← The Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller & Adam Scott
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- [00:00]
Ben Stiller
This episode of the Severance Podcast with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott is brought to you by Confluence by Atlassian, the connected workspace where teams can create, organize, and deliver work like never before. Set knowledge free with Confluence. This cold and flu season, Instacart is here to help deliver all your sick day essentials. Whether you're in prevention mode and need vitamins, hand sanitizer, and that lemon tea your nana swears by, or you're in healing mode and need medicine, soup, and. And a lot more tissues, simply download the Instacart app to get sick day supplies that reinvigorate or relieve. Delivered in as fast as 30 minutes, plus enjoy. Zero delivery fees on your first three orders. Excludes restaurant orders. Service fees and terms apply. I'm Ben Stiller.
- [00:43]
Adam Scott
I'm Adam Scott, and this is the.
- [00:44]
Ben Stiller
Severance podcast with Ben and Adam, where we break down every episode of Severance.
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Adam Scott
Today, we're recapping season one, episode two, entitled Half Loop. And special treat, we're bringing on Zack Cherry, who plays Dylan George, to go through it scene by scene with us. Hi, Zach.
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Zach Cherry
Hi. Wow, that was quick.
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Ben Stiller
How do you like that intro, huh, man?
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Adam Scott
Do you think you'd be sitting there for a while?
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Zach Cherry
Yeah, I mean, that might be the quickest a podcast has ever started.
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Ben Stiller
That's what we're doing. We're sort of trying to break down some barriers here and, you know, break new ground.
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Zach Cherry
I love it.
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Adam Scott
Well, we're revolutionizing podcasting. You said it, not me, but that's what we're doing.
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Zach Cherry
I wasn't aware, but yeah, this was history. We made history here.
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Ben Stiller
Okay, well, you've obviously done more podcasts than. I've never hosted a podcast, so what would be, like. What would be a more traditional introduction?
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Zach Cherry
Typically, the guest of a podcast sits there on their phone for about 30 to 35 minutes.
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Adam Scott
That's true.
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Zach Cherry
While the hosts pretend they aren't there.
- [01:57]
Adam Scott
It's true.
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Zach Cherry
They sort of lay out the premise of the show. They often sort of, you know, just get into stuff that has nothing to do with what anyone wants to listen to, and then eventually they introduce the guest. So I was planning on having some more phone time, but I can. I can save that for. For later.
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Adam Scott
It's so true. I've been on so many podcasts where I'm sitting in the studio with the hosts, just sort of waiting for a while.
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Zach Cherry
Yeah.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah. Well, I. I'm just happy you're here, Zach, because I feel like you're a ringer.
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Zach Cherry
You.
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Ben Stiller
You're funny, you're smart. You have kind of a cool sort of perspective on the show where you're of it, but sort of hovering in some sort of meta way outside of it. Am I creating that in my head?
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Zach Cherry
Maybe. But I appreciate it.
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Ben Stiller
I always feel like if you like something, I think it's good.
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Adam Scott
Yeah. I think, Zach, if I'm gathering what you're saying, Ben, Zack is always hovering above us.
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Ben Stiller
Yes. Yes. I want Zach's approbation.
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Adam Scott
Absolutely.
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Zach Cherry
Okay. Do I have a little bit of phone time to look that word up?
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Ben Stiller
It means approval. I should have just said approval.
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Adam Scott
Just consider this entire recording phone time.
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Zach Cherry
Okay, good.
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Ben Stiller
So, Zach, we're gonna go through episode two of season one today of Severance.
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Adam Scott
Yes.
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Ben Stiller
I know you're on a lot of shows. Okay, so it's not fallout. It's not.
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Adam Scott
It's not episode two of Fucking Spider Man. Come on, dude.
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Zach Cherry
Yeah, I'm ready to talk about it.
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Adam Scott
Before we jump into the episode, though, Zach, how did you come to Severance? How did you get cast?
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Zach Cherry
My recollection is I sent in a tape first. Then I got a call back. And at the time, I remember I was working on the show the last OG and my callback was on a day that I was shooting, but they let me leave in the middle of the day and then come back, so I left. And I remember I was sitting in the waiting room, and I saw Ben walk by and kind of how the podcast started. I thought I would have a few more minutes of alone prep time. And then Ben was just like, all right, you ready? And I was like, yeah, I guess. And then I went in and read, and we chatted a little bit. And then I, as all actors do, assumed nothing would ever come of it and sat in silence for a little bit. And then. Then I showed up, I guess.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah. I mean, what I do remember, Zach, is I said, can you do a little improvising? Do you remember that? And then you did, like, one take where you kind of, like, made up some stuff.
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Zach Cherry
Yes, I do remember that. Sort of. And I remember talking about that, because you were asking me about that, and that is sort of how I like to work. Even if we don't end up using it, it helps me kind of just, like, I don't know, like, figure out the edges of the character and, like, figure out what feels good and what doesn't feel good. So I do like to kind of, like, play around with it when I have the chance.
