on veterans benefits right now, even if you have not had any difficulty getting your benefits.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
And there are rumors about what the impact might be on benefits. Absolutely. Absolutely. So these are all things that can have a sort of disruptive effect and that can lead people to pull back, can lead businesses to pull back on hiring.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Yeah, and in many ways, I think this is the big one. The president has imposed sweeping tariffs on many of our trading partners on a huge range of goods. Now, some of those tariffs have been paused. They've been delayed. They've been canceled, right? But at least in theory, it can cover a huge amount of goods.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
And we know from economic research that what happens when you impose tariff rates is a tax on imports. What does that do? It raises prices. And, you know, we often sit here, Michael, and we talk about the research says this, but Americans think this. This is one case where Americans seem to have gotten the message from economists.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Because in all of these surveys, it shows people think prices are going to be higher. And they specifically say because of tariffs. And we're seeing that hit in terms of consumers expecting to pay higher prices. We're seeing that in businesses saying they expect to pay higher prices for the materials that go into their goods and then pass on those prices to consumers.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
And we're seeing at least some evidence of it in actual prices. The Federal Reserve just this week came out and said there's some evidence at least that some of the recent pickup in goods inflation is the result of these tariffs.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Which is what we would expect from the economic research. And I think that it's important to remember here, Trump ran on a platform of curtailing inflation. He even said he would bring down prices. And crucially, Americans who seem to believe him during the campaign that he would bring down prices or control inflation—
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
are now saying, we're getting nervous that this is going to mean higher prices, higher inflation.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
That's right. We've seen a real shift in messaging from the president himself and from members of his administration over the past couple of weeks. Trump occasionally would acknowledge on the campaign trail maybe prices would come up temporarily under tariffs. But for the most part, right, what he was talking about was my policies are going to turn around the economy on day one.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
But over the last couple of weeks — There's an adjustment. We'll see whether there's pain. — union members of his administration have started talking about a period of adjustment.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
— A period of detox, a period of pain.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Yet he has notably refused to rule out the possibility of a recession, as have members of his administration. And look, economists would say you should never rule out the possibility of a recession, so that's not inherently unreasonable. But the tone has really shifted here from one of things will turn around on day one to there may be this period of pain, but it will pay off in the long run.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
And it's worth highlighting here, if this recession happened, it would be specifically because of his policies, right? It would be his tariffs, his uncertainty that's generating the pullback in activity that leads to the recession. That's something presidents often try to avoid even saying the word recession. And here he's talking about potentially causing one. Right.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
So, you know, I asked this question to a lot of economists over the past couple of weeks. And people will say, in theory, the idea of short-term pain for long-term gain can be reasonable, right? This is harsh medicine, but we need it. But you better be darn certain. of the long-term gain.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
It has been a while. Happy to be here.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
And what you hear almost universally from basically every economist, every expert, is that is not what this is. First of all, there's really no need for this harsh medicine right now. The economy is in basically pretty decent shape. But secondly, this specific medicine, this isn't a harsh medicine, a chemotherapy that will generate a cure. This is bloodletting, right?
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
This is a medicine that will actually make the problem worse.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Yeah, I mean, I would go further, right? It's not just that they're not certain there would be long-term gain. They're confident that these policies will not yield a long-term gain. Why? Look, anytime we say economists say, right? Somebody should shock me, right? Because economists think many, many different things. This is sort of like- Shock.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
This is sort of the one thing that economists almost universally agree upon. is that tariffs are ultimately a damaging policy, or at least that these kinds of broad-based tariffs are a damaging policy. Now, there are different reasons for this, and this is a complex subject. There are a lot of economists who reject the very idea that we need to reindustrialize the country in some way.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
They argue that over the decades, free trade has left Americans better off on the whole, that even if it has hurt some people, that on average it has been beneficial. I think most economists would make that point. But there's certainly been a lot of rethinking among at least some economists over the past couple of decades about the way that free trade has played out. Mm-hmm.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
again, complicated subject. But I think the thing that there's pretty broad-based agreement about is we can't just turn the clock back. We're not going to make T-shirts in this country again. We're not going to make, you know, commodity furniture in this country. And there are plenty of economists who would say we should be doing things now to preserve the manufacturing jobs that we do have.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
And especially in some important sectors, right, in robotics, in AI, in green energy, in chips. These are areas where there may be real advantages to preserving the American manufacturing industry. But broad-based tariffs of the kind that Trump is talking about are just not going to accomplish that.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
He's undeterred, but in a way it's even worse than that. Which is that so far he's been all over the map. We've seen tariffs announced and then they've been delayed. They've been imposed and then they've been paused. In some cases within days, in some cases on the same day, right, within hours. And if you talk to businesses, right, they don't like tariffs.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
But what they really don't like is having no idea. They don't like uncertainty. They don't like uncertainty. Right. If you're a business right now trying to decide where to buy your goods from, where to locate your factory, you have no idea what the policy is going to be a week, a month, a year from now. And you could easily imagine businesses just sort of pressing pause and saying, you know what?
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
Let's hold off. Let's see where things are when the dust settles. And that has real economic consequences if they're not hiring, if they're not investing, and the downstream of that, right, so they're not hiring construction workers and they're not buying materials. All of that is the kind of thing that ripples through an economy and can cause a recession.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
And so far, Trump seems okay with that. I think there was an expectation on some level that he would change direction if the markets started to fall, if the economy started to sour, and maybe he will. But so far, that has not been the reaction from him or from his administration. They seem to be saying, we'll take the pain and Americans are going to have to deal with it. Well, thank you, Ben.
The Daily
Why a Worrisome Economy Doesn’t Seem to Worry Trump
We really appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me.
The Daily
Trump 2.0: A Criminal Sentencing, Presidential Legacies, and Greenland
It's a hard thing when you look up to a parent so much. I look at myself and go, am I that person? Am I as good as he was? Are you? I don't know.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
While often a beacon of integrity and excellence, the reality of college life can also expose the darkest parts of American culture. From rigged admissions to sports scandals to Greek life drama, Campus Files shares the stories you won't hear on the campus doors. Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
You talked about going from room to room in the episode and we see Gemma down there and we see that she's being basically ushered into these different rooms where she's severed into a different persona and something is done to her by Dr. Maurer in some different outfit and character or disguise by the great Robbie Benson, who's one of my favorite actors.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And why don't we listen to a clip from when you're in the Christmas room with Dr. Maurer?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
A holiday classic, that scene.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I really have to say the tension between the two of you, you know, he obviously has an attachment to his subject and the way that you play those scenes together. It was just a very potent dynamic that was under the surface. And you had to go through so much in that episode because, you know, we learned that you're down there and you've been down there for a number of years.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And obviously you're trying to get out too. But how was it playing those scenes?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
This is your Bad Sisters season three audition.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. Jessica's an amazing artist as a cinematographer and now as a director. And she was also shooting the episode. She was the DP on that episode. Was that an interesting process for you working with her in both capacities?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I'd say it's the other way around, but that's a different story.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
She taught you. She taught you. The other aspect of the episode, I want to ask both of you guys about this, is that we get to see the meeting of Mark and Gemma, you know, juxtaposed with the captivity on the testing floor. We're seeing the beginning and development of Mark and Gemma's marriage.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And the things that, you know, happened in the beginning, the first blush of connecting, which why don't we take a look at that too, the first time you guys meet.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I thought you guys did a really good job of creating a very real relationship. How was it for you guys? And Adam, I'm curious to start asking you, how was it for you to create that relationship? And how did you guys go about that with Jessica?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Hey, I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott. And this is the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam, where we break down every episode of Severance.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
You, Deidre, had to go through so much in terms of the miscarriage and incredibly emotional, sensitive stuff. And then also showing, you know, the great times in the marriage. And it was all shot within, I don't know, five days. How do you prepare as an actor to do that? Because you did a great job with it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, the Bolex, 16 millimeter Bolex. Yeah, the Bolex.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It was great. Yeah, Jessica, she sort of flipped the script on me and had me be a little second unit DP. And she'd give me the bolex to shoot you guys, you know, smelling flowers.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And more successful, I think, than Bendo. And a lot of it made it into the cut. I was really, I was like...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, this is a really big one, and we have a very special guest to help us talk about it. We are joined by the star of the episode, the transfixing, the incredibly talented, the mesmerizing, the self-effacing, I could go on, Deachen Lockman, who plays Gemma slash Miss Casey.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, that was our big new set for the season, really. And Jeremy Hindle and Jessica really got involved in that. And we knew we wanted to do something that wasn't, we didn't want to do a different color. We obviously thought about that, but we were thinking just, you know, what is the world down there? What's the texture?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Is it, at one point we thought that might even be more dilapidated, but then it didn't make sense for really what they were doing down there. And then we came up with a scale that was a little bit different. bigger and different kinds of angles. But really, that's all credit to Jessica and to Jeremy.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And I remember that set was there for a long time before we shot it, and we were looking forward to it. Yeah, yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
All right. We've been asking fans to call in with questions. We've been getting a lot of questions. And we got a few questions that we would like your help answering, Deetchan. Okay?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Here we go. This Hotline segment, by the way, is sponsored by Confluence by Atlassian, the connected workspace where teams can create, organize, and deliver work like never before. Set knowledge free with Confluence.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I would probably say it if they weren't sponsoring us too.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, it's not super colorful. It's kind of muted colors. That's what I meant, muted colors. Yeah, I mean, but it's more colors than the last time we saw it. Actually, the location is it's Nassau Community College in Long Island. And they have this really interesting kind of 70s concrete kind of brutalist style architecture. It's pretty cool. It is cool. We spent a lot of time there.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Deeshan, yeah, you were working on a short story analysis in that episode.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. And that's when you come in with the ant farm. Yep. Which is a mistake.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Thank you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And later on, I'll be talking with Jessica Lee Gagné about directing the episode. She's so talented.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It's good to see you. Deachin, thank you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. And, of course, we'll have our friend Zach Cherry, the favorite segment of the episode for us all, where he predicts what's going to happen in next week's episode.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
If you were caught in a mudslide, Adam, what would you be more afraid of?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, I feel like I would be afraid of choking on the mud. Yeah. So more like that would be suffocating.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Let's talk about Sandra Bernhardt. I've been a fan of hers since she came on the scene and she was amazing in King of Comedy. She had this breakout performance in this Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese movie. Which is one of my favorite. Me too. Of the De Niro Scorsese oeuvre. And she is just a brilliant stand-up comedian. And I have known her over the years a little bit.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Hey, Adam. Yeah? Is your experience at work a bit dysfunctional lately? I don't know. I think it's... it's... Okay, I'll take that as a yes. Your team could undergo a highly controversial surgical procedure that would mercifully sever any and all memories of that work experience from your home lives. Or you could try Confluence by Atlassian.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And it was so fun to see her in this role because she is so funny and she can be so crazy and out there. It's just very unique energy. But it's always fun to see somebody like that when they're putting a lid on it. And, you know, there's just so much going on behind her eyes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, so it was really fun to really get to spend some time with her when she was working on the show. And that scene is, yeah, this, you know, setting up this world of the testing floor, this new environment. Obviously, any time we have a new space on the show, new characters...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It's always something we're kind of trepidatiously going into and wanting to figure out how to make it feel right with the tone of the show.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, I think overall this episode, there was for us a feeling of like, okay, we know that we have to tell this part of the story and we want to try to do it in a way that feels organic and exciting. But it's always like a little bit, you know, when you step off of the severed floor, it's always a little scary. Yeah. For sure. But I thought Deachin and Sandra were so great together.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And, of course, I just have to say Robbie Benson. Who plays Dr. Maurer. Yes. So good. So good in the show. I've been a fan of Robbie's also for a long, long time. He's been an actor and a director and writer. And he was very famous as a young man making movies in the 70s. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And he made a movie called One-on-One, which is about a young kid who gets recruited to a college to play basketball and gets cut from the team and has to work his way back onto the team. That's one of my favorite movies of all time that he wrote.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, and starred in. And he's got one of the most incredible voices. Yeah, he does. He's the beast. He's the beast. That's right. Yes, he's the voice of the beast in Beauty and the Beast. He's a great director.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yes, yeah. And then on top of that, just really the sweetest person I've ever worked with. Really nice guy. And it's been a long process making this show, the second season. And the first thing we shot with Robbie was in episode five. And then episode seven. And it was just over the course of a long time between those two episodes. It was like months and months and the strike happened.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
That's right. You know, it came to our attention recently that it might be a little bit different that we're doing a podcast about a show that we make. And the fact that since we know everything in the show, that it's hard to not give away spoilers. Yeah. So, you know, we give the spoiler warning to people. We give it to ourselves.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
So he was always connected and always there and always engaged. And I love his interrogation scene with Gemma.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Where he's asking her what she remembers and what she doesn't remember.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
His voice is both so soothing and also so scary at the same time.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It's scary. And the looks he has in the episode are just – I mean, the flight attendant looks is like – I don't know. That just – Gets me. And then there's the trainer, the physical trainer that we when we see him in the room with Drummond where they're watching.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And he's obviously in some sort of like 70s track suit. Yeah. And he looks like he's just come out of, I don't know, like the movie Munich or something. Yeah. Or rollerball or something. Yeah. And he has these incredible piercing blue eyes. Yes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Let's take a listen to the first time we see him on the testing floor because we get a little glimpse of him, but we don't get to see his face in episode five. But on the testing floor, the first time we meet him. Still a total babe.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. Here we see him as a dentist who obviously is a fan of Gordon Lightfoot.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Humming that song. Yeah. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. One of my favorite songs of all time. Is it? Yes. A big Gordon Lightfoot fan. And then we get to also see in this episode when we come down through that center post of the MDR cubicle and come out, follow the wires, this crazy shot that Jessica designed and worked on for a long time. And, um,
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But, you know, of course, when we're talking about the episodes, I'm always thinking about what we don't want to give away. For me, of course, that's the fun of it. That's the fun of it. But then it does make you look inward a little bit. Sure. And question like, well, the way I even said that thing that maybe wasn't explaining what happens in the episode, did I in the way I said it?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
We see that he says the severance barrier is holding.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. And we see the names of these rooms like Allentown, Cairns, Drainsville.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. On the Rolodex for the file names, which I don't know. I wonder if anybody watching the show noticed that. Do you think?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I'm going to guess that the people who watch our show did notice that. Maybe. Anyway. So Gemma tries to escape. Yes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