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Ben Stiller
It's funny, because in the show, we don't really do a Lot of improvising most of the time. But I tend to want you to improvise whenever you feel like it. Because I always feel like you do come up with great stuff.
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Zach Cherry
It's hard to stop me. Even in context where I am not encouraged to do it, it tends to kind of leak out. And I actually remember once early on when we were shooting Adam, I remember you encouraging me because I think I said something, like, quietly during a rehearsal. And you were like. You were like, you should say that. You should say that again. And that sort of helped me, like, be like, okay, I can. I can kind of try things here.
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Adam Scott
Oh, cool. Because, yeah, you were. You're constantly saying hilarious stuff that I should be in the show.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah. And I remember thinking when you read that you were so uniquely right for the part. Cause a lot of people did come in and read for it who were all really good too. But you had this just kind of office humor vibe thing that you were doing that felt very natural and real. But also you have a great sense of humor. And I think understanding that we're the spaces for the jokes sometimes, even if you're not doing something that's supposedly a comedy or funny all the time is really important. And then, Adam, do you want to talk about you doing the part?
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Adam Scott
Sure.
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Ben Stiller
Because for me, this was such a clear idea when I read the script that you should be Mark. Basically. I had talked to you about it already, and then I told Apple. I was like, hey, we got the guy. It's Adam Scott. And Apple wasn't exactly convinced that you were right for the part.
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Adam Scott
Right.
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Ben Stiller
And I said, well, he's definitely right for the part. But, like, in my mind, the weirdness of this show was that we were developing the show for a platform that didn't exist yet. And so all of it felt a little bit kind of make believe. Like, it's sort of like, okay, I guess this is a real thing we're doing.
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Adam Scott
Right.
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Ben Stiller
But then they started to, like, you know, they started to pay for stuff. And like, we had offices and we were building sets and stuff and casting it. And so it's like, all right, we're going to really do this for this unknown platform that will exist at some point in the future. And there was a long process of talking about other ideas, but really had basically was not going to do the show if you weren't going to do it. And I kind of kept saying that to them, and they were like, okay, but maybe you think of this actor, maybe you'd think of that actor. And so then I would think about them, and then I'd say, yeah, I thought about him, and I still think Adam's better. Finally, it kind of came down to this moment where we really did have to have this talk with the Apple guys. And I said, look, this is how I feel. And they were like, well, we're just not sure. And then I was sort of at a loss. And then I said to them, just sort of like, without even talking to you, I said, well, what if the guy read for you? And then I went to you, and I was kind of trepidatious about this because I was just thinking myself in this situation if somebody said to me, hey, I want you to do this part, and then told you the part was yours. And I said, actually, could you read for the part? But I asked you, and you said yes.
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Adam Scott
Just to say right off the bat that Apple has been so great to all of us and to the show, and they've been terrific for me. And this has nothing to do with that. This is just sort of the churn of show business. And what happens.
- [08:40]
Ben Stiller
Yeah, I mean, this is kind of par for the course in doing what we do, is that there's always casting decisions being made and people having points of view that are really valid a lot of the time. And sometimes those differences of opinions. I mean, there's so many stories about people who auditioned for something or who was the first choice, who turned it down, or the studio liked or didn't like. But I think it's interesting to talk about because you don't really hear these stories that often, but it's just sort of the process of making something.
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Adam Scott
Yeah. And I never held anything against them either, because I understand all of that. Having been a part of this business for a long time, it didn't even phase me, really, that it was happening.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah. And also, I think Apple was. The second they saw the reading, they were like, we totally get it.
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Adam Scott
Right.
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Ben Stiller
And that I give them a lot of credit for, too, because it had been such a long process, and I think they really understood. Oh, yeah, this is what we didn't see.
- [09:39]
Adam Scott
I mean, again, we've never talked about this publicly before, but I understood why they were feeling this way, because the first time I read this script, my first instinct was, there's no way I'm going to end up actually doing this. This is too good. And if I was Apple, I would likely be wanting a giant star to play this role. Right. So when you came back and said, hey, what if you come and audition Because I remember the email very well. And honestly, when I got the email, I was in my trailer, I was hosting a game show. So I remember sitting there thinking, am I in any position to say no thanks to the audition for probably the best pilot I've ever read?