This is a great sequence that Jessica did in one shot after she knocks Maurer on the head. And then she goes out into the hallway. And, you know, this is, again, this question of, like, what happens when somebody tries to leave or escape? And the ultimate thing that's keeping her there is that she's going to sever into Miss Casey.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And I think Jessica just did such an elegant job with that shot when she comes out of the hallway, which is basically one shot that kind of takes her through the hallway in the dark. And it was just really beautifully done shot that Jessica did on a dolly. It's not a steadicam shot and it's a pretty long involved shot that was a real dance between her and Deachin.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And also Teddy's music in here is perfect and really compliments the shot. And then that moment too when she comes back down and she just has this emotional moment in the elevator where she's been kind of foiled again and you just see Sandra's hand come into the frame and it's kind of almost in a way sympathetic because – It's not like she's forcing her there with any physical way.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It's just sort of like this is the reality that she's stuck with.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
All right. We're going to take a quick break and then I'll be back to talk with the director of this episode, Jessica Lee Gagné. The MDR team continues to search for answers as they try to piece together memories from the overtime contingency. But luckily, you don't have to take a mind-erasing elevator to work every day.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Because we knew people would pay attention to the episodes, but this level of intense analysis.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
So your workplace productivity can be much simpler with Confluence by Atlassian. Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before. Where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for, while discovering important context they didn't even know they needed.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster. In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year. So goodbye, severed workplace alienation. Hello, teamwork with Confluence. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E. This message is brought to you by Apple Pay. Apple Pay is a service provided by Apple Payments Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Apple Inc. Any card used in Apple Pay is offered by the card issuer. This is like, it feels like we're filming right now.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. And I think there are more people watching the show now. And I realize that people are listening to every little nuance. Yeah. And watching every little speck of detail in the show. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It looks like you're zoomed up. It looks like it's lit.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Right. And you use them actually a lot in episode seven. But first of all, I just want to say I'm thrilled to be joined by the director of this episode, the brilliant Jessica Lee Gagné. Thank you for being here, Jessica.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
You and I have worked together for a while, but just to let people know, you've been the cinematographer on Severance from the beginning and have shot the majority of the episodes. And I also want to talk a little bit about how you approached the episode as a director, a first-time director.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But maybe we should talk first about how we started working together just because we've been working together for about, is it coming up on like eight or nine years now? Eight years, maybe?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. Everything all of a sudden becomes 10 years very quickly these days.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Right. Well, then we're at the end of our first seven-year cycle. But we met when I was directing Escape at Dannemora, which was a limited series that I was looking for a cinematographer for. and happened upon your work in a really wonderful movie called Sweet Virginia. That was a sort of noir thriller that took place in the Pacific Northwest and reached out to you and we met up.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And I feel like for me, it was fateful because we started working together a lot and we had a real creative bond. What did you think when we first started talking about doing Escape at Dannemora?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Well, this is a whole other thing about you that I don't know how much we want to get into it. But you are very perceptive to the point of you have, I think, a connection with sort of other vibes that are beyond the literal and in our day to day life. You feel things.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. Well, when we started working together, we hadn't known each other at all and delved into this eight-hour limited series. And I was taken with your work because it felt very filmic. And you're growing up in Montreal and watching movies. You worked at your dad's video store. I'm wondering what you watched growing up that inspired you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before. Where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for, while discovering important contexts they didn't even know they needed. A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
A secret message or something. But that's kind of the fun of all of this, I guess. And also, I think for people who are paying attention, sometimes these clues that they're seeing are definitely real things. You know, there's a lot of, I think, institutional memory for people on mystery box type shows where they're really concerned about where it's going.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But just already, already it's a little anachronistic because, you know, you're of an age when you're a kid that people were switching over to at least to DVDs at that point.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Did he make a conscious choice to keep the video store open in the face of the changing world?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And I feel like I don't even remember how we started to develop Severance. this look, but we'd already worked together. So we kind of rolled into it. And I know with you, it's always imagery is like a big part of it and saying, hey, check out this photographer. Let's look at these pictures. Let's look at maybe look at this movie. Let's look at this movie you've never heard of.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I remember when we did Dan Morrow, you showed me a Tarkovsky's movie, Stalker, and it blew my mind. And of course, I'd heard of Tarkovsky, but I'd never watched. And you opened me up to that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But for me, you know, a lot of what I love about this show is that aspect, but it's also, you know, other things about the show too. So, you know, it's fun to watch all of that. It's great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting on episode seven, which we can get into talking about, you know, you also acted as your own cinematographer. And how did that go for you? Because I felt from my perspective, watching you do your thing, it's sort of like was sort of seamless in that it was just sort of an extension of you sort of being able to express what you want to express.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
You brought in Max Goldman for the film portion of the Gemma and Mark story.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Nothing at all. Deachin, thank you for joining us. You're in London, aren't you?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And, you know, I found working with you, you always gave me a lot of confidence as a director to take a chance. But you didn't have that for yourself, except, you know, every once in a while I'd pop over. But you had me shooting second unit, which I was right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But that was what was your idea in terms of just the shooting on film for the flashbacks, which is something we hadn't done before on the show? What was your thinking on that?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And by the way, the house, can we talk about the house? The house was the house that Jessica was renting in Nyack, New York while she was making Severance that Jeremy Handel, our production designer, and you decided, oh, what about your house to shoot Mark and Gemma's?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Of course, because it's people carrying equipment and sitting down and crews, you know, I mean, everybody tries their best, but it's you don't want to do that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
No, no, no. Not at all. We'll just talk and talk and talk. You have to interrupt us if you actually want to get a word in. Deachin, welcome to the podcast.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, it's pretty amazing because it was also at the very end of our shoot. I think we had a, well, it was like 186 day shoot this season.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And intentionally, it's one of the only scenes you'll see in the show that has green trees in it, because it's a different time. And the feeling was it was a stripped down crew to a certain amount. And it was just a different approach for that week of shooting. And you just made, I thought, some really amazing, beautiful choices in that house.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Those scenes in the kitchen or her sitting alone or Adam with the crib, you know, trying to break the crib down or the scene in the bathroom where she's going through that really tough time was just so sensitively and beautifully shot and Felt to me like moments from like could be from like a Bergman film or something like that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
A lot of people know you for work you've done before Severance. But for me as a fan, it's always fun when I see a character from a show that I know the character from the show and I'm not that familiar with the actor. And then I hear them talk for real and they've got an accent from another country. And I'm like, oh, my God, that's so cool. She's not American. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Well, you just, you know, and I love that dissolve as he turns away, you know, there's outline of Mark's head and you see the hallway and elevator with Gemma in it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
That to me really, that really connected them. What you did was they're in different timelines, but the whole idea in the episode is is that you're watching Mark journeying and Gemma is having these moments and these flashes and thinking about Mark, but you're connecting them visually even though they're both separate. So it doesn't feel like a flashback per se.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It feels like we're connecting both of them as people emotionally.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
It's such a ridiculous, simple thing, but you are so good with your American accent. Tell people where you're from and a little bit about where you come from.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Scott McGuire is one of our camera operators, a great camera operator.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But can I just say that I feel like it was very important for you on that shot to start off of Gemma and start to go down. which was a crazy shot.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. And so all of a sudden we're in this moment, but what you did visually was that, you know, you have the shower water coming down on her and Mark, and then we transitioned into Mark and MDR back from the scene from season one to sort of connect that, you know, those two thoughts. And, but what you did was you had the rain coming down or I call it the rain, the shower water.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And then you literally had a shower water set up in MDR because you and I think the show we've always been focused on not wanting to do CG when we don't have to do CG stuff. And you wanted to do the shot going down the center console for real. So that's a real shot. That's not like a CG, you know, wires and vortex, which was really crazy. But you had the film running backwards on Adam.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
So when you get into MDR, the rain is going up and he's getting dry, which is just like, it's insane.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Reverse acting is hard for actors because you're asking somebody to imagine doing something backwards and you understand theoretically what it is, but it's really, I think, hard to like for your mind to compute it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
He loves to do stuff. He's like the most technical actor I know. I mean, he's so good at that stuff though.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Okay. I want to talk about the testing floor because the testing floor was a new environment and we knew that this was a big thing because we were going to finally go off of severed floor.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
What was important to you about, about it for the episode?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
The floor lighting, the floor, the floor lighting, because we'd done the sort of energy saver lighting on the top lights. But this floor lighting that you came up with is so great because it's just a totally different thing.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Kathmandu to LA is a long way.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, I just would say for me on my end that I feel the same thing with you that you have opened up for me to creatively the sort of the willingness to take a chance with something and to go with your intuition for me is something that I've gotten from working with you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And then you would just do the opposite of whatever I told you to do, right?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I think you're right. I think you're right. Like allowing space, even though like there's not a lot of improvisation per se, script wise, there's room for just things to happen. And I have to say, I remember one day we were shooting on Dannemora and I yelled cut after a scene and you came up to me and go, why'd you yell cut so soon? Do you remember that?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
You said, you yell cut too fast. And I was like, what? And it's like, hmm, maybe she's right. So then the next take, I let it go. And it just went on way too long. And the actress kept just acting. And I was like, oh, wow, stuff happens here. That you would not have happened. So I have to thank you for that because it just opened up so much for me.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But throughout this whole answer, you still have evaded my question, which was, will you ever go back to just being a cinematographer ever? And I think, you know, obviously everybody wants you to be a director because you're really, really good. But I'm just, what's your answer to that?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I think you should keep directing for sure. It's great talking to you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Thank you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. Okay, before we go, there's one more thing we have to do. And this is something we're contractually obligated to do at this point. Oh, okay. It's about that time. It's time for us to check in with Zach Cherry and hear his prediction, in air quotes that I'm making, about what he thinks will happen in episode eight. Here we go. All right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Right. Wow. Wow. And what made you want to come to America and be an actor?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, obviously don't do that, please. Yeah, Zach, I don't know if there's this layer of sarcasm or something. You think? When he says, wow, it's so insincere. Yeah. And then he's saying he basically his favorite part of the whole thing is going home. Yeah, that felt insulting. And then he said that the nation's favorite segment was him.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Again, I just wonder even like, let alone reading the scripts, whether he's watching episodes or if he's just sort of maybe doing a couple of things at the same time, like he's scrolling through.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I think he's scrolling through his next Fallout script on his phone while he's sort of like side-eyeing, catching what's going on on Severance.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I'm questioning if there ever was any loyalty. I feel like it's every man for himself with Zach. It sure is. You know what? It's great. He's lovable. He's lovable and cuddly, but there's something else there too. He's a very, very good baby.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
If you like the show, be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or your other podcast platform of choice. Our executive producers are Barry Finkel, Henry Malofsky, Gabrielle Lewis, Jenner Weiss-Berman, and Leah Reese-Dennis. This show is produced by Zandra Ellen, Ben Goldberg, and Naomi Scott. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
We had additional engineering from Javi Cruzas and Davey Sumner.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And the team at Red Hour, John Lesher, Carolina Pesikov, John Pablo Antonetti, Martin Valderutten, Ashwin Ramesh, Maria Noto, John Baker, and Oliver Acker.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
We had additional production help from Kristen Torres and Melissa Slaughter.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. It's interesting because I grew up in the business. So I saw it, but I still didn't realize it. You know, all the things that you have to deal with. As you know, Deacon, there's a lot of going out there, putting yourself out there and not getting the job. And you have to kind of just keep going and believe in yourself.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And I imagine for you coming all that way, that was probably, you know, something you had to deal with.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah. You're so great in the show, Deachin. Unbelievable. Yeah. And obviously this episode is just an incredibly special episode. And I remember we talked to Britt about her audition for the show. And similar to you, she sent in a self-tape, which is, you know, at home you just make a tape yourself of the scene and you send it in.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And you sent in just a really incredibly well done self tape of Miss Casey. Can you tell me a little bit about how you put that together? And I remember watching it and just it was stunning. You just seemed so otherworldly and it was so well produced and the lighting was amazing. And how did you do that?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I mean, I'm not great at math, but that sounds very close. Well, I'm doing the math in my head right now as we speak, and I think that's great. So why not keep your team unsevered? In Confluence, the connected workspace where teams can do it all. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Yeah, I mean, it was obviously very early on. And I mean, that concept... At that time, we knew where it was going, but it was still, you know, a concept. We hadn't written all the scenes. This was like very early on.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
But watching you read Miss Casey, I was just like, I felt like there was, I can't even, honestly, and this is no insult to other people who read for that role, but it's hard for me to remember other people who read for the role. Because when I saw what you were doing, it's like, okay, that's the person for this role.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And I want to ask you about this episode because when you read it, you know, this is the episode where we learned so much. What was your feeling when you first read it?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I was excited because I knew from working with you in season one, first of all, even like finding the look for Miss Casey, I remember how proactive you were. And we were talking about this with Gwendolyn Christie, how an actor can really just take ownership of a role and come in with ideas. And you came in with so many ideas. I remember you had the Miss Casey wig.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
No, she came in and she put the wig on and like modeled the wig and said, what do you think of this? And like, it was like, oh man, this person is just so into it. And like, I just really appreciated that. And then I remember we were shooting your scene in the hallway. I think it was 108 where Milchik sends you back down the hallway.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
And, you know, there's, that's the sort of this first hint that we really are feeling that there's something inside Ms. Casey, you know, this sort of sadness and,
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Just I have one question. This is probably really silly. Do you do any other accents? Because your American accent is so good. Like, what else do you do accent-wise that's really good?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
I don't think so. It must have been something else, but go ahead.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E7: Chikhai Bardo (with Dichen Lachman and Jessica Lee Gagné)
Hey, Ben here. I know you love listening to podcasts, so I wanted to introduce you to a brand new show called Campus Files. It's a weekly series that digs into the archives of American colleges and universities to take us behind some of the most outrageous scandals in the history of academia.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und die Frage, wie viel durchfließt, was sind die Gemeinschaften zwischen Indy und Audi? Ich denke, das ist wirklich lustig für Schauspieler zu erforschen. Ja, und es ist die Unterschiede zwischen dem Jungen zu Hause und dem Jungen am Arbeitstag.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Wie fühlst du dich, als Burt, als Schauspieler, in diesen Teilen zu spielen? Weil wir darüber gesprochen haben, dass du nur ein Schauspieler bist, aber du hast diese Erfahrungen nicht erlebt, die du die meiste Zeit zeigst. Denkst du, das ist wertvoll für die Leute? Ich denke, es ist wirklich wertvoll für die Leute. Selbst wenn es, weißt du, diese verrückten Schauspieler sind, um ernst zu sein.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und es ist so einfach, Schauspieler zu verabschieden, richtig? Richtig? Aber ich habe dir gesagt, dass du in Deer Hunter dieses unglaubliche Werk gemacht hast. Kannst du das einnehmen und sagen, okay, ja, ich konnte Menschen etwas erleben, obwohl ich es nicht erlebt habe.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E. Do you still get as excited about working as you did when you were starting out?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Geh in deine Poren, weißt du. Schauspieler sprechen von schlechten Charakteren oder schlechten Charakteren und einer Art, mit ihnen zu empathisieren oder ihre Menschlichkeit zu finden. Siehst du es so?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
But like doing a movie like Deer Hunter, how did you approach that?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Du konntest das genießen. Ja, du konntest es fühlen. Ja, die Szene für mich, die ich dir vorhin erzählt habe, ist die Szene, wo du im Krankenhaus bist, nach und nur in diesem Moment, da ist kein Dialog drin. Es ist ein sehr, wo du es einfach alles fühlst. Ich bin nur gespannt, weil das Moment für mich ist wie einer dieser Momente für mich in Filmen. Wie hast du dir so eine Szene vorgestellt?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Das ist wunderschön für mich, denn ich erinnere mich daran, als ich ins Camp gegangen bin, als mein Vater nach Hause gekommen ist, weil ich so zu Hause war und nie so etwas wie das fühlte, als ob ich so allein gewesen wäre. Oh, absolut.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Okay, we're going to take a short break, but I'll be back with Christopher Walken to talk about the dinner scene with Burt, Irving and Fields right after this. Hey, Ben hier. I know you love listening to podcasts, so I wanted to introduce you to a brand new show called Campus Files.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
It's a weekly series that digs into the archives of American colleges and universities to take us behind some of the most outrageous scandals in the history of academia. While often a beacon of integrity and excellence, the reality of college life can also expose the darkest parts of American culture.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
From rigged admissions to sports scandals to Greek life drama, Campus Files shares the stories you won't hear on the campus doors. Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast, available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. Untertitelung des ZDF für funk, 2017 Bert in the show is like a sweet guy.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
And you were saying, you like to play guys like that, right?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Appreciation of art.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ich glaube, das ist das, was die Verbindung mit Irving ist, dass man jemanden findet, der... Ja, ein kinderlicher Geist. Ja. Also, jeder, der auf dem Show gezwungen ist, jeder Charakter hat das Audi und das Inni. Und du hast in der 2. Saison, wir sprechen über Episode 6 in diesem Podcast-Episode gesprochen, das ist das Abendessen, das Abendessen mit Fields.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und so, wie in dieser Dinner-Szene, bist du mit John zu treffen. Du bist gekommen, um ihn zu sehen, weil er an deiner Tür gekommen ist und du weißt, dass er... und er wusste, dass du da bist. Aber dann hast du ihn zu Dinner mit deinem Mann zu Hause eingeladen und es gibt eine Energie, die zwischen dir und ihm da ist, die nicht Bert und Irving am Inneren ist, aber da ist etwas drin.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Was mir in dieser Szene so interessant ist, ist, dass die Beziehung zwischen dir und Fields offensichtlich kompliziert ist. Und er ist, du kannst sagen, er ist traurig, dass ihr ein Ding am Inneren habt.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und das Interessante ist, was ist die Motivation? Warum machst du das in deiner Beziehung mit deinem Mann? Es gibt natürlich einige Dinge, die du nicht willst, dass er so viel trinkt. Wir sehen, dass er die Wein ein bisschen zu viel trinkt. Ja, es ist faszinierend, weil Was es mir zeigt, ist, dass es immer noch eine Verbindung gibt, egal was, zwischen diesen Jungs.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Hey, I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott. And this is the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam, where we break down every single episode of Severance.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Selbst wenn du nicht weißt, was am Inneren passiert ist, zwischen dir und John. Und das ist, weißt du, für mich, das Kern der Show, diese Erfindung der beiden Seiten unseres Selbst und die Integration davon. Was brauchen wir von jeder Seite unseres Selbst? Kannst du dich von
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
deine Emotionen, weißt du, kannst du dich von deinen letzten Erfahrungen entfernen, weißt du, ich habe mit einem Veteranen gesprochen, der das Show gesehen hat und wirklich mit dem Show verbunden war, weil er PTSD erlebt hatte Und er war wirklich fasziniert mit der Idee, von Erinnerungen auszuweichen, und wie das möglicherweise Menschen mit PTSD helfen könnte.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Yeah. You know, do you need to face that stuff and process it? Or can you just cut it off and not deal with it? Ja, als Fields die Religion und das Abendessen aufbringt und er sagt, dass du im Grunde gesäubert wurdest, damit sie eine Chance hatten, deine Seele zu retten, richtig?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Du wurdest im Grunde gesäubert, weil du den Pastor gehört hast, der über die Säuberung spricht. Und wir bekommen die Idee, dass Burt einige Dinge auf der Außenwelt getan hat, die vielleicht nicht auf der oberen Seite seines Persönlichkeits waren. Und dass dieser gesäuerte Seite von Burt möglicherweise in den Himmel gehen könnte.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Mein Vater liebte immer Yom Kippur, die jüdische Religion, weil man da hingeht und sich für seine Sünden betet und sich frisch anfängt.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
And we have a really special guest this episode. We're joined by the legendary Chris Walken, who plays Burt Goodman. Oh my God. Yeah, really excited for that. Ich hatte die Chance, mit ihm zu sprechen und es war, muss ich sagen, ein Highlight meiner jungen Karriere. Ich bete es. Deine nascente Show-Business-Karriere?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja, aber die Realität auch für Menschen mit diesen traumhaften Erinnerungen oder Erfahrungen. Wie kann man das? Wie kann man das?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
All right, man. This is great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
No, no, it was fun. Yeah, it's great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Yeah, it was so cool to be able to talk to Chris. I love him so much and I've been such a fan for so long. So it was really great to talk.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Aber ich bin es nicht. Wow. Die Seagulls in der Distanz fluttern herum. Musik. Es ist wirklich schrecklich, ist es nicht? Es ist. Woher kam die Idee für den Seagull-Sound? Der Seagull-Sound kam aus dem Hintergrund das wir gedreht haben, das hinter ihnen ist. Es ist wie ein Museum der Naturgeschichte, gedrehter Diorama-Vibe mit falschem Gras, wie großem Gras.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und im Hintergrund siehst du, da ist ein Vogel. Also dachten wir, warum nicht, du weißt, Lumen würde für die ganze Erfahrung gehen. Es ist so ein entspannender, entspannender Geräusch.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja, es ist der alte Sicherheitsraum. Sie sind total einfach Ja, sie haben es einfach auf den Kopf gegeben, weißt du? Ich denke, das ist einer der wirklich mehr lustigen, ominösen, seltsamen Dinge in der 2. Saison ist, dass das sozusagen das Revamping der alten, schrecklichen Räume in schöne, warm, glückliche Plätze, supposiert.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja, das ganze Video ist sehr viel über die Beziehungen zwischen Gretchen und Dylan, Mark und Helly, Bert und Irving. Ich denke, wenn es ein Thema für dieses Video gäbe, wären es die Menschen, die sich verbinden. Ich werde nicht sagen, dass sie sich verbinden, aber es gibt viel Romantik in diesem Video.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und ich denke, es war eigentlich wirklich lustig, so eine Episode zu haben, wo wir wirklich auf diese Kern-Verhältnisse konzentriert sind. Und die Geschichte von Dylan und Gretchen ist einfach so ein einzigartiges Story-Type, weil du das wirklich in keinem anderen Show tun kannst. Und ich denke, das ist, wenn wir die Geschichte anschauen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Wir schauen immer, was sind Situationen, die man nur mit diesem Setup machen könnte. Und ich denke, die Idee von Dylan und Gretchen, Basically kind of an affair on his Audi.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
To me, that's what it feels like. It's almost like she's going to visit a guy in prison. And she's having conjugal visits or something with this guy. I mean, they're not...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
sleeping together but it's sort of this i mean it is very prison like even in episode three you know when she first comes in she's got like the little clear plastic pouch that they give her um which is a thing they do in prison so that you know they can see through what you're bringing in and out and i think that's what i think is so interesting about this storyline is that it seems like
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Sie entwickeln wirklich eine Verbindung und dann gehen wir sofort nachher zu Audi Dylan zu Hause und sie sagt ihm nicht, was los ist.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und sie kämpft damit. Sie hält es von ihm. Aber sie ist wirklich zu dieser Version von Dylan, die ist der weniger, du weißt, er hat nicht den Wert des Weltes auf ihn, er hat nicht alle Außenseitenprobleme, die definitiv ihre Beziehung beeinflussen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
She sure does, an actual one. And an actual future in show business, because she's amazing. And of course, we got Zach Cherry back to predict. So far, he's 0% right on anything that he's predicted.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, und für Dylan ist es großartig, weil Dylan endlich merkt, dass es einen Weltraum außer Perken gibt. Und es ist ein Weltraum außer Fingertrappen und Charakters. Und es ist wirklich die Erweiterung von dem, was am Ende von Saison 1 begonnen wurde, als er sagt, ich will meine Kinder kennenlernen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und das ist er, der in einer manipulativen Weise von Milchik, der sich entschieden hat, dass er das als eine Art von, denke ich, irgendwie von den anderen dividiert, das Geheimnis zu behalten. Und das funktioniert auch, übrigens, was wir in Episode 5 gesehen haben und die Tension zwischen Mark und Dylan. He's not sharing this with them. But personally for him, he's literally falling in love.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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And he's understanding what a human relationship is.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Yeah, but yet I'm also kind of happy for Dylan that he's feeling this. And to see Zach sort of embody him growing as a person is really cool. And then meanwhile, Mark and Helly are... Ich denke, dass Mark versucht hat, zu verabschieden, wie er fühlt, dass er mit Helena schläft. Aber du sagst ihr auch... Ja, ich denke, wir sollten über diese Szene reden. Ja, ja, ja. Er hat dich bedroht.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Als ich im Elevator lieg. Sie versuchen uns zu enttäuschen, uns zu zerstören.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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I also like how Uta shot that scene in the stall, in the bathroom stall. You know, there are so few spaces that we haven't shot in the MDR because it's just basically that room, the kitchenette and the bathroom. And we've explored a lot of different ways to shoot things and even in the bathroom.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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But she figured out a blocking with U2 and a way of shooting that in the stall that I thought was really elegant. And actually, it's one of my favorite looking scenes in the show.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, und ich denke, Uta als Direktor ist wirklich großartig mit Schauspielern. Und ich denke, wirklich, wenn man sich diese Szene aus Helis Perspektive anschaut, wie sie das durchführt, und die Momente danach, wo sie in den Hallen geht und darüber nachdenkt und es sich in ihrem Kopf dreht und sich mit dem, was sie fühlt, beurteilt.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und ich dachte, Britt hat einen tollen Job damit gemacht, auch in Bezug darauf, dass sie das intern sieht. Und dann editoriell, Die Art und Weise, wie Gretchen und Dylan zusammenkommen. Dylan fragt um einen Hüpf von ihr und wir fühlen, dass es mehr zwischen den beiden gibt.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und als sie kommen und wirklich physische Kontakt haben, ist Heli da und denkt an ihren ersten Kuss mit Marc in der ersten Saison. Und sobald das passiert und sie endlich bis zu dem Punkt kommen, wo sie sich verbinden, passiert etwas für Heli in ihrem Kopf, wo sie realisiert, Hey, you know what? Helena had this, but I want it. Because that's how I feel about you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Yeah, and that was something we talked a lot about with Bo Willimon when he came in and working on our season.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, und ich erinnere mich, das war der Gedanke, der von ihm kam, der wirklich ein logischer Gedanke war und eine sehr emotional gegründete Idee war, wenn du denkst, wie diese Charaktere zu einem anderen reagieren. Außer dem Mysterium-Element des Shows oder dem Weirden-Element des Shows oder any of that stuff, at the core it's about these characters who... Wow, das ist mein...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ich hoffe, dass das für die Leute funktioniert, denn es scheint mir unerwartet, dass Mark und Helena in Episode 4 zusammenbleiben und dann Helly und Mark zusammenbleiben in Episode 6. Und das könnte nicht erwartet werden. Und plötzlich werden die Leute viel mehr zusammen. Aber für mich war es sehr organisch. in that this would be what Helly would want.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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And these two people do have these feelings for each other. And the fact that she knows that she had that connection with him and she really wanted that was something that felt, okay, yeah, that's kind of like unexpected to see, but yet totally believable to me.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Yeah. Everything all right?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, und es ist auch etwas, wenn wir über die 2. Saison reden und Dinge tun, die wir noch nie gemacht haben, war es ein Grund, auf dem ich sehr traurig war, in Bezug auf die Frage zu steigen, wir gehen zu einem Ort, den wir noch nie gesehen haben auf dem Show. Charaktere, die zusammen schlafen und nicht wollen, die Klischee-Version davon zu machen oder die schlechte Version davon.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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aber auch nicht Angst zu haben, diese Linie zu folgen, weil es eine natürliche Progression ist. Aber es ist auch etwas, was wir noch nie gemacht haben.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, wir hatten schon Episode 4 gefilmt. Als Uta die Episode-6-Beliebtheit-Szene beobachtete, konnte sie schauen, was wir gemacht haben. Sie hat ihre eigene Sprache für das gemacht. Ich denke, das ist auch eine der schönsten Szenen in der Serie.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Die Art und Weise, wie sie das filmt, zwischen den beiden von euch und der Wahrheit und der Nähe und der Schönheit durch die Art und Weise, den Tent, den du für dich machst, aus den plastischen Tarpfen, die über die unverwendeten Kerlen und Desken sind. Und es ist wirklich wunderschön. Ich muss dazu bringen, weil wir darüber sprechen, dass die Lieblingsszene in Episode 4, was passiert ist.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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It's weird and it's been fun. I've enjoyed it very much.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ich denke, ich sollte... Ist es okay, darüber zu sprechen? Ja, der Boden ist deiner. Also, ich habe die Lieblingsszene in der Tent in Episode 4 gedreht. Und Jessica, unsere Cinematografin, hat mir gesagt, ich denke, vielleicht solltest du die Kamera für diese Szene funktionieren, weil es sehr intim und nah ist und du weißt, was du willst.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und es wird handgehalten werden, also solltest du da rein und das für die Schauspieler machen. Was hast du gedacht?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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It's been interesting. You know, these episodes are much more firmly in my frontal cortex or whatever part of my brain that would remember things. So it's kind of like dipping into the more recent past.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Am liebsten hättest du das gedacht. Weil ich da mit der Kamera reingehe. Es ist ein Tent und wir hatten es auf dem Soundstage. Wir sind im Tent und der Tent hat eine Luftmattrasse. Das Set hat eine Luftmattrasse, die ihr habt. Das ist ein Teil des Sets. Die Tents hatten Luftmattrasse. Ich weiß nicht, ob ihr jemals auf eine Luftmattrasse gesteppt habt, aber es ist schwer, euren Ballons zu bekommen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Sind sie? Nein. When you're holding a camera, a heavy camera, and you're not a professional camera operator. Es ist. Also wir, du weißt, geschlossen, ruhig, Intimitätskoordinator, jeder macht alles richtig. Und es ist sehr, sehr intensiv und ruhig. Und es ist so, okay, rollt die Kamera. Und ich gehe da rein mit der Kamera. Und ihr seid da auf der Klammer. Und es ist nur das Licht vom Heater.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Es war so verrückt. Und hier bin ich, um so ein cooler Direktorschef zu sein, und ich bin jetzt nur so ein klutziger Ben, der auf zwei Akten fällt. Es war so erschreckend.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ich kann meinen Ben Stiller-Einsatz nicht vermeiden, auch wenn ich es versuche. Your character is a cinematographer and it's a romantic comedy. Yeah, that's not Bendo. Yeah, we have to come up with a new name for this guy. Yeah, Klutzo. Klutzo, the cameraman. It was so funny. And I did not operate anymore for the rest of the shoot.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, ja, sicher. Aber es war toll, gerade jetzt mit Chris Walken zu sprechen. Ich bin eigentlich gerade von Chris Walkens Haus gekommen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
All right, we're going to take a quick break and then we'll be right back. Die MDR-Team sucht weiterhin Antworten, als sie versuchen, Erinnerungen aus der Überzeit-Kontingenz zusammenzusetzen. Aber glücklicherweise musst du nicht jeden Tag einen Mind Erasing Elevator nehmen, damit deine Arbeitsplätze-Produktivität viel einfacher sein kann, mit Confluence von Atlassian.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Confluence ist der verbindliche Arbeitsplatz, in dem Teams zusammenarbeiten und wie nie zuvor arbeiten können. Hier haben Teams einfach Zugang zu den relevanten Pagen und Ressourcen, die ihre Projekte anbieten, während sie einen wichtigen Kontext entdecken, den sie nicht einmal wussten, den sie benötigen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ein Raum, in dem AI die Dinge streamliniert, die ihre Zeit normalerweise verbrauchen, um Teams zu generieren, zu organisieren und zu arbeiten, um schneller zu arbeiten. In Wahrheit, mit Confluence können Teams in einem Jahr einen 5,2-prozentigen Ausstieg in Produktivität sehen. So goodbye severed workplace alienation. Hello teamwork with Confluence. Set knowledge free with Confluence.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E. Das Zusammenkommen von Marc und Helly ist so erfreulich, dass ihr wieder miteinander auf dem Weg seid und verbunden seid. Und gleichzeitig gehen wir dann auch in die Außenwelt. Und wir haben das erste Mal, dass ihr überhaupt Zeit verpasst.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und es ist so, als würdet ihr euch wieder in den Wohnzimmer finden, als ihr nur noch bei Lumen wart. Ja, das stimmt. Das ist das erste Zeichen, dass die Reintegration wirklich anfängt, mehr reinzukommen oder aus der Kontrolle zu gehen. Du fliegst auf Rigabi und wirst auch hungrig, was ein Side-Effekt der Reintegration ist. Und du stürmst aus und gehst zum chinesischen Restaurant.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, ja, wir haben ein bisschen über den Episode gesprochen und über, wie er mit Severance involviert wurde und auch über das Aktivieren. Ich habe mich ein bisschen ausgedrückt. Das ist großartig. Ich bin froh, dass ich endlich, nachdem ich Chris für etwa 35 Jahre kennengelernt habe, als ich ihn zum ersten Mal kennengelernt habe, aber nie gesagt habe, hey, ich bin Freunde mit Chris Walken.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und das ist, wo wir dieses unglaubliche... Wir haben es immer die Heatscene genannt.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und die Heatszene ist der Film, der Michael Mann-Film, die Szene, wo Pacino und De Niro für die einzige Zeit in dem Film treffen. Und, du weißt, der Publikum wartet auf diesen Moment. Und wir dachten, naja, das ist dieser Moment, wo, du weißt, Helena und Audie Mark treffen sich zum ersten Mal. Was wird das sein? Ich dachte, ihr hattet einen tollen Job mit der Szene.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Die Schreibung ist wirklich interessant. Es gibt so viel unter der Oberfläche und so viele Ebenen, was du mit ihr erlebst und was sie von dir will. Es ist wirklich interessant. Es sollte nie passieren.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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You sort of dip into it and then you go away from it and then you give into it and then you're...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Das ist so interessant. Und sie bekommt eine. Das ist so interessant, weil es fast wie eine Art Manipulation ist, die Milchick auf der Innenseite macht. Aber Helena macht es auf der Außenseite.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Hey Adam, ist deine Erfahrung bei der Arbeit ein bisschen nicht funktionierbar? Ich weiß es nicht. Ich denke, es ist... Okay, ich nehme das als Ja. Dein Team könnte eine hochkontroversielle klinische Procedure unternehmen, die die Erinnerungen an diese Arbeitserfahrung von deinen Heimatleben verbreiten würde. Oder du könntest Konfluence von Atlassian probieren.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Aber so habe ich es damals gemacht. Wenn du an all das denkst, was in dieser Szene passiert ist, war es so, dass du am gleichen Tag beide mit einander schlafen hast.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Weder einer von euch weiß das, aber sie weiß, dass sie mit dir geslebt hat und du weißt nicht, dass du mit ihr geslebt hast. Mit einer von ihnen. Mit einer von ihnen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und das ist für mich, was so interessant für mich ist, ist, dass es die Frage ist, was verbreitet, was verbreitet, was ist, weißt du, welche Pheromone sind da, was ist die Erinnerung da, was ist die Verbindung, was ist das Liebesgefühl, was ist das, all diese Dinge, es ist einfach so viel los, um