- [10:41]
Ben Stiller
Right. But that's underselling yourself because obviously you've established your work and you've done so much stuff. And I just want to say, as an actor, people do get to a certain place, rightfully so, in your career, where you go like, it's a thing called Offer only. When you're casting something that says next to the name Offer only, meaning the person won't audition. And there are many actors who consider themselves offer only. And by the way, I understand it because I was an awful auditioner. But when you get in that position where you don't have to audition, of course you don't want to have to do it. So for you to have the lack of an ego to be able to say, or the Just the awareness of understanding the situation, say, hey, I want to do this is, I think, a very rare thing. And to Apple's credit, we did the reading and I sent it to them. And to their credit, they were like, we totally get it. Which I was very happy about that we were on the same page and we got through that. But I have to say, that was one of the reasons that I think almost like a year went by of nothing really happening on the show was because we didn't have you in it. And I give you so much credit for putting yourself in that position and doing that. And I feel like that sort of for us going forward, from that point forward, we were sort of connected in that way, too.
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Adam Scott
Totally. And it was 100% worth it. I thought about it for five seconds. It was like, yeah, of course. And here we are. Hey, Zach, what do you think of that?
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Ben Stiller
What do you know about it? Nobody knows or.
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Zach Cherry
I hadn't heard most of that. That is fascinating. Yeah, it is. It's always so interesting to hear about those, you know, kind of what ifs and near misses and.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah, yeah.
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Zach Cherry
And then once you see the thing, you can't imagine anyone else doing it. You're like, oh, of course, it's Adam.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah, right, exactly. Well, that's the thing. Yeah. And by the way, I've been, like, in those situations where, like, you get offered something and, you know, like, three people were offered it before you. Right. Like, I had that on night at the museum. I know, right. And then I met the director, Shawn Levy to, like, talk about dude being a night at the museum. And he did this whole. And he's a really good friend of mine, but he did this whole sales pitch to me about how we have to make this movie together. And then I found out after I said yes that he had just come on the movie the day before.
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Adam Scott
Are you serious? That's amazing.
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Ben Stiller
That's amazing, everybody. You have to just take yourself out of it in that way and kind of just. If you have an instinct about something, you just start from there and you don't let that other stuff get in your head. If you want to do what you.
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Adam Scott
Want to do, 100%, of course. Okay. So I'm glad we told told that story.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah, I'm too. Okay, let's take a quick break.
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Adam Scott
At Lumen, things are not always what they seem. Mark, Dylan, Helly and Irving in MDR make a great team. But what else lies beyond the four white walls of their department? There seem to be more questions than answers as the secrets of Lumen are slowly revealed.
- [13:46]
Ben Stiller
There's definitely a lot more going on than you see. It's a little bit creepy.
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Adam Scott
I agree. There are more Q's than A's in this place.
- [13:54]
Ben Stiller
Yeah, for sure.
- [13:55]
Adam Scott
But luckily your workplace doesn't have to be so dysfunctional. Thanks to Confluence by Atlassian.
- [14:00]
Ben Stiller
I feel like something like Confluence could really help those severed workers. You know, they're kind of always organizing and trying to come up with group ideas and things that need organization and back and forth and a lot of creative interaction in the workspace.
- [14:15]
Adam Scott
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 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.
- [14:46]
Ben Stiller
I think any boost in productivity, especially with a group like the Severed group, imagine how many more files they could complete if they had Confluence.
- [14:55]
Adam Scott
Set knowledge free with Confluence. Learn more at atlassian.com confluence that's a T L a S S I-a n.com C-O-N-F l u e n c e.
- [15:15]
Ben Stiller
For the past three seasons of Gone south, we've covered one story per season. We tried to figure out who killed Margaret Coon.
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Zach Cherry
Did you tell me I'm gonna kill you?
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D
I said, well, do it, bitch. Go ahead and do it.
- [15:27]
Ben Stiller
We delved into the violent world of the Dixie Mafia.
- [15:30]
Adam Scott
I'm an outlaw, and I was a thief, but I'm far from being the psychotic nutcase that I've been made out to be.
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Ben Stiller
And we tracked a serial killer in Laredo, Texas.
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Zach Cherry
Just turn around, please.
- [15:43]
Adam Scott
Turn around.
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Zach Cherry
Hey, hey, hey.
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Ben Stiller
Now, Gone south is back for a fourth season, but this time, we're doing things a little differently. So in gone South Season 4, we'll be bringing you new stories every week with no end in sight. I'm Jed Lipinski. Welcome back to Gone south, an Odyssey original podcast. Listen and follow now on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast for new episodes every week.
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Adam Scott
Half loop, episode two, we start where we get to kind of dive into getting to know Heli's Audi just a little bit.
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Ben Stiller
We're seeing Heli record this message to her innie, and we're starting on the outside and seeing her record this. And then being walked by Milchick over to have the actual severance procedure done.
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Adam Scott
That's right. And I remember when I saw the first cut of this, calling you and being like, hey, I don't think people are gonna buy this. The surgery. Oh, like, that was my biggest note, was like, this is crazy. And you were like, no, we had, like, the doctor there. This is how they do it. Like, that is what brain surgery more or less is like. Right?