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Bis jetzt habe ich ein paar Mal zusammengearbeitet. Es war großartig, ihm zu fragen, ob er sich zufrieden fühlt, dass er in einem Nerd-Film ums Arbeiten handelt. Ich sage das nie vor ihm, weil er einfach zu traurig ist. Aber ich glaube, er ist einer unserer besten Schauspieler jemals. Hundert Prozent.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ich bin mir sicher, dass es als Schauspieler so viel da ist, dass man sich einfach wartet, um sich zu erinnern oder zu spielen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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And we shot that at a great restaurant called Eng's up in Kingston, New York. It's a beautiful restaurant.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und dann bist du alle überrascht und kommst raus. Das spürt dich, dass du sagst, ja, lass uns gehen und lass uns die verpackte Version der Reintegration machen, wo sie den Chip injizieren wird und es wirklich zum nächsten Niveau nimmt. Und dann kommt Devin, während du die Auswirkungen davon fühlst.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und, weißt du, das Ende des Episodes ist wirklich, dass du eigentlich unbewusst gehst und wir wissen nicht, was dir passieren wird.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, es ist so weit gegangen. Und für uns als Publikum erinnern wir uns an das, was mit Petey außerhalb der Gasstation passiert ist. Und dann sind wir auch am Ende, nach dem Burt und Irving-Dinner, wo alles rauskommt. Es ist einfach interessant, thematisch in diesem Episode, ich denke, es sind alle die Beziehungen, die Beziehungen-Konfrontation-Stuffe, die passieren.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und dann, ja, Burt und Irving erinnern sich, dass da etwas passiert ist zwischen ihnen beiden. Ja, hundert Prozent. Und wir sind in dem letzten Moment von Burt at the Door, wo wir nicht ganz wissen, was Audi Burt vorhat. Und es ist toll, weil Chris Walken einfach einen Blick geben kann. Und ich denke, wenn Chris an dieser Tür schaut, weiß ich nicht, was Chris denkt.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Er denkt wahrscheinlich, ich bin Bugs Bunny.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Chris Walken, Bugs Bunny can be chilling. Alright, this is great, man.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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How's life for you these days?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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That's great. I heard you when you were doing the mic check talking about choreographing something. Are you working on a show there right now?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Eine Sache, die er mir gesagt hat, und wir haben das in der Interviewsendung nicht bekommen, nachdem wir die Mikrofone weggelegt haben, war, dass wir immer noch über Arbeiten reden. Manchmal weiß niemand, was man als Schauspieler denkt. Sie sehen dich einfach nur im Gedanken, und dieser Gedanke ist das, was sie lesen, und der Publikum füllt es in. Es macht es real, weil sie darüber nachdenken.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Das ist großartig. Ja, du bist großartig im Show. Als wir dich gefunden haben, war ich so glücklich, weil Dan diese Idee hatte, dass Miss Wong eine junge Person sein würde. Und wir dachten darüber, wer sie sein könnte und wie sie sein könnte.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und das ist das Ding mit jedem Schauspieler, wenn du jemanden suchst, um einen Rolle zu spielen, wenn jemand kommt und sie nur eine besondere Qualität hat, die so richtig fühlt. Und ich wundere, was dein Erinnerung ist, als du für den Show eingeladen bist.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Cool. And then you came in and you read in person with us, I remember.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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And at the callback, did you feel like when you walked out of it, did you feel like, okay, that went well? Because I know when I've auditioned for things in the past, sometimes you have a feeling when you, you know, it feels like it went well, like, oh, maybe this could work out.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Oh, right. Boy, I mean, and then the water toy became, I mean, it's really like you really mastered that thing. Had you ever seen one of those before?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Das war eigentlich alles, was wir hatten, Sarah. Vor den Telefonen und Technologie. Vor den Caveman-Tagen, als wir groß geworden sind. Das ist, mit dem du gespielt hast. Nein, ich liebe sie.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, ich denke, wir faken alle, bis wir es schaffen. Ja, ziemlich.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Du warst sehr, ich würde nicht sagen, die Perzeption für mich war, du warst nicht chaotisch oder freudig, du warst einfach sehr komfortabel in deiner Haut und es gibt eine Art Stille zu Miss Wong und, du weißt, diese Art interessanter Art von Lagen zu dir, weil du unglaublich unnötig sein kannst, aber dann gibt es auch Momente, in denen du sehr wissend und, du weißt, manchmal auch autoritär bist.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Er hat gesagt, dass Bugs Bunny einer seiner Lieblings-Aktoren ist. Er sagte das mit einem Winkler in den Augen, aber nicht wirklich. Und er hat gesagt, dass er oft die Rolle gespielt hat, als ob er Bugs Bunny war. Aber niemand wusste. Welcher Charakter, welcher Film, wir wissen es nicht.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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By the way, that's not an easy thing to do. Ich denke als Schauspieler, was ist, weißt du, einfach jemanden zu bitten, wirklich nichts anderes zu tun, als einfach dort in dem Moment zu sein und einfach jemanden zu schauen, weil es in einer Art und Weise unglaublich erheblich sein kann. Ja, und beide von euch, das ist einer meiner Lieblingsmomente in diesem ersten Episode.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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ist wirklich die Energie zwischen den beiden von euch und du hast überhaupt nicht geflogen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Yeah, no, and that's the other thing, like you don't want to mess with something that's going well, right, with an actor. You don't want to tell them something that they become self-conscious of. You want to talk a little bit about Milchik and your relationship with Mr. Milchik? There's obviously, it's a very layered relationship that evolves.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Let's take a listen to that scene where you guys talk about Milchiks performance review.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ja, das ist meine Erfahrung mit ihm. Er ist der warmste, süßeste, lustige, lachende Bedeutung. Aber ihr seid so gut zusammen. Ich liebe die Szene in der Versorgungsklosse in Episode 5, als ihr bereit seid für das Geburtstag für Irving. Und diese kleine Machtstrategie, die zwischen den beiden von euch passiert, ist wirklich lustig zu sehen. Ja, ich habe alle meine Szenen mit Tramiel geliebt.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Und für Episode 4, wie war deine Erfahrung, als wir in die Berge gingen, um diese Szene zu filmen? Weil, ich meine, du hattest zu lernen, wie man den Theremin für diese Episode spielen kann.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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I mean, and for people, we talked about it in episode four, but the theremin is like an instrument where you don't touch it. It's just you're moving your hands through space.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Schlechte Bewegung. Waren deine Freunde, die dich zu einer Party verabschiedet haben, ist es seltsam, in der Show zu sein? Hattest du das Gefühl, dass es deine tägliche Leben beeinflusst hat? Oder ist es so, dass du in der Schule bist, du machst deine Dinge, die Leute sind cool, wie du gesagt hast, und du gehst einfach vorwärts?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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Ich würde sagen, das ist nicht das letzte Mal, dass das zu dir passieren wird. Das ist meine Überzeugung in deinem Leben. Also, bereiten Sie sich vor. Ich denke, es ist so toll, dass du das tun kannst, was du tust, in der Schule zu gehen. Und ich bin einfach so beeindruckt von dir, seit ich dich zum ersten Mal getroffen habe. Und es ist eine Freude, mit dir zu arbeiten.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und ich wünsche dir alles Gute und freue mich darauf, dich in der Zukunft zu sehen. Oh, danke. Ich hatte so viel Spaß, den Show mit euch beiden zu machen. Well done, Sarah. Yeah, and good luck on midterm, Sarah. I'm so glad that I'm not taking that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Were you a good student, Adam? No.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ich muss sagen, das ist tatsächlich eine der besten Prediktionen, die er je hatte. It's really good. Because it actually, to me, thematically, maybe tonally is totally off Freaky Friday, but it does kind of thematically, to me, kind of work in what the show could do.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
By the way, the next time on Severance makes me think of Next Time on Lonnie. Do you remember that web series? It's from Alex. Yeah, Alex Anfanger and Dan Schimpf. It's so funny. It was like a show that you never saw the actual show. All you ever saw were the previews for next week on. And it was some crazy thing. So I recommend that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
And you can stream every episode of Severance on Apple TV Plus with new episodes coming out every Friday.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
If you like the show, be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app or your other podcast platform of choice. Our executive producers are Barry Finkel, Henry Malofsky, Gabrielle Lewis, Jenner Weiss-Berman and Leah Reese Dennis. This show is produced by Zandra Ellen, Ben Goldberg and Naomi Scott. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
We had additional engineering from Javi Cruzas and Davey Sumner. Show clips are courtesy of Fifth Season.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
And the team at Red Hour, John Lesher, Karolina Pesikov, Gian Pablo Antonetti, Martin Valderrutten, Ashwin Ramesh, Maria Noto, John Baker, and Oliver Acker.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
We had additional production help from Kristen Torres and Melissa Slaughter. I'm Ben Stiller. And I'm Adam Scott. Thank you for listening. And remember to hang in there.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
He thinks your hair is awesome. And I think Adam has amazing hair.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Yeah. How important is hair for you, acting-wise?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Wow. Wow. And then ever since you've kind of, because I remember like even when we first started working on the show, you were very specific about your hair and I totally identified with it because I get crazy about my hair too. It's a thing.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Yeah. Like you want to feel comfortable. Right? And I remember you were like, just let it, just let it be what it is.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja, ja. Ich liebe es, dass du auf dem Show bist und dass du Bert spielst. Ich hatte ein Abendessen mit Turturro und er sagte, ich hätte es toll, wenn Chris Bert sein würde, als ich ihn zum ersten Mal kennengelernt habe.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Konfluence ist der verbindliche Arbeitsplatz, in dem Teams zusammenarbeiten und wie nie vorher arbeiten können. In dem Teams einfach Zugang zu den relevanten Pagen und Ressourcen haben, die ihre Projekte anbieten, während sie einen wichtigen Kontext entdecken, den sie nicht einmal wussten, dass sie ihn benötigen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja. Und so viel von der Burt und Irving-Verhältnis in der ersten Saison ist über diese Verbindung, die zwischen den Worten ist, die auf dem Subtext von der Energie zwischen euch zwei geht.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Das ist interessant. Ja.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
It's interesting to me about acting, too, that you talk about having confidence, but so much of it is also, I think, about vulnerability, too.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Daring to be vulnerable.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ich war sehr nervös, auch wenn ich dich über die Jahre kennengelernt habe. Ich habe nie mit dir als Direktor gearbeitet. Ich bin ein Fan seit langer Zeit. Aber für mich, meine Generation, als ich dich in den Filmen gesehen habe, hat mich mein Wunsch, in den Filmen zu sein, sehr informiert. Ich war ein bisschen enttäuscht. Ich frage mich, wenn du mit einem Direktor arbeitest, was suchst du?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ein Raum, in dem AI die Dinge streamliniert, die ihre Zeit normalerweise verbrauchen, um Teams zu generieren, zu organisieren und schneller zu arbeiten. Mit Confluence können Teams in einem Jahr einen 5,2-prozentigen Ausstieg in Produktivität sehen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
In einer Art und Weise freut dich das als Schauspieler?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Was ist das für eine Szene?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Hm. Also wenn du und ich in einer Szene sind und ich an dich furchtbar bin oder... Ja. Also, lass uns das umdrehen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ja, richtig. Aber ich spiele immer die gleichen Worte und den gleichen Text, aber es hat eine andere Intention darunter.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Richtig, richtig.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und als Schauspieler, das ist das, was du willst, richtig? Weil meistens spielst du eine Rolle, du spielst einen Doktor oder einen Lehrer oder etwas, was du nicht bist, aber du willst, dass Leute glauben, dass du es bist. Ja. Wie kriegst du dich dazu ein, das zu glauben?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ich erinnere mich, als wir uns zum ersten Mal kennengelernt haben, über deinen Prozess, wie du ein Skript anschaust und dich vorbereitest, um wirklich darin zu leben.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Ich meine, ich bin nicht gut bei Mathematik, aber das klingt sehr nahe. Well, I'm doing the math in my head right now as we speak, and I think that's great. So why not keep your team unsevered? In Confluence, the connected workspace where teams can do it all. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
So you hear it, you say it out loud and you hear it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
How does it translate? Like, do you always, do you get there and you go, oh, I did this better in my kitchen? Or do you...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Du hast es in der Küche gefunden, sodass du es nehmen kannst.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Und dann habe ich herausgefunden, als wir Szenen machen, dass jeder, den du nimmst, ein bisschen anders ist.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E6: Attila (with Christopher Walken and Sarah Bock)
Er ist der gleiche Typ, aber er ist ein bisschen... Das, was interessant ist, denke ich, bei den Schauspielern, ist, dass Adam Audi und Enni spielt. John spielt sein Audi und Enni. Aber sie sind die gleiche Person, aber sie sind verschiedene Aspekte von sich selbst.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You could call Mr. Milchick. Oh, totally. Hey, I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott. And this is the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam, where we break down every episode of Severance.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. I mean, it is interesting. Everybody's sort of ambitions or sort of prerogative working at the company, besides being committed to the company and to the ideology of the company, but also just the ambitions that each character has within the company for what they want personally.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And, I mean, I think we start to see that in season two, especially in episode three, that scene where Tramiel gets the Black Keir paintings, the re-canonicalized paintings. And you two both did such great work with that scene. And I remember we all talked about it to really get each person's perspective working on it. How did you approach that scene?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Because I thought you both had so much subtext going on in that scene that was... you know, very, very complicated and layered
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
What I also appreciated when we were doing this scene and watching you guys work was how in the moment you were with each other.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
So like you come in with like a lot of ideas about subtext and ideas of where you're coming from, but then it felt to me in the best way that the two of you were then just sort of in the moment with each other and reacting to the other person's energy in a way that made the scene very alive.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And then the next scene that I really enjoy is the way you're sort of playing Rickon like a violin. It feels to me like it's just, again, so much interesting subtext. And in a way, it's even more mysterious thing going on there. Whatever talk you guys have been having when Devin walks in,
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I like that word, penultimate. Me too. It's the second to last.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, I mean, I think it's necessary on this show, too, just because we never quite know, you know, where the line is. And we don't do a lot of improvisation. But the two of you in that scene, it was really fun, you know, to watch and That's the thing, you know, it's just a take. I always remind myself, you know, it's just one take. You can try something, it can be awful. It doesn't matter.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
It actually can be helpful sometimes because, you know, you're not going to use that one, but it helps get you somewhere else maybe.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I've been using penultimate for at least 20 years.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And I pull it out to impress people.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Wow. That's smart. Wow. I'd like my dog to get severed because my dog half the time has issues with me. Really? Like something happened. Yeah, but that's another story.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Every dog is food motivated. Are you more of a dog person or a cat person, Sydney?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Well, now it's become more mainstream, I guess, since you're aware of it. Wait a minute.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
All right. Should we listen to the next hotline question? Yes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I mean, first of all, I'm impressed that someone's watching the show in Australia.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Is that naive to be impressed? Because that's really exciting.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Oh, my God.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Did they give you that when you got off the plane? Like in Hawaii, you get a lay? No? That's right. They put a sweater on you. A cable knit sweater.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Oh my God. Yeah. Is it, do they dub it with Irish accents?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Anyway, we're talking about the penultimate episode.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
That's a good question, though, I think, Sydney.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You have to even ask about that. I know. Well, Simon, I mean, I don't know how they do it in Australia, Simon, but we don't question the board here.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And I have to say, Sydney, whatever you're doing there, we could watch you listen to the board all day. It's great. And then the little sound effect they put in of the crackle. Yeah. And also the finger. The finger is pretty great. Mm-hmm.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. I remember when we were editing that scene the first time in the first season, it was just so much fun to watch you hold that and how long we could just watch you listen for so long that we would extend it as long as possible because it was so much fun.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
well what about the opening credits opening credits yeah i mean i've heard some people expound on theories about when we do and don't have the opening credits and it's really something that is a choice that we make based on the episode really you know that what feels right or not we kind of did in the first season we didn't have the opening credits in the first episode so we thought second season will do the same thing and of course we have a new opening credit sequence for season two
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
So that's been fun to see play out. And I hope as the season has gone by, as we get to episode 10 coming up, that some of the little fun little Easter eggs in there have been noticed, which I am sure they have by our incredible audience that sees everything. Isn't it amazing?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I'm so glad I don't know how to use Reddit. I'm so glad I'm old. All right. Well, thanks for the messages, everybody. Keep them coming, please. And Sydney, thanks so much. It's great to talk to you. Great to see you. So much fun working with you on the show. You're so good in season. So thank you so much. Thank you, Sydney.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
The MDR team continues to search for answers as they try to piece together memories from the overtime contingency. But luckily, you don't have to take a mind-erasing elevator to work every day. So your workplace productivity can be much simpler with Confluence by Atlassian. Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
It's an exciting episode. We're going to be joined by Sydney Cole Alexander, who plays Lumen's very own Natalie, that face of the corporation who is very hard to figure out what's going on behind your eyes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for, while discovering important context they didn't even know they needed. A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster. In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
So goodbye, severed workplace alienation. Hello, teamwork with Confluence. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
man yeah i just have to ask ben did this scene and the eggs gross you out well it actually was inspired by um my life because my dad used to like to watch me eat eggs in the morning Really? No. I didn't. This is all Dan Erickson, of course. I mean, eggs gross me out. Anytime I see a shot, like when she's splitting the egg with the weird egg splitter. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I made sure when Uta was shooting and I would just stay far away.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And she voices our hotline voice message, so... Not only will we talk about what Natalie's been up to this season, but she also helps us answer your hotline questions.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. Also, by the way, it's just interesting that we get to see for the first time the Egan mansion where they live and that they're living together.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And the swimming routine in the morning. I think there's obviously the undercurrent of the drowning that happened in 204. And those shots are really elegantly done by Huda Brushwitz and David Landsenberg, our cinematographer for the episode. But, you know, just the space, seeing a new space, the idea that they live basically very close to Lumen. Yes. Which we see as the camera pulls back. Yes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You see the water tower. And that was... Part of like trying to, this world that everybody's in there is sort of in a weird way. It's all kind of connected. And even though it's vast in its reach, it's also kind of very, very small too. Yeah. Also just Helen is like what her life is, what her...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Hey, Adam. Yeah? Is your experience at work a bit dysfunctional lately? I don't know. I think it's... it's... Okay, I'll take that as a yes. Your team could undergo a highly controversial surgical procedure that would mercifully sever any and all memories of that work experience from your home lives. Or you could try Confluence by Atlassian.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, he's not super warm. No, no. That's not the word I would use. And then he says it's a momentous day and Mark has other plans. He's playing hooky. Right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I think we know that this is the day that he's getting close to finishing Cold Harbor, and you can feel the stress that Milchick is under, calling Drummond, getting the call from Dr. Maurer on the testing floor. Right. There's obviously a lot of dominoes are falling here by you not being there. Right. And Milchick is tasked with having to get you back. Right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
empathy awaits this is really interesting what's he doing i think well first of all we know the wintertide fellowship is what cobell yeah was a part of you know she was a wintertide fellow when she was younger and so she's obviously on a track right i guess to go up the corporate ladder there it seems but it's a little bit early so he it seems like he might be making that call you know there's been tension between them yeah but you know it's it's a move
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, I think he will. I mean, he's got to get at least something right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. I mean, it's hard to tell how much of this is him just following protocol. And maybe what's underneath, you know, even with smashing the ring toss game, which is part of this ritual. So he says you have to make a material sacrifice. And it's very much, I think, according to protocol and the way that you're supposed to do things.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
But also, I can't imagine that there's not a little something there inside of him that is taking a little bit of pleasure in seeing her have to smash her game that she's always playing.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, for sure. And then it goes right to the Drummond scene where he basically lets him have it. And it's been building up. And for me watching that scene, it's probably the most human that we've seen, Milchick. You want to listen to that scene?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Consider this your spoiler alert, okay? Make sure to watch the ninth episode of the second season before listening to this. So just take a second right now and turn us off. No matter how difficult that may be. Yeah, but please come back to us.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Go Milchick.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. It needed to be said.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. I mean, it's really a moment where you see him finally, you know, standing up for himself outside of the adherence to being the company man and deeper than that, whatever his religious ideology is connected to the company, which obviously goes pretty deep too.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And I think that's what's interesting about him as a character, too. And Tramiel has talked about it, that, you know, Milchick is ambitious within the company. So for him to make this choice, which is to tell his superior to eat shit. Yeah. Is for him really a big deal.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And the way that Tramiel says mono-celebically. That's great. Yeah. I remember there was one take there where Tramiel, he said monosyllabically, and then he said the rest of the whole line like that. It is not my responsibility. It is yours. It was a take we almost used because it was so interesting and weird. But ultimately we felt like we didn't go with that one.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
But he just like the fact that he is so brave as an actor just to go for things like that and be so centered in his body.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Contained. And he just, it's all there. You just feel it and he doesn't have to do anything on the outside. He doesn't have to gesticulate or move. It's just very centered and locked in and it's always great to watch.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
It's funny. I feel like it's been a few times that we've had to record the podcast after a Knicks loss.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And it's happened before.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. I mean, it's just one of those storylines that it's very unique to the setup of the show. Yeah. The idea that he's in love with this woman that he can't have because his Audi has her. Yeah. And she, of course, is trying to, you know, there's no way that she's going to be able to leave her husband for his innie. Right, right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And it just is playing out in a very relatable way in terms of somebody gets involved with somebody else while they're in a committed relationship and find something in them. And then there's also the layer of her seeing in him what's in her husband, but she hasn't seen for a long time. And the way that they played these scenes, it's really, really emotional because it's so real.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. It was a big game last night. And I love our team. And it's just sort of, you know... This is the situation that we need to deal with now. Granted, no OG Ananobi, no Mitchell Robinson.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Even the progress from the first scene with the Audi where she, I think, is like a stand-up partner in a relationship, says, hey, I kissed this guy. And she's just trying to be honest because I think she wants to connect with him. And of course, Audi Dylan can't take that because he's feeling like, great, my wife kissed another guy. Right. That's great. That makes me feel great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Maybe I'll go quit. And then to like the flip side, to see Zach have to play the guy who's just so in love with her, who just, you know, why wasn't he happy for us? And then he has this little ring that he's made out of, you know, from MDR and just... Hats off to Zach and Merritt playing that scene and Uta Breshowitz who directed the scene.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Just, you know, those aren't easy to do, to have to do a proposal out of nowhere. But it's that desperation, that yearning of just wanting, you know, it's this like the trajectory of where Dylan started out in season one to this guy who's just has been exposed to the feeling of love and realizing that everything else just pales in comparison.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. I mean, he's heartbroken. He's kind of where Irving was in episode 201. Totally. And then the scene after in the kitchen with Helly, where in a way we're seeing Milchik's plan from episode 201, from the first episode of the season, paying off. And that his plan was to split them up, right? To be divisive and to create tension amongst the group. And, you know, you see how hurt he is.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
But I was there at the game. By the way, the great Carl Anthony Towns, all-star fan of the show.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
he is and how mean he is to Heli in that scene because he's so hurt. So it's really in a way paid off for Milchick. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
That Mark couldn't tell. Right. I think it's a lot that kind of is coming to a head here. Obviously it's the penultimate episode. So there's a lot of storylines that are really starting to ratchet up. And then of course there's Irving and Bert.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
The other sort of tragic relationship in the season at Bert and Irving, You know, after episode six, where you start to feel that there is this connection between the two of them, even though they're their outies.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You know, there's something there that has come through. But also we learn in this episode that Bert is, in fact, a Lumen operative and has done things. You know, we don't know what, but he says he's taken people places.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yep. That's so cool. Yes. He and his wife, and he tweeted about it. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. And also Precious Achua, who's our strong four, who sometimes plays the five when he has to. So exciting that those guys are into the show. That's great. And your friend Spike Lee was at the game last night.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, he says he's just a driver, but that scene when Irving comes home and finds Bert there waiting for him, that's the amazing flip side of Christopher Walken, who can go from so warm to so cold to so warm again.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And he gets him a ticket, a ticket in the train station, a ticket out of town, and says they can never see each other again.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Let's listen to that scene.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
No.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before. Where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for, while discovering important contexts they didn't even know they needed. A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And then Bert says, well, now you have. And the double meaning of, I don't know, because he really doesn't know, but yet he kind of does. I mean, just listening to that scene, it's always interesting to me on the podcast to listen to these scenes because they have a different feeling. You hear the music, you hear the sound effects, the atmosphere.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
But for me, listening to that scene, I'm just taken by it. That could be, I mean, Chris Walken and John Turturro, what they do with their voices as actors, that could be a radio play.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You're getting every nuance. just in the intonation of their voices. And it's, it's so beautiful to listen to. And yeah, the burden Irving love story is very, it's sad. It was so beautiful on the inside and they're ripped apart from each other. And I think the fact that Bert decides to do this for him, it's clear that Bert has wrestled with the things he's done in his life. Yes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
and he and fields have talked about that and that was almost the purpose of him being severed was to try to find redemption somehow right to find like the innocence in himself yeah yeah so maybe i don't know it's you know he's doing something very beautiful because and he doesn't have to do it but maybe part of that is you know what seeped through from the severed side yeah
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
He was sort of your role model, right? You wanted to be Spike Lee.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And the reality is, Bert says we can't have this because he knows, I think, the reality of what that would mean with Lumen and... yet he makes this move to save this guy.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I would say also just that scene between Bert and Irving at that train station, we just were looking for a really interesting train station and we found it up in Utica, New York.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
So we all went up to Utica for a couple of days to film that scene. And I was talking to Chris when we were up there and he said, yeah, I was here when I was in the circus as a kid.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, he was literally a circus performer as a kid in addition to being a child actor. And they played Utica.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Incredible showbiz history that Chris has. But I think it's, you know, kind of this beautiful sort of bittersweet ending that we intercut with Miss Wong getting picked up by the shuttle bus and with Dylan going to the elevator to basically say what could possibly be goodbye because he's put in his resignation request.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
So everything is leading to this, you know, the ending of the episode. Yeah. So Mark... and devin get out to this meeting point out in the middle of nowhere and we finally have this sort of like western kind of standoff between is sort of like that yeah it is well i you know it felt pretty momentous right that this is like i mean you have finally decided you need to go to her you need her help
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, but you're also, you have no other option at this point.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You're forced to have to trust her.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And of course, there's no basis in trust. And we should listen to that scene where you guys first talk because you can hear it in your voice.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You're so funny in that scene. Um, the way that you're like, oh yeah, I'm doing great. I just had a brain surgery. Uh, I mean, to me, that's also like sort of indicative of what the tone of the show is that we are trying to go forward. she's sort of like speaking, like she's in some sort of spooky, serious movie and you and Devin are like, okay, so cover up night. Okay, great. Whatever. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. I'm like, you know, I feel like you guys are kind of being the audience and Cobell is still being Cobell.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
But yet sometimes there's funny stuff that comes from Cobell too. Totally. You know, that's not necessarily self-referential, but like, you know, when she talks about Jack Frost dandruff shampoo or something like that. Yeah. It's so, it's like people take turns kind of, you know, poking a hole in the reality of the heaviness.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Which is, you know, I think something you as an actor are uniquely good at. And Jen too, the way Jen is just saying like, come on. Yeah. She's like, okay, come on. Just, all right. Great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. And then I'm just picturing you doing your dance that you do during the music dance experience.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You're going to be super dramatic. Great. But we need to deal with this. Yeah. And you ultimately have to call in, right? You have to call in to Milchick. Yeah. And say, I'm not going to come in today. And then we see Milchick decides to let you have a pass.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Right, exactly. But there is a huge pressure to get him in because this is the momentous day and it's not going to happen the way it's supposed to happen if he doesn't come in. So he's really rebuking his marching orders. Yes. And, you know, it's that moment where he kind of looks at the painting on the wall and the painting is of a glacier iceberg. Yeah. It's like an iceberg.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
It's a weirdly too small for the wall. When he redecorated Cobell's office, he put in a cool chair, new light, little bar, record player situation to have his own little music dance experiences in there.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Which could not be more white.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And so, yeah, so we're like left then with you saying, okay, let's go, let's do it. You get in the back of the truck now, like Cobell did in episode 208 and you go out to the birthing cabin. She has to say the password to the guard at the gate, which is, uh, this is one of James. Yeah. So we have Devin pretending to be one of James, which is like, what is that?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
yeah i know it's crazy and then all of a sudden we're shifted into any mark's reality as you walk into the birthing cabin and now we're like in your sort of disoriented state of like what's going on here and you're brought upstairs to meet cobell yeah and we're left with i guess another little mini cliffhanger for the finale it's interesting what do you think about all the cliffhangers on the show adam
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
No, I just think it's fun. I think it's a blast. Yeah. It's a totally different experience watching the cliffhangers when the show is playing once a week than when it's binged.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Except to get people to watch the next episode. Okay, no, you're right. That's what cliffhangers are. By the way, the word cliffhanger is, I'm just guessing, is somebody hanging off a cliff in like an old serial, Western probably, to see what's going to happen next.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Is this the most obvious conversation? Probably. But what I think is kind of interesting is the week to week of it, when the show's running the first time, a cliffhanger like that can be much more frustrating than when you're binging, which is just like, oh, good, I got to watch the next one.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah, it was the night that the season was premiering.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Maybe you're frustrated because you don't have time or whatever, but there's a different visceral reaction that the fans have.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Right. And hopefully this one has sort of teed up where we're headed for the final episode. I think it has. The ultimate episode. Now, is ultimate what you would say in regards to penultimate? Because I don't think you say ultimate. Ultimate means the best, right?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I thought... Okay. So we've just gotten word from our producer that ultimate means being or happening at the end of a process, final.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Which makes sense, but I've always thought of ultimate as the best, like the one.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Oh, should we listen to Zach's predictions?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
For the next episode? Okay. This is it. Final prediction.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I think this is his penultimate prediction and next week will be his ultimate prediction for season three.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
What? Wow. That makes no sense, but we are totally in sync on the pen thing, the penultimate. I think if you did a word cloud of this episode, penultimate would be the biggest word in the word cloud. That's right. And I feel like Zach and I actually are in sync on the pen idea.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. Well, I'm going to miss Zach's predictions because they're all so wrong.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. It's like he's so sweet and endearing and totally off base, but like so committed to it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Oh my goodness. It's almost over. It's crazy. But it's not over yet. So please stream every episode of Severance on Apple TV Plus with new episodes coming out every Friday for one more week.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
If you like the show, be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or your other podcast platform of choice. Our executive producers are Barry Finkel, Henry Malofsky, Gabrielle Lewis, Jenner Weiss-Berman, and Leah Reese-Dennis. This show is produced by Zandra Ellen, Ben Goldberg, and Naomi Scott. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
We had additional engineering from Javi Krustas and Davey Sumner. Show clips are courtesy of Fifth Season.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And the team at Red Hour, John Lesher, Carolina Pesikov, John Pablo Antonetti, Martin Valderutten, Ashwin Ramesh, Maria Noto, John Baker, and Oliver Acker.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
We had additional production help from Kristen Torres and Melissa Slaughter. I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott. Thanks for listening.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Right. Which is really exciting because like, I mean, the first time around there was an awareness of the show, but this time around there's more people who are seeing it and there's more publicity and there's more ads and stuff. So it's been really fun to see that. That's right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
So this is sort of like a full circle moment for you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Right. Was Spike driving his own car or was he being driven?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Okay.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
That's like a full on New York moment, right? Completely. Totally.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah. Well, Sydney Cole Alexander's here. Should we talk to her?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
You're such a great, unique character on the show. Natalie is many different things. Do you remember how you got the part when we started?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Interesting.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
It's interesting that you didn't feel like you did well, because you were so great. I remember you were so great and so unique. And you hadn't really done that much right when you got the role.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