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Ben Stiller
That's what it looks like. So the surgeon who is implanting the chip is an actual brain surgeon, Vijay. And he was our technical consultant. And so we would talk to him when we were working on the scripts about how the chip could actually work. You know, the needle, the drill, all those things are real. And Vijay. Doctor. Vijay is doing that. Yeah, he's doing it as you would in the actual procedure. The nurse in the procedure was our Covid nurse who was in charge, Amanda, who's in charge of keeping everybody safe. Yeah. That sequence, we wanted to show the, you know, the gory details.
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Adam Scott
Yeah.
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Ben Stiller
To really get the sense, like, this is, like, a real surgery that is happening.
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Adam Scott
It's really striking seeing the drill go in and seeing sort of the skull matter kind of kind of rise up like it's wood.
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Ben Stiller
When he's drilling, Milchik is standing there saying, slight vibration now. And it's like it's vibrating. Because he's drilling the back of your skull.
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Adam Scott
Yeah. And also before the surgery, Milchick takes a picture of her and says, I'm very excited to meet you. Always just sort of doing the creepiest thing possible.
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Ben Stiller
And Then we see Heli kind of go unconscious. And then when she becomes conscious again, we're outside of the door of the hallway. The exit hallway. That's right. And we're sort of picking up in Heli's perspective on the outside of what we saw in episode one where Helly was trying to leave.
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Adam Scott
Right.
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Zach Cherry
This was one of my favorite early moments of the show. And I think also for a lot of people, like my friends who have watched it, it was this cool moment of the show. Kind of doesn't hold your hand with some things. You just see something and then you start to go, oh, okay. We're seeing the other side of. Of what we already saw in the first episode. And I remember when I read the scripts, I didn't quite like, clock how that would play out. But then when I finally saw it, it was like a very, very cool thing to finally see. And I don't know if you guys saw. I think a fan made an edit where you could watch. They cut the two things together so you could kind of see it all play out. But I do love that moment in the first couple episodes.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah, we were sort of thinking about that when we were doing it, to try to keep them in sync as much as possible. And then the end of that little sequence is great. Cause the elevator door opens and Milchick gives her the white flowers, which are the white flowers that Heli is holding when you almost hit her with the car in episode one.
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Adam Scott
That's right. I never put that together till just now.
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Ben Stiller
Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Adam Scott
Oh, that's interesting.
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Zach Cherry
That's an experience I've had so many times. Working on the show, by the way, is not putting something together. Even a thing that I was part of and was there for. And then you. Oh, wow. They really, really, really thought about. About this.
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Adam Scott
Okay, so after we see. Oh, this is our first time jumping into the opening credit sequence.
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Ben Stiller
So the opening credits are done by a man named Oliver Lata, who lives in Berlin and on Instagram, he is called Extra Weg. And I was driving to work one day when we were shooting, and somehow, I don't know how it came up, but I saw his feed and it was this crazy, just trippy 3D animation of, like, people's brains turning into things and globules going through portals, and it's just so weird.
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Adam Scott
His Instagram is maybe the best Instagram account.
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Ben Stiller
Yeah. And I just thought, oh, wow, this guy could really. We were trying to figure out what to do for the opening titles, and I Thought maybe this guy might have an idea about it. And so I reached out to him, and he had never done any titles before. And we basically communicated over the course of the next few months. I'd send him images from the set, different ideas of locations and ideas that we wanted to be a part of the opening credits. But then he just kind of went off and did his thing with it. And we had the piece of music that Teddy Shapiro had written. And so he created these animatics, which were like, sort of like rudimentary storyboards that then he started to fill out. And it was just one of those things. As we were watching it come together, I was like, this is just. I could watch this over and over and over again.
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Adam Scott
This is so fun. And was such a. Just incredible surprise the first time. Cause I just went to a studio and went in one of those things with just, like, hundreds of cameras all around you and stood there for five minutes while they took my picture. That was all I had to do for it.
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Ben Stiller
Right. They were capturing you for the 3D animation. And the cool thing about it, too, is that it's kind of his. I mean, there's something on the show where the production design and the cinematography and the costumes and even the opening credits all kind of feed into the creative process of making the show. And by that, I mean, ideas are sort of coming from everywhere. And so even in season two, there are ideas that were in that opening credit sequence that he created that inform season two images, too. And I think that's just part of making the show. Our prop designer, Kat Miller, who is just the most incredible prop person ever. You know, she designed all of the consoles and all of the Lumen hardware and all those things. So it's all a very collaborative effort. And everything is always feeding everything else.
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Adam Scott
Yeah, for sure. And Oliver won an Emmy for his opening credits sequence, along with Teddy Shapiro for his music. So after that, we kind of go back to the workstation, and Dylan is teaching heli how they do their job and everything. But he starts showing off all the incentives he's earned from being so good at his job. Zach, how important are these incentives?
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Zach Cherry
Yeah, that's a big thing for Dylan. And I remember when I first started working on the show, I didn't ask a ton of, like, extra questions about. About what we know about Dylan. So, like, early on, this is kind of it. You learn that he is the type of guy who is. Who is really obsessed with, like, hitting his marks at work, basically. And that informed a lot about him to Me especially, because they're things that are not really things that we would consider valuable, but to him, they're, like, the coolest things in the world. So, yeah, that.
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Adam Scott
Oh, my God, he loves these things.
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Zach Cherry
And I will admit, the caricatures actually are pretty cool. They look pretty awesome.
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Ben Stiller
It's kind of great that you weren't asking a lot of questions about Dylan's backstory, even as an actor, I think, at that point, because Dylan is just so in the world of the present, so it's kind of like he never really has even thought about. Except that you sometimes think about your Audi and what you're doing.
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Zach Cherry
Yeah, but it's more that he tells himself a story. He doesn't really, like, care about what's true at first. He's sort of just like, oh, yeah, it's probably this. It's probably this. And, yeah, stays focused on the work. Which is, you know, if you can say one thing about me when I'm at work, I stay focused on the work.
- [24:43]
Adam Scott
Oh, bro, you are so focused. It's nuts.
- [24:48]
Zach Cherry
Bonding.
- [24:49]
Ben Stiller
No. Every day, I always feel like when the phone comes out, I'm like, that's Zach. Just checking his lines. I know.
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Adam Scott
He's just.
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Zach Cherry
Absolutely. I don't even have apps on my phone. I just have Adobe Script.
- [25:02]
Ben Stiller
When you first started working with John Turturro, this was like an odd couple to me. That was kind of funny because.
- [25:07]
Adam Scott
Oh, totally.
- [25:09]
Ben Stiller
Zach, am I wrong to think that in terms of your experience before doing the show, you definitely work a lot and done a lot of stuff, but was it mainly in comedy? Was this, like, a different world for you to be in?
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Zach Cherry
Yeah, definitely. You know, I came up doing, like, improv and sketch comedy, and that's kind of how I started working. So this very much was a new thing for me. And I did. I honestly, I learned a lot from John, you know, over the course of making it. And we did get along in a fun odd couple way pretty immediately. I'm like, a huge fan of the show Monk. I don't know if you two have heard me talk about that. John is in, I think, two episodes of it, and so it took me, like, a week to be comfortable enough to bring it up. But then I just started talking his ear off about Monk, and I was telling him about the show and about they wrote books about his character after the show, and he was like, I didn't even know about that. And I do think that sort of kick started our little bond for me with John.
- [26:09]
Adam Scott
It was. I had to Wait a couple weeks to get comfortable, as I wanted to talk to him about all the Spike Lee movies he's been in. And then once that kind of barrier was broken, I just never shut up about it. And I remember just sort of, like, getting used to the. Like you were saying, Zach, getting used to sort of the pedigree of this show we were doing. I remember when I got the job, Ben and I were talking on the phone, and you had said generously, like, hey, if you have any ideas for actors and stuff for the other roles and for Irv, I was like, hey, yeah, I had an idea. I saw someone did a guest spot on Billions. I thought they were really great. What do you think? And I remember you being like, oh, yeah, no, that's. That's great. I was. I was maybe thinking John Turturro. I was like, okay, yeah, maybe we go with. Do that. Go ahead. Yes, John Turturro. That's probably a good idea.
- [27:07]
Ben Stiller
You gotta ask.
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Adam Scott
Just like, oh, shit, this is what we're doing. Oh, my God. Okay.
- [27:12]
Ben Stiller
I felt like that when Rachel Tenor, our casting director, said John Turturro to me.
- [27:16]
Adam Scott
Oh, okay.
- [27:16]
Ben Stiller
It was her idea. And I was like, okay, John Turturro sounds the exact same thing to me.
- [27:21]
Adam Scott
I was like.
- [27:22]
Ben Stiller
And she's like, come on, we gotta ask him.
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Adam Scott
Wow. And then you went and had, like, Italian food with John Turtle.
- [27:27]
Ben Stiller
Well, that's a whole other story about how. And then John's idea that he. He said, what about for Bert? He said, what about Chris Walken? I was like, okay, yeah.
- [27:38]
Adam Scott
Oh, my God.
- [27:39]
Ben Stiller
It's like one thing leads to another.
- [27:41]
Adam Scott
Those two meet in this episode, by the way. Okay, so here is also when Mark is teaching heli about the numbers and how to do. And so Heli's learning how to refine numbers from Mark while juggling the Dylan's weird interjections. And Irv getting kind of caught up in the fact that Mark took the photos away and he can't let go of this. And so there's like, these three different things juggling around at the same time, right in this scene.
- [28:12]
Ben Stiller
Two favorite moments of mine in that scene. Are you getting under the hood of Helly's MDR monitor? You're fixing something in the beginning. Like, you're literally under a car fixing a transmission, which, when I was watching it again, I was like, this is just like, what is he doing?
- [28:29]
Adam Scott
What is he doing?
- [28:30]
Ben Stiller
He's making sure the. You know, like, the. Whatever. It's plugged in the right way.
- [28:33]
Adam Scott
And I was under there literally doing nothing.
- [28:35]
Ben Stiller
Yeah, but what I love about it is it's such an image that just. It just feels like, okay, I get what's going on there. And then the other part of it that I love, there's a. Actually, this is another theme of favorite scenes that I love.
- [28:50]
Adam Scott
Every scene is Ben's favorite scene.
- [28:53]
Ben Stiller
No, but you sitting on the desk, when you get up, you decide to sit on the desk as office guy to tell her about what's going down and how it works. And there's just something about your posture and the way you sit there that just feels to me so specific to this world and to Mark.
- [29:17]
Adam Scott
It's sort of like sort of condescending substitute teacher energy. Let's take a quick break and when we come back, we're gonna discuss all the debauchery that goes down at a wild and crazy lumen melon party.
- [29:42]
Ben Stiller
Severing from your work self for your life self is scary. But you know what's even more frightening? Getting severed from your parents insurance policy. State Farm wants to help. State Farm serves you, not cure. Your agent is here to help support you when it's time to get your own policy. With so much to learn about insurance, you may start asking what do they actually do there? But when you work with a State Farm agent to get off your parents policy, someone is there to help explain the insurance process and help you choose what fits for you. And if things get complicated, State Farm gives you lots, lots of ways to get help too. Whether you prefer in person, over the phone, on statefarm.com or through the app, it's your policy. So State Farm has options for the you are. It's time to get off your parents insurance and into your own. Find out how State Farm can help@statefarm.com severance that's statefarm.com severance to get started like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Yeah, sure thing.
- [30:45]
D
Hey, you sold that car yet?
- [30:47]
Ben Stiller
Yeah, sold it to Carvana.
- [30:48]
D
Oh, I thought you were selling to that guy.
- [30:51]
Ben Stiller
The guy who wanted to pay me in foreign currency, no interest over 36 months. Yeah, no. Carvana gave me an offer in minutes, picked it up and paid me on the spot. It was so convenient. Just like that. Yeah.
- [31:04]
D
No hassle?
- [31:05]
Zach Cherry
None.
- [31:06]
D
That is super convenient.
- [31:08]
Ben Stiller
Sell your car to Carvana and swap hassle for convenience. Pick up. These may apply.
- [31:12]
D
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- [32:17]
Adam Scott
So before the melon party actually starts, we have an icebreaker activity to help heli get a little more ingratiated with the group. And it's us sitting in a circle and rolling this red ball back and forth. Whoever gets the ball has to state something about themselves. I remember shooting this scene, it was pretty early on and watching it back, I was like, this is so weird because we never got to see people without masks on at this point. This is November, December of 2020, and I would be in this apartment by myself because I was out in New York by myself. Go down to my car in the morning, be in a van sealed off by plastic to the driver, get to set, take a COVID test and go up to the room where we were not allowed to be in a room with anyone else with their masks off, sit in your dressing room, then be called down to set with a mask and a plastic thing in front of your face. We would rehearse and the only time we actually got to take everything off and be with people was when the camera was rolling. So this scene was right in the middle of all that. And I feel like it's present in that scene in some way.
- [33:34]
Zach Cherry
Yeah, all that stuff really did sort of add to this quality of surrealness for all of us. That kind of made you feel like you were at Lumen. Like, you know, you were. It was a very, very strange time. I remember that scene as well, you know, for the same reason.
- [33:54]
Ben Stiller
Yeah, I mean and that. That lasted the entire shoot.
- [33:57]
Adam Scott
Yeah.
- [33:58]
Ben Stiller
I mean, this was. We started shooting November of 20, and we went all the way to, like, I guess it was like, April or May. May maybe. And it never let up in terms of what the protocols were for that and the testing and. And so many things that everybody was dealing with in their lives. But for us as a cast and crew, there were people who, like, basically, you never saw the bottom of their face in the crew. That at the end, when we had our wrap party finally, like, in May or June, where there was, like, that first break before everything came back again and the masks were off.
- [34:32]
Adam Scott
Yes.
- [34:32]
Ben Stiller
And I remember seeing people in the crew that I worked with for nine months and not realizing they looked like that because I assumed they looked different behind their mask.
- [34:39]
Adam Scott
Totally. And how weird mouths were.
- [34:42]
Ben Stiller
Yes.
- [34:43]
Adam Scott
Forgot that. There's, like, this chasm at the bottom of faces. Okay. So we're doing this kind of get to know you game. And then Mark mentions that he broke protocol. Yeah.
- [34:56]
Ben Stiller
It's like the evolution of Mark where he's starting to kind of starting to feel some things and starting to maybe take a chance and question authority for a second here.
- [35:07]
Adam Scott
Yeah. I think the little he knows about Hel, that kind of pushes him to let this piece of information get out there just to see what happens. So then the melon party actually starts. And, Zach, why does Dylan love the melon party so much?
- [35:23]
Zach Cherry
I think it's all just, you know, he's just focused on what is so, like, that's a nice little treat. So here we go. This rules. Melon is good. It's tasty. I think it breaks up the day. You know, I think he just really is not that concerned about anything other than what's, like, right in front of him.
- [35:43]
Adam Scott
He's very carefully selecting his pieces of melon.
- [35:47]
Zach Cherry
Yes. Which. Which became a little bit of a. Of a. Of a theme. He's. He's very particular about what treats he selects.
- [35:54]
Adam Scott
That's right. Then it's time for a group photo. We all get over there and take a couple photos. And then Helly decides it's time for her to go. She's like, I'm just gonna quit. This is total bullshit. Previously in the red ball game, Milchick had told her about the code detectors in the elevators. You can't have numbers or letters transferred across severed barriers. She thinks it's bullshit. She gets in the elevator. Immediately the code detector goes off, alarm bells go off. And Mr. Grainer is introduced. Comes in. Michael Kumstie as Mr. Grainor comes in. Michael is excellent and so scary.
- [36:37]
Ben Stiller
I mean, he has an incredible face.
- [36:39]
Adam Scott
He does.
- [36:40]
Ben Stiller
And he knows how to use it. And he's just a really good actor who just knows how to do very little and be really affecting.
- [36:48]
Adam Scott
And such a gentle, sweet person is so nice.
- [36:51]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. Yeah.
- [36:53]
Adam Scott
So Grainer pulls Heli out of the elevator and seems ready to punish her. Mark kind of steps in front of her and says, this is my fault. And Graynor's like, fine, come with me. And they walk off together, and we do not know what's going on here. And then we see Mr. Graner bring Mark to the break room, but we don't go any further than that. So we have no idea what goes on in the break room at this point. And then we cut to Mark on a date in the Audi world with his sister's midwife, Ordullah Alexa. They talk about his job at Lumen.
- [37:33]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. Nicky James is playing Alexa.
- [37:35]
Adam Scott
Yeah. Nikki is so great. She's a big Broadway star.
- [37:40]
Ben Stiller
Very big Broadway star. And I actually had worked with her. She did a small part in Escape at Dannemora also.
- [37:46]
Adam Scott
That's right.
- [37:47]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. The total not into it ness that you have in the date. What's kind of, I think, maddening about Audie Mark is also that he's just sort of like, really just going through the motions. And I think as an audience, I thought about it when we were making it. How are we gonna connect with Addie? Mark and I didn't ever want us to have to try to make him sympathetic because it felt to me like you're just, like, in a really dark place. And it was important not to try to make him someone that we necessarily had to sympathize with. And this scene, I thought was pretty like. You get that in the scene?
- [38:26]
Adam Scott
Yeah, for sure.
- [38:27]
Ben Stiller
He's kind of being a little bit rude.
- [38:29]
Adam Scott
Yeah. And then when they go outside and come across the whole mind collective passing out flyers, Mark goes up to them and confronts them, and he's just an asshole.
- [38:40]
Ben Stiller
And he's drunk. He gets drunk. And the drinking was, I think, also an important part of what's going on with him in the first season.
- [38:48]
Zach Cherry
Hey, man, you want to benefit off forced labor? Hey, man, then that's up to you.
- [38:51]
Adam Scott
Forced labor. Fucking really?
- [38:54]
Zach Cherry
Yeah, forced labor.
- [38:55]
Ben Stiller
Really?
- [38:56]
Adam Scott
Okay. So people can just, like, self imprison. Are you captive right now? No, seriously. Because your past self chose to walk you down here to be an infantilizing prick to people.
- [39:08]
Zach Cherry
Severin to subjugation asshole.
- [39:10]
Adam Scott
Oh. Oh, that's nice language for. What? Are you, 12? Are you 12 years old? Are you even in high school yet?
- [39:19]
Zach Cherry
I will just say I do love hearing you both talk about these other scenes because it's such a different world. I didn't even interact with Outie World for so much of the season that I love hearing about all this stuff because I was in that little low ceiling basement.
- [39:37]
Ben Stiller
Were you reading these parts of the script?
- [39:40]
Zach Cherry
I was. I was reading everything. But I always say about this show more than any other, the experience of reading it and even being there shooting it, there's such a gap to when you finally see it. Like, it really comes alive when you see it. In a way. Other things I've worked on, it's felt more similar to the experience of making it. So even though I was reading it once I finally saw this stuff and then now learn more about it, I am always a little like, oh, whoa. There's so much more there than I even picked up on.