That's nice. It was really exciting because, you know, you were obviously so good. And it was like, oh, this is fun because this is like a new talent that the world is going to see.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
I mean, I'm not great at math, but that sounds very close. Well, I'm doing the math in my head right now as we speak, and I think that's great. So why not keep your team unsevered? In Confluence, the connected workspace where teams can do it all. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Right, the news story that Mark's watching on TV.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
No, yeah, it's incredible. And I remember that too. And it's also a time when the scenes that we were doing early on in the show with Cobell and you, and we were still finding it. We were still experimenting with the tone. I mean, there were scenes that we shot a couple of times because we were trying to figure out what Cobell should feel like.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And you and her, I remember, just have that amazing scene where she just...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
kind of comes right up into your face there and you have to just sort of listen to her and feel her energy and then you know also you always have the board in your ear and the scene you know the first scene with her where you're you know where you put your finger up okay so the board is conveying pretty strongly that the severance procedure is provenly irreversible yes and
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
It just became kind of iconic, I think, for the show and so specific to the tone of the show, but you really locked in in such a great way to find that sort of veneer, not to use a tooth term, but you know, the fake whatever, but it's not fake. It's like a very, I think people connect with it because it's so indicative of what it's like to work at a company where people are always on the outside.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
They're so nice.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
There's no gingivitis in your work at all. But for me, it was fun working on those scenes. I remember talking to you a little bit because I did know at that point it was one of your first experiences. And it was fun to just kind of like do it with you and see how you were really just, it was almost like I could feel you sort of like just becoming more and more comfortable in your work.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
And I think, you know, to be new at an experience like that, that's not easy to do. I remember my first roles on TV shows that were smaller than your role. And being really nervous because you have to just come in there and perform. And it's just a whole, it's a lot. It's a lot. But you seem to really settle into it and have like an inner sort of confidence that really served the character well.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
Are you in a bed and breakfast or like a house or?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
All right. This is a perfect moment to take a quick break. We'll be back right after this. Hey, Ben here. I know you love listening to podcasts, so I wanted to introduce you to a brand new show called Campus Files. It's a weekly series that digs into the archives of American colleges and universities to take us behind some of the most outrageous scandals in the history of academia.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E9: The After Hours (with Sydney Cole Alexander)
While often a beacon of integrity and excellence, the reality of college life can also expose the darkest parts of American culture. From rigged admissions to sports scandals to Greek life drama, Campus Files shares the stories you won't hear on the campus tours. Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. If you haven't watched episode four, you probably shouldn't listen to these voicemails. But for those of you who have, let's listen to a couple of them. Get Ben Stiller on the phone. We've got questions.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. I also think in Ricken's work-life balance, it probably, he went into his writing and found some sort of comfort there, probably. I think, you know, Ricken as a writer, he is kind of in love with his own words and I mean, what do you think of him as a writer? Because I feel like he is successful on some level in this world. And yet he also probably inflates his own success in his head.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Can I ask, how are things going with Balfe?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
How many Balfes have preceded Balfe?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Okay. Rickon goes through assistants, right? You just name them all Balfe.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Hey, Ben here. I know you love listening to podcasts, so I wanted to introduce you to a brand new show called Campus Files. It's a weekly series that digs into the archives of American colleges and universities to take us behind some of the most outrageous scandals in the history of academia.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
While often a beacon of integrity and excellence, the reality of college life can also expose the darkest parts of American culture. From rigged admissions to sports scandals to Greek life drama, Campus Files shares the stories you won't hear on the campus doors. Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Talking a little bit about Rickon's writing, in episode three, we see that Natalie shows up at your house, which to me is like a kind of a weird little chilling moment that all of a sudden she's just there talking to you. And Devin discovers that she's kind of – you guys are kind of laughing together and –
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
It's very clear that she's offering you a chance to do a version of the book for Ines, the UUR. And that sort of sets off this sort of trajectory here that we end up with in episode five in terms of Ricken kind of having to make some sort of a moral decision, I guess, right? About what he does with the book.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And I think it's really interesting to see the, a little bit of the inner workings of the relationship with Devin there in that little sort of negotiation or moment or question where, you know, you basically put out to her that, you know, hey, you know, you want me to take this moral stance, but also are you willing to give up the creature comforts that come along with the success that we have?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Right. Yeah. Any Mark, any Mark is his biggest fan.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Did you guys talk before you started shooting the first time about your history? How do you approach being a believable married couple?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
yeah for sure for sure well yeah i mean i do think just the casting somehow came together between you and jen and adam just it worked off the bat with you guys and that also something you don't really know if you're directing something making something you have this idea like this seems like these people might be good together and that
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
One reading they did together seemed really good, but you don't really know if it's going to gel and feel like something real. And it really did. Like that was like something that is really like a gift that these people are just falling into this and really instinctually understanding how to connect.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
You can't unring the bell ringing out.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, I remember your, I mean, look, I laugh endlessly at the stuff you do and especially that scene, you're just being emotionally sort of just exhausted from putting yourself out there from the reading. And you really need to take a moment.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And then you did, it said in the script that like, what is this to say that your voice is something you asked Balfour some of the neti pot, right? Cause you're a throat.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
So you had to, so you as an actor had to create whatever this issue in your throat that was going on before. And the weird warbling, uh, it's like a trill, it's so ridiculous.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
So ridiculous. It makes me laugh so much.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
That's great. Well, I love the energy and the, yes, the what the fuckness of everybody's reaction.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
But I have to say, off the bat, the first photo shoot that we did for the cover of the UUR, when I saw you doing these looks and this vibe of this guy, it was so perfect to me. I was like... Yeah, this is what it's going to be. This guy is going to be ridiculous and funny, but also you have to totally believe him. And that's that's the thing.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. And the You, You Are, the book, it was actually written by Dan. He wrote a good portion of the book and it's actually available on Apple Books now. And you read it. Yeah, there's an audio book too, right?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Now, was Balfe there when you recorded to have the neti pot in case your throat got dry? He had to be. I mean.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. And obviously it's a lot of stuff that happens in the episode that's probably... It seems unexpected coming off of episode three in terms of the Helly Helena reveal, which, you know, a lot of people had very strong feelings about and different opinions.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
in it well that's the thing because rick and yeah rick and is not a joke rick and is there's some real something there that we can't hold on to i mean we have to there is and we learned some stuff about him in the audio book i won't give anything away but there's some some history and backstory that gets revealed that i think hopefully fleshes him out a little bit more for for viewers yeah and relates to the story that we're telling so check it out the you you are so so fun
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yes, let's do it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. What's your issue with melon, Emma? I mean, if you're talking about the egg bar, for me, the egg bar is not coveted as fuck. It's actually my least favorite thing in the world is a hard-boiled egg or a What we had in that scene, which the scotch eggs, you know, at the time we were wearing PPE for COVID and I was really grateful because it just, I'd stay as far away as possible from those.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I would probably throw up. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
How about you? What would happen? I would enjoy it. I enjoy eggs. Oh my God. Yeah. See, now I know what Emma feels like with melons.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Hey, Adam. Yeah? Is your experience at work a bit dysfunctional lately? I don't know. I think it's... it's... Okay, I'll take that as a yes. Your team could undergo a highly controversial surgical procedure that would mercifully sever any and all memories of that work experience from your home lives. Or you could try Confluence by Atlassian.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, which was better than real eggs. So I was grateful for that. I love melon. I don't love all melon. I like cantaloupe as my favorite melon. Honeydew I don't care for as much. Of course you do. You love cantaloupe. But I do enjoy how Zach does his little toothpick search for which melon balls. Melon balls are definitely not my thing at all.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
You do? I don't like the little scooper because it makes me think, well, that's like ice cream. It's like a mini ice cream scoop. But then it's like, oh, but it's not ice cream. It's melon. I want ice cream. Okay.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
That's my thinking on it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
The MDR team continues to search for answers as they try to piece together memories from the overtime contingency. But luckily, you don't have to take a mind-erasing elevator to work every day. So your workplace productivity can be much simpler with Confluence by Atlassian. Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
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The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
So goodbye, severed workplace alienation. Hello, teamwork with Confluence. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Dari Olofsson, a friend of mine who I met when we did Secret Life of Walter Mitty. When I met him, I was told he was probably like the most popular actor in Iceland, which I think he is. That makes sense. He does stage, television, film. He produces, he writes, and he came over to do Drummond for us, which has just been...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I think just so much fun to see this sort of, you know, he's kind of in that world of the, not the new Grainer, but he has, I think, a more, probably a more complicated position than Grainer had.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Hey, I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott. And this is the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam, where we break down every episode of Severance.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yes, he does. You know, at this point, he's telling her something she doesn't want to hear in terms of, you know, obviously the fallout from the Ortboe.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
and what you know milchick screwed up yeah sort of on a on a big scale and she's having to deal with a lot of the fallout from that and i think he's trying to be you know sensitive to it but he's basically telling her that she's got to tow the company line and go back down
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, I think it's an interesting thing, right? The Egan perspective on innies.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, and I think that for Helena, she's now at this point learned how people feel about Helle down there and- Right. I have to feel like she's missing out on something, it feels to me, that she's definitely not getting in her hell in a life.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
The interpersonal connections or the friendships, let alone the feelings for Mark.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. I mean, and what are her feelings from that? I mean, they slept together, you know, they were intimate with one another. So I think when she's calling them fucking animals, you know, there's a real complicated reaction that's going on there to what, you know, what she feels about Helly. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And then she has to go back down there. Right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Not as Helena, but, you know, she has to go through the separate transition and go back down as Helly.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
This is interesting because to me, like one of the big questions was now that Heli is back, this is having to sort of reset everything that got set up in the first four episodes in terms of having to bring Heli up to speed. Yeah. And the Ortbow happened and Irving was basically killed, any Irving. Yeah. And this question of...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
How does Heli process all this, not knowing anything that's happened that we all have seen for the first four episodes? And how does Milchik deal with this situation of all of them freaking out on him?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And we have a really fun episode for everybody because we have the honor and privilege of talking to the most inspiring writer in all of Kier, Rick and Hale himself, the man who plays him, Michael Chertis. It's going to be great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, and there's no trust, and Milchik had to then sort of reset them all again. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And how does Milchik explain that Helena was down there spying on them?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And so he comes up with this story of the Graksupan.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
The grokshupan was based on a true story, the true legends of the king or queen who would go undercover amongst the people when they didn't know what the king or queen looked like to understand the needs of their people. And the grokshupan is actually a true story. I will say that we came up with that idea of that story.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And then Tramiel, I think he called me up the night before we shot, and he was asking about the pronunciation of Grakapan. And I did not know that. And so he came in with this Grakshupan, pronunciation. I don't know where he got it from, but I think he did some research on it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. Swedish. It's Swedish because Dylan calls it Swedish horseshit, right? And what I like about that scene is that it's kind of believable enough that you could chew on it a little bit but also nobody's really buying it also.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
But it's also, at this point, it's sort of like, I'm just going to tell you this story, and then he's going to immediately take you out to the new MDR desks and show you the three desks. And all of a sudden, it's like the mind games are like, okay, this is it. He's gone. This is the reality.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And I think there's an understanding that you don't really wanna dig much deeper on this, because your desk will be gone too.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Oh yeah, for sure.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Let's talk about the funeral because Dylan really insists that they need to do something to remember Irving. This is in this aftermath of everybody just, I think, being so disoriented by what happened at the Ortbo and the news that Helly wasn't Helly. And everybody's sort of retreating to their own corners. And for Dylan, he's just focused on Irving. And Milchik puts together the –
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
bereavement ceremony to me it's this ominous little moment where you see him picking out the irving cup so the irving coffee cup is going to be for irving's bereavement ceremony but you also see there's a heli cup and there's a mark cup and in the back of your head maybe there's like oh someday each one of these people will have their own cup at their bereavement ceremony
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And okay, you should know the drill by this point, but in case you don't, here's the spoiler warning. We'll be talking in depth about episode five of season two of Severance. So if you haven't watched that yet, please go do that before you listen. Yeah. It's gonna be spoilers all over the place.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And by the way, how about that watermelon head?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
There's something about that with that little, it has that little like papal cap on it. He looks like little Pope Irving, right? He does, he does. And I could see John- I mean that totally respectfully.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
He should have been in Conclave. I agree. I haven't even seen Conclave, but I feel like he should have been in it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
But then Dylan gives this very sweet eulogy for Irving.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before. Where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for, while discovering important contexts they didn't even know they needed. A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, they've got their own little, you know, kind of work situation happening, the dynamic going on between the two of them. And you get the sense that she's not really being given the chance to spread her wings as much as she might want to.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yes, yeah. It's also interesting because you're not really into it as Mark.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. Well, it's also interesting because you have spent 40 minutes in the outside world. You have an experience of the outside world that Dylan doesn't have. Mm-hmm. He's had like maybe 30 seconds in his closet. But when you say like Irving's not dead, you really, you know, you're really like coming at it from a place of like, I think you're just so sort of over the whole thing.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
But also I think in my mind also feeling this hurt from the Helena Helly lie. Yeah. And Dylan's feeling this hurt having lost Irving. Irving.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
At the same time, you're processing the fact that you now don't trust Helly because you don't know. You really don't know. So everything is sort of upended.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
We're gonna go deep. It's been so much fun to see how the people who watch the show are paying such close attention to it. I mean, I know we've talked about this before, but it's crazy to me the level of scrutiny that people are looking at scenes with and freezing the frame and looking at details. And I just want to say I appreciate so much how much thought people put into the show.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
No, there were so many different agendas to juggle in terms of what would be on the character's minds after this huge revelation.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, because the audience has, I felt it was like incredibly important that the audience after episode four can get reinvested in what's going on and is not going, well, wait a minute, this happened or that happened. How could they even not worry about that? Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And that it took a little while to figure out what were the important things that the characters had to address for us to really kind of reset the story and keep it going forward in these little sort of interaction moments. It's not like a bigger story thing. It's more like little emotional tracking stuff. But it was also storytelling wise.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
We thought, you know, Mark has to rethink everything that happened in the first four episodes. And so he has to really go back and process that. And what it does is it takes away any trust he really has in Helly. And so they have to kind of figure out how to rebuild their relationship.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, it's kind of like Mark has become, you know, from the first season, if he was like the young child, you know, in the second season, he's becoming much more aware, much more rebellious. But now...
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
He kind of has like a, I don't give a fuck sort of attitude, which kind of makes him even more, I think, of a loose cannon because he really doesn't know what to believe in, what's true, what's not true. He knows he doesn't trust Lumen, any Mark. And he's kind of lost trust in Heli. But what we see also is how much Heli and Mark have feelings for each other too, that regardless of that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Like he, as we see, because we see you come together and- That part of it is a very important element of the story. It kind of, in a way, helps bond Helly and Mark by the end of this episode, wouldn't you say?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, you mean the elevator scene? Yes. Yeah, I mean, that to me is this moment where Milchik is under the gun because he's just gotten this performance review, right? Where we're really starting to feel the companies turning the screws on him.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
The performance review with Milchik is, I think, part of this trajectory that we're seeing of, you know, Milchik is kind of doing a lot that is probably new for him, new responsibilities within the company as being the floor manager, but also... After three, we're feeling like, well, he's questioning also like what the attitude is really towards him. Yeah. The company.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
It's like there's no better feeling when you're working on something to see that people are really, you know... It's so cool. Just digging in.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, he's, I think, incredibly loyal to the company. Yes. And what I like about this whole little trajectory that's evolving is people see Milchik as a very mysterious and sometimes scary character. And I'm starting to feel, especially as we see him relating to Drummond,
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
who is this, you know, obviously his superior and is kind of putting him through the ringer on this performance review that, you know, that Milchik has to answer to someone as well. It's just interesting to see Milchik be put in this position where he has to respond to his superior. It's not Cobell. And Cobell and him, I think we look at that in relation to Drummond and Milchik.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Cobell and Milchik have a much deeper relationship. Yeah. There's a friendship there. You can tell even if it's underneath, Cobell would confide in him about things that she was doing that were possibly not, you know, totally kosher at the company. And there was sort of a, it felt like there was like a trust. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
There's no one to talk to. No. And Drummond is there with Natalie going through all of these infractions and also trying to figure out who reported him. And you see that he's taking it really hard.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And you do see that he reaches out to Natalie before the performance review. Oh, yeah, right. To try to connect on what happened with the paintings. Right. And this question of, like, did you feel weird, too, when you got these paintings? And she's not going to go there with him.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And it kind of goes the other way. And then, of course, you see that trickle-down effect of post-performance review when he's told to tighten the leash that he takes it out directly on Mark in the elevator. Sure does.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
First time we ever see Milchik, I think, talk like that, you know, use bad language like that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Do you remember the documentary, The Cove, about the dolphins in Japan? It came out maybe 10 years ago. I think it won the Oscar. There was a character named, they called him Personal Space because he would get up in the face of one of the protesters. Anyway, to me, when I think of Tramiel coming right up to you, he's like getting into your personal space there.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, it was literally maybe like an hour after the episode came out, somebody had put together a cut. Oh, is that right? Both scenes. Yeah. And we had planned that out. And Sam and I worked together and Jeff, our Richmond, our editor, we made sure that we edited it so that the timing worked. And I'm just so relieved that it actually happened. came out the way that we wanted.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I mean, it's so uncomfortably close. Just the two of you are face-to-face in profile, and you're really kind of – you're giving him more shit than you've ever given him.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. And then meanwhile, on the outside... Rigabi is there living with you and you've sort of agreed to this reintegration process that's very arcane and weird and you have to drink special liquid and you're kind of over the fact that you have to live with her there. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I love what she says to you, something about, like, the washing machine's not working or something, and you say something like, yeah, or you could just, like, not live here.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I kind of like the theme, though, that's developed in the show of people living in Mark's basement. Like, you have Petey living in your basement in season one. You have Rigabi in season two.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
She's so good. You know, you talk about, like, with Jen Tulloch, how she can't not do something that feels real. Yeah. I feel like with Karen, you never get a take that's the same way twice because it's always coming from a place of she's processing whatever she's heard in the moment and whatever's going to come out is going to come out in a way that feels right for that moment.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And so it's always interesting, you know, and it's always believable. Totally. And she carries a lot of water that way in terms of having, we have to believe that she can do this process. Yeah. So what do you think, Mark, at this point, he's decided he wants to do this reintegration because he wants to, you know, he believes that this is his chance to contact Gemma. Yes.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
But he's also kind of like getting a little bit maybe skeptical of Rigabi because like at the end of the day, she's just this person in his basement who's telling him that she's doing this stuff, but he has no other proof really of it. But he's kind of desperate because he believes her now that he has enough information from what Cobell told him that he thinks this could actually be a real thing.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. You've taken the first steps and you're starting to reintegrate. I mean, we're starting to see that. And the end of the episode is really
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
where we see it start to happen for you in a way that for the first time you're kind of dissociating from where you are and you're starting to have these flashes of being on the severed floor and you're all of a sudden you're in the long dark hallway from the break room. And it's the first time we ever see you, Audi Mark, having a glimpse into any Mark's world.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And it's really- Yeah, you were like in a sweatshirt. Yeah. In a sweatshirt in the MDR hallways. I was like, this is crazy. It's crazy.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
for you waking up on the table at the end of episode three where you had to do every different permutation. But I think to me, what I take away from that scene and the way the episode ends is the feeling, right? The emotional toll that this is taking on you because all of a sudden, Audi Mark is seeing for a second, he sees Gemma, a Miss Casey version of Gemma, but it's Gemma.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah, we were there and we each were like, you know, coordinating and like the episode's a beautiful looking episode. And I have to also shout out Susie Lavelle, who's our cinematographer on episode two and just beautiful composition, beautiful lighting. And, you know, it's the first all Audi episode. So yeah. It was definitely uncharted territory for us, right?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And we end on this moment of you back there
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
in reality in your living room or wherever and you know you're basically almost crying there because it's such a deep feeling and and to me that's really effective the way that it was done because it reminded me of like waking up from a dream if you've ever had a dream where you see someone who you missed or you know you have a deep emotion in a dream and for me a lot of times i've
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
my dreams are like our feelings that I associate with them as much as the imagery. And I've had that where I've woken up almost crying. And that to me was the most impactful part of that whole sequence was the fact that, oh, wait, this is going to take an emotional toll on Mark, this journey of trying to reintegrate.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. To me, it was very emotional at the end of that episode. And I think that gets back to kind of the core of what I think we always want with the show is keep it grounded in that as much as any of the weirdness or anything. It's really Mark's journey, you know.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Before we say goodbye, it's time to hear Zach Cherry's prediction of what's going to happen in the next episode, in episode six, which I'm really looking forward to.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I love it. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah. Well, first of all, I think I'd love to see Dylan on, I don't know, American Idol or that was, by the way, I used to watch American Idol back in the old days. That was my thing. I think, yeah, I think Dylan, you know, the guy is very lovable and that goes a long way on those competition singing shows. Oh, 100%.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Bo Bice. I was a big Bo Bice fan. Did Bo Bice win? He was the runner up, but I wanted him to win. I wanted him to win. Me too. Do you remember what song he did? I think he did. Vehicle. Vehicle. What's that? I'll be your vehicle, baby.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
He did a lot of songs like that. Well, I think Dylan should definitely go on a reality show. And the Lumen reality show for singing, I'm sure that Ms. Cobell would be judging. Ms. Cobell would be like the Simon. Right, she'd be the Simon Cowell. And you'd have to sing the not punitive rendition of the Cure Hymn. That's the only song anyone could sing.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
That's the only song you can sing, just different interpretations of it. And all the judges would be Simons. Everyone would be mean.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yes, and you can stream every episode of Severance on Apple TV+, with new episodes coming out every Friday.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
If you like the show, be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or your other podcast platform of choice. Our executive producers are Barry Finkel, Henry Malofsky, Gabrielle Lewis, Jenner Weiss-Berman, and Leah Reese-Dennis. This show is produced by Zandra Ellen, Ben Goldberg, and Naomi Scott. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
We had additional engineering from Javi Krustas and Davey Sumner. Show clips are courtesy of Fifth Season.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And the team at Red Hour, John Lesher, Carolina Pesikov, John Pablo Antonetti, Martin Balderudin, Ashwin Ramesh, Maria Noto, John Baker, and Oliver Acker.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
We had additional production help from Kristen Torres and Melissa Slaughter. And this has been really fun. I'm Ben Stiller.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Michael, first of all, thanks for standing by while we did all that just now on the Zoom as a silent audience. What did you think of our intro and stuff?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Because I kept on checking your reaction as we were talking about stuff, and I felt like you were either moderately amused or just sort of tolerating.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I thought he was super mad at us. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I feel like Rickon should have his own podcast about the show. What do you think?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
That's right. You know, Ricken is such an important element in terms of, obviously, the humor of the show, but he's more than that, too. You know, he's... I don't know, tonally to me, like he kind of defines what the Audi world is in a way, this sort of like very bespoke world that Dan created in terms of just, I'm thinking about like the first episode of season one, the non-dinner dinner party.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
I mean, I'm not great at math, but that sounds very close. Well, I'm doing the math in my head right now as we speak, and I think that's great. So why not keep your team unsevered? In Confluence, the connected workspace where teams can do it all. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E. Hey, Adam.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
But maybe that idea, though, that Rickon wants to be liked as an actor, I want to be liked. You know, you're right. Like that instinct, right? When you play a part, it's like you don't want people to think you're an asshole, even if you're playing a character that sometimes can be like that. And maybe that, in a way, works for you, too.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Like you're wanting people to like Rickon is also kind of what Rickon wants, too.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And by the way, that allows for the interpretation for an audience to see different aspects of the character. And it comes down to also a really important part of the show, which is why is Devin with Rickon? Because we see a lot of the time, not the intimate, positive interaction between Devin and Rickon that must be there, that is the basis of their marriage.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Is he? Well, that's what I was going to ask you. What is it that Devin loves and Rickon that we don't see? You know, I can't speak to what for a sheep. Because they're an interesting couple.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
Yeah? Apparently a lot of people have been calling the hotline after watching episode four and had some pretty strong opinions about it. What? Yeah. And they left some messages. Oh.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E5: Trojan's Horse (with Michael Chernus)
And that, in a way, makes it even a more interesting and believable couple to me.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I had that for breakfast every morning.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
It's an existing structure. Yeah. It's actually a coffee shop that we redid and painted. And we shot in, I think, two different little villages and Bonavista too for different locations and locations. You know, we were all living in Airbnbs and it was I loved it. We had an amazing time. We were there for about, I don't know, five weeks.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And Jessica put together a crew from Montreal of people she had worked with. So it was a much smaller unit. And we found these great places to shoot. And James LeGrow, who plays Hampton, came up and so great. And had you known James from before?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Hey, I'm Ben Stiller. I'm Adam Scott.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And this is the Severance Podcast with Ben and Adam and... Patricia Arquette. Yes, where we break down every episode of Severance.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
So Mark was lying when he said they were good in the show. Yeah. But James LeGrow.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Wow, that's great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Wow. Let's listen to a little scene when you guys first see each other.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I mean, there's a lot of history between you two.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
A lot of history that's just unspoken. And that was, I think, the reason that we thought James would be great. Even if it was just this cookie moment you guys had 30 years ago, I felt like— You know, I knew you guys that were in L.A. in the 90s when we all were starting out and kind of it just felt like there would be a history there with you guys in some way that you could share.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And he's such a great actor. And I just love that you kind of played off of that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah, between your eyes and James's eyes, you know, you're just treating the camera on them and let you guys interact. By the way, also in the drippy pot, going back to history, There's a guy sitting who's kind of giving you the stink eye who's my old friend Jerry Stahl, who I knew from Permanent Midnight. Yeah, you played him.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And he wrote the book Permanent Midnight. We met in LA in 19-whatever, 97. So I felt like we were kind of dipping into our histories there together.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
She was a local actress. Really? I think she came from St. John's and who's amazing. Great. And her name is Claire Coulter. And she just had a lovely quality about her and was just. So good.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Not really, though. And this is an exciting episode of our podcast because you're here, Patricia. Have you been on a podcast before?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
That's interesting because... He's dealing to Jerry Stahl early.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I love that we were able sort of to dig into its own vibe for the episode that felt, you know, it just was its own thing. And you and James have this connection that then gets to play out later when you're in your mom's room. And we'll talk about that in a second.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
But that moment between the two of you where we realized you both worked at the factory, at the Ether factory, and were basically child labor and were huffing Ether as children. Yeah. And working long hours as children, too. And I loved in that scene, it wasn't really specified that the two of you would kiss, but it's the first time we see Harmony Cobell.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I mean, we've seen you when you go into your mother's room and you lay on the bed and you hold the breathing tube and you put it in your mouth and you have this, I think, incredibly beautiful moment where you're just feeling and connecting with something.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I remember like on its face, it was a little bit of a weird scene. It's like, okay, she's going to go into the room, find the breathing tube, and then she's going to put the breathing tube in her mouth and break down crying.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
But what I love about you is that you didn't really question that. You were like, okay, yeah, no, I get that. And it's – I'm just – I watch that and I'm really moved by it. And there's a sound you make that is kind of like heart shattering. Yeah, you're making this sort of moaning, crying sound, which sounded to me like weirdly like a whale. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Wait a second. Do you remember?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Well, like a whale in the ocean sound. It was a whale and a whale, the animal.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And we meet your aunt when you come up to the house, who's Sissy.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Incredible. Wonderful Jane Alexander. Had you worked with her before and known her before?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Because of that hair. It was her idea. Speaking of hair on the show, and we've talked to other actors on the show about their ideas for the look. She had the idea of seeing your hair on the show where she said, my hair is white like that. I want to do a cut like a cobalt cut, which was just like kind of created the character in that moment.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And also, our other guest on the podcast after Patricia is the great Jimmy Kimmel.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And the resentment you have because you feel like she's responsible really for your mother's death when she kind of flips that on you at the end of the episode and calls her a coward. And you see this breach. And in that moment, we learn what the purpose is of why you come out here is to get this notebook that has the drawings and the first ideas of how to do severance.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And we learned that you were the person who created it and was able to figure out how to do it. Yeah. Not Jay Meegan, who we believe created it, but no, it was you.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And he'll remember being here and enjoy it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah, I mean she's taken advantage of – I think we get a sense of that over the course of the season with how Milchick has been looked on as less than and how as a woman I get the sense that that was part of why you didn't get the credit and whatever glass ceiling at Lumen is there.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And also we have Zach Cherry. Of course. Oh, I love him. Yes, to predict what's going to happen in next week's episode. But before we dive in, here's your spoiler warning and ours that we are talking about everything from episode eight of season two. So go watch that before you listen to the podcast.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah, it is sad. But I do feel another aspect of the episode is. That's somewhat redemptive is that a connection that has come back between you and Hampton, you know, that was left, that at the end he does help you. And basically we see him standing in the road as you leave with these headlights of whatever this car is coming that Sissy has apparently called from Lumen.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And we don't know what's going to happen to him. And he has this great reading of, come and tame these tempers. That's great.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