- [40:13]
Ben Stiller
Yeah, it's interesting. Cause it's sort of like the amalgam of all the different things that are going on in the show, too.
- [40:19]
Adam Scott
Yeah. Okay, so this date does not go well. Obviously. He yells at the whole Mind Collective kids. And Alexa is clearly embarrassed. Cut to Mark at home after blowing it on the date. And Mrs. Selvig comes over and knocks on the door, visiting Mark super late at night with cookies. With chamomile cookies. Tells a weird story about her late husband who promised to build a house in the afterlife for them.
- [40:48]
Ben Stiller
Then she says, I have the blueprints in my bag that she has with her. First of all, you know, we're trying to figure out who Mrs. Selvig is in relation to Cobell at this point. And, you know, Patricia is so funny. I know she had this idea in her head of wearing that scarf. Patricia and I are the same age. Ish. And we come from the same generation. And the show. I know the show. In her head, she mentioned Bewitched, that there's something kind of witchy about Selvig. And also there was a neighbor in Bewitched. I think it was Mrs. Kravitz who used to come over and was always snooping. Anyway, that was something she was influenced by.
- [41:29]
Adam Scott
That's so funny.
- [41:30]
Ben Stiller
And then she had sort of the Valerie Harper from Rhoda. And anybody of a certain age will know that that look is what she was going for. And. Yeah, and then she was kind of just like. Again, it's like we're trying to figure out what Selvig is wanting to learn here what she's really all up to.
- [41:46]
Adam Scott
Is she obsessed with Mark himself or is she just surveilling him? Like, what is going on? The next day, Mark decides, I'm going to take the day off and go down this potential rabbit hole and go see this Petey guy.
- [42:01]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. Which is interesting because like Audi, Mark and Inimark are both sort of being prompted to step outside of their comfort zone in different ways.
- [42:10]
Adam Scott
That's right. By these new figures in their lives.
- [42:12]
Ben Stiller
Yeah.
- [42:13]
Adam Scott
And this is also a fun opportunity to see mdr. You know, with Mark gone, it seems that Dylan is kind of stepping up into a quasi leadership role.
- [42:24]
Zach Cherry
Yeah, I think he. He takes the chance to kind of be the big dog. Also, he spends a lot of this early part of the show sort of like not quite trying to undermine Mark, but pushing him on his leadership.
- [42:38]
Adam Scott
Oh, totally.
- [42:39]
Zach Cherry
And so now that he's out, it's like, okay, well, let's see what I can do.
- [42:43]
Ben Stiller
Yeah.
- [42:43]
Adam Scott
Also, Dylan in MDR tells Heli that he believes their job has to do with cleaning the sea floor.
- [42:50]
Ben Stiller
And Zack, do you remember that was the audition scene?
- [42:53]
Zach Cherry
Yes, yeah, Yeah, I do. That one was really burned into my brain by the time we got around to it. And I do think that is such a big part of Dylan's character is stories he tells himself about. About what the outside world is like. That's like huge part of what he.
- [43:09]
Adam Scott
Does down there, like these fables he's created, like his Persona and talking about his Audi and what he must be like. It's very important to Dawn.
- [43:18]
Zach Cherry
He's big into self mythologizing and. Yeah, just telling a story about the outside world. That makes him inside feel important, I think.
- [43:27]
Adam Scott
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Later, Irving is admiring an oil painting at the Wellness center waiting room and Bert enters, played by Christopher Walken. Heard of him, the head of optics and design. I mean, this is what the term meet cute was invented for. I mean, this is just lovely in every way.
- [43:51]
Ben Stiller
It is. And Dan wrote this beautiful scene of them sort of appreciating the art. And it introduces the idea of the art that hangs on the walls in this weird, sterile office environment. That becomes a very important element in the story too.
- [44:07]
Zach Cherry
I will just say one of the best parts of the job was sitting there when we weren't shooting and just watching them get a kick out of each other. They were like laughing all day, telling insane stories about. Cause between them, they've worked with everyone and on everything, you know, so just that was like such a fun part of the job was just sitting there and watching them giggle, basically. They really do have such a special dynamic.
- [44:36]
Adam Scott
Yeah. Ms. Casey interrupts the Irving Burt flirtation and calls Irving in for his wellness session. We can listen to a clip here.
- [44:47]
Ben Stiller
Your Audi likes films and owns a machine that can play them. Your Audi is splendid and can swim gracefully and. Well, I'm sorry. Please try to enjoy each fact equally and not show preferences for any over the others. That's 10 points off. You have 90 points remaining points. Please don't speak. Great. And that's so again, Dan Erickson, ideas and dialogue.
- [45:22]
Adam Scott
Yes.
- [