No, that was in the script, but read to perfection by James, who I just love working with. I'd never gotten a chance to work with him also. And Patricia, I know you won't remember this conversation, but it's been so great having you on the show.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
You're the best.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I admire you so much. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And I know the fans of the show just love you so much and the work you do on the show. Yeah. Like every day. I'm so appreciative that we get to work together.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Isn't it great?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah, totally. I am so into all the clips that fans make, the music cuts. They're incredible.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Now, interestingly enough, Patricia, you probably can't give any spoilers because you, have you seen Severance?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
No, now she's going to do a thing where everything we do.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
The MDR team continues to search for answers as they try to piece together memories from the overtime contingency. But luckily, you don't have to take a mind-erasing elevator to work every day. So your workplace productivity can be much simpler with Confluence by Atlassian. Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for, while discovering important context they didn't even know they needed. A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster. In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
So goodbye, severed workplace alienation. Hello, teamwork with Confluence. Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at Atlassian.com slash Confluence. That's A-T-L-A-S-S-I-A-N dot com slash C-O-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E. All right, we're back, and we're very happy to welcome to our Severance podcast one of Severance's biggest fans, Jimmy Kimmel, the man. Very true. Yeah. Thank you, Jimmy.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Hey, Adam. Yeah? Is your experience at work a bit dysfunctional lately? I don't know. I think it's... it's... Okay, I'll take that as a yes. Your team could undergo a highly controversial surgical procedure that would mercifully sever any and all memories of that work experience from your home lives. Or you could try Confluence by Atlassian.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Thanks for joining us.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
You're up to episode one of season two.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
What did you think?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
in this kind of atmosphere.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I want to hear your questions for sure. And by the way, by the way, let me just say, I totally agree with you about watching things. About people not caring about me? Yeah, that was, yes. No, but the idea of watching something, you know, once a week, and it's changed for everybody, but that's the generation I grew up in. You watch stuff once a week.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
But something like this, I feel when we send the whole link to everybody and like hear all the episodes, something in my stomach sort of like tightens up because I don't know, there's just something different about it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I get excited when we've done all this work over the last few years to like click on Apple TV and like watch it for real just to see it like, oh, it's actually a real thing out there. And it just feels different to me somehow.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yes, definitely something wrong. You're right. You hit a nail on the head. I mean- That is Ben Stiller.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah. No, it's definitely like when it's there in front of you, you go, okay, what can we do here? How can we be specific? And it's sort of evolved that way. I have to say second season now, watching how the audience watches the show, I feel like it's good that we're paying attention to
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
detail because people are scouring it to the point where I get stressed out about it because they're thinking about it a lot.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Are you into the aspect of the show that is like, because I, I've said this before, embarrassingly, I did not watch Lost. So when all of these comparisons come up, I'm incredibly flattered that the show gets compared to this show that people have such a huge connection with and opinions about how it played out and all that. But it was like a cultural phenomenon. But I never watched it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
So for me, that mystery box term, I guess, is a term for a show. It was not one that I was that familiar with before we started working on the show. Is that the thing that you're interested in in the show? Or are you interested in other aspects of it? the tone of the humor or the weirdness of situations.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Like they do things wrong. It's exactly right. That's one of the things that we think about all the time is that when it's a big corporation is things that are just clunky and just don't quite work right. You know, like we really from the beginning wanted to make sure that we showed the outlets in the walls all the time, you know, that there's stuff like places where you got to plug stuff in.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Milchik has to wheel in the AV cart and there's probably like only one AV cart.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah. I think, you know, also part of the show is that sort of like the idea of corporate culture. For me, my experience of that is from movies and TV, you know, like Office Space and The Office and Parks and Rec. And so what was fascinating to me is I felt like Dan Erickson, he'd like hit on both
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
That idea of like a show like The Office, that kind of humor, but then this other weird overarching ideology thing that was like taking a corporate culture or religion, you know, and like infusing that and then with this other Twilight Zone-y kind of aspect to it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
So it was like all of these things to me were like, oh, there's just something about this that is sort of like crystallizing something that we all are so familiar with now. Yeah, yeah, it's so interesting.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
It's fascinating, right? Because what I like about how the show's developed is that the innies have found a life for themselves down there and have figured out how to cope. And I feel like that's sort of a, in my mind, a little bit of a metaphor for life, how you just like you deal, human beings adapt, right? And you adapt to whatever reality you're in.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And you then figure how to get the things that you need as a human being in whatever environment you're in.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yes. You do. Okay. But here's what I'll say. Exactly how we're getting there is not always completely set. And I think that's important. It's like, we know we're going, but like every little beat to me, that's the creative process that we're figuring out as we go along. And we want that to be flexible as we're going forward. And I think that's important too. So people know, right. I can say that.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
babies don't you Ben don't you wish you could say that you run across yourself in true romance I do I do I was never that cool flirting with disaster is pretty damn cool I never got into the Tarantino verse and I know that was a Tony Scott movie but it's a Tarantino verse yeah
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Jesus. All right, let's listen to another one.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Okay, so that's a reference to episode one and two.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I kind of gravitate towards shambolic rube myself.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah, well, then we could do the episodes remotely. So I don't smell up the place? Yeah. All right, let's listen to another.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah, yeah. It's a good question. I don't know. I mean, that's what the cars are like in the show.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Those were the only cars we could get for the show. That's right. We couldn't. I did have a Rabbit. Cobell drives a Rabbit. My first car was a 1983 slate gray metallic Volkswagen Rabbit with a moonroof.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah. Should we do one last one? Yeah. One last one. Okay, let's do it.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Confluence is the connected workspace where teams can collaborate and create like never before. Where teams have easy access to the relevant pages and resources their projects call for, while discovering important contexts they didn't even know they needed. A space where AI streamlines the things that normally eat up their time, letting teams generate, organize, and deliver work faster.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
You do know. I think I take a lot of comfort in the fact that you know. Yeah. It's great to be at this point with a show where we've had these two seasons that we've made. And every time we've gone off and made a season, we've lived in this bubble with it for years.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
We had a great time. And then, like, weirdly didn't really see each other for a while until Escape at Dannemora. Like, 25 years went by or something. Yeah, that's crazy. And then, but it was like we never stopped being like a brother and sister is what I feel like.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And now it's out in the world and people are interacting with it. And that is... It's such a good feeling to have people responding in any way to it because it becomes a thing that's actually alive. So those questions are all- But pressure, I bet, right? I mean, because then you have to think of the next one. I guess so, but of course.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
But I am really enjoying now that we're just in it and yeah, okay, the next one will be the next one, but that's-
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Oh yeah. You, you know me, Jimmy. Well, you're the best man. Thanks for joining us.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I'm very excited to see what his clairvoyant, preternatural sense is going to tell him for next week.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
What? Wait, his first birthday in 2019? That's what he said. I don't even understand what's going on with him.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
It was a movie that I was in. As the peach expert. Yeah. Apparently, Zach has IMDB. He has access to that website. Yeah. All right. Thanks, Zach. Just look, take it a little more seriously here, okay? Truly. Come on. All right.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
That's right. And you can stream every episode of Severance on Apple TV+, with new episodes coming out every Friday for two more weeks.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
If you like the show, be sure to rate and review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, the Odyssey app, or your other podcast platform of choice. Our executive producers are Barry Finkel, Henry Malofsky, Gabrielle Lewis, Jenner Weiss-Berman, and Leah Reese-Dennis. This show is produced by Zandra Ellen, Ben Goldberg, and Naomi Scott. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
We had additional engineering from Javi Krustas and Davey Sumner. Show clips are courtesy of Fifth Season.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And the team at Red Hour, John Lesher, Carolina Pesikov, John Pablo Antonetti, Martin Valderutten, Ashwin Ramesh, Maria Noto, John Baker, and Oliver Acker.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
We had additional production help from Kristen Torres and Melissa Slaughter. I'm Ben Stiller. And I'm Adam Scott. Thank you for listening. See you next time.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I'm sorry. Can I just say Ringo is- The best. Ringo rules.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
No, no.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Ringo's great. Literally one of the, and also talk about eternally youthful. Him and Paul McCartney, it's crazy. I mean, I've never really met Ringo Starr. I wonder if he watches Severance. Have you met Ringo?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Wow. So how come you don't remember anything that ever happened to you?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Severance?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
That's amazing. Oh, my God. Wow. That's pretty incredible. Who did you date back in the day?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I need a clip from this podcast. We need to get something out there. We got to push something out on social.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
But you were around show business as a child. Like you grew up in this crazy showbiz hippie world with brothers and sisters who were all in it. And your dad, Louis Arquette, was really just a very accomplished character actor. Really funny. He's in Waiting for Goffman.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Maybe that's why we feel like brother and sister a little because we have similar showbiz background. Yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
For sure. People talked about stuff on TV in talk show situations that they would now never talk about. Right. Never. Real stuff. People just talk about real things. It's fascinating. Did you ever watch any of those old Dick Cavett shows?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Mike Douglas? Mm-hmm. David Susskind.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Oh, really? I'm sure. Yeah. You're not on acid now, are you? I don't know. Okay. I'm not. Patricia, you're so great as a person, first of all. I love you. And you're a great actor, amazing actor. And just in regards to Severance, what was it when you read the script and you saw Harmony Cobell, what went through your head?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
In fact, with Confluence, teams can see a 5.2% average boost in productivity in one year.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
What am I getting paid was the first thing you asked.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
That's Patricia's first question. Money in the bank.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I love that you were willing to do that, too, because I got excited when I read it because I could see you in it. And I didn't know exactly what you do with it, but I just knew that you could you could create something really interesting with this person. And that's been the whole thing on the show has been like, you know, kind of the actors kind of jumped in.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
And we've talked a lot about this, about having this relationship.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
What about her voice?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I mean, I'm not great at math, but that sounds very close. Action! Action!
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Next door neighbor.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
I love Mrs. Selvig and your relationship with her in the first season. It makes me laugh so much every time you have an interaction where you're sort of perplexed by her or just not wanting to deal with her. Or when you come outside. First of all, when you make the bad cookies, the awful cookies. And then we sort of reveal in your house all the cookie tray and the mess.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Okay, okay, yeah. The scene outside in the snow when you're taking the garbage out and you're like, ooh, looks like Jack Frost's dandruff shampoo. So ridiculous. That was an improv. You also improvised open or closed both. That's right, yeah. But then your thing of like you say, let's go have some lavender tea or something later and you're like, I just want to kind of see how the day develops.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
It's like such a lame out. Yeah, yeah.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Okay, you know what? It's time for us to take a drive down to Salt's Neck. So when we come back, we're going to keep talking to Patricia Arquette about Episode 8. Is that cool, Patricia?
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
So cool. Okay, and you'll remember that you were here.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Who are you? That's very appropriate for the show.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
All right, we'll be right back. Hey, Ben here. I know you love listening to podcasts, so I wanted to introduce you to a brand new show called Campus Files. It's a weekly series that digs into the archives of American colleges and universities to take us behind some of the most outrageous scandals in the history of academia.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
While often a beacon of integrity and excellence, the reality of college life can also expose the darkest parts of American culture. From rigged admissions to sports scandals to Greek life drama, Campus Files shares the stories you won't hear on the campus doors. Listen to and follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original podcast available now on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
This message is brought to you by Apple Pay. Apple Pay is a service provided by Apple Payment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Apple Inc. Any card used in Apple Pay is offered by the card issuer.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Yeah, we were knowing that we needed to have some sort of a vibe of the northeast-ish look that Keir sort of has because we shoot in upstate New York and we wanted to feel like it was a drivable location from Keir. And then Ryan Smith, our location manager, went out but really –
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
Jessica Lee Gagné, our cinematographer and director of Episode 7, had worked in Newfoundland 10 years ago on an island called Fogo Island, which is off the coast of Newfoundland. There's actually an incredible hotel there, which we didn't stay at, like this modern looking hotel. Thanks, Ben.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
It was crazy. I mean, first of all, it's a beautiful place. We shot in a town called Bonavista. And yeah, you land in Gander and then you have to drive about three hours to get there. And the thing about the terrain in Newfoundland is it's rugged and beautiful, but it's not the scale of it is not like somewhere like Iceland. or Greenland or something like that, where it's gigantic mountains.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
It's a little bit smaller, but it's still as beautiful in its own way.
The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
S2E8: Sweet Vitriol (with Patricia Arquette and Jimmy Kimmel)
It's not a lot of things are filmed there. And it's tough. The people who were living there having to deal with long, cold winters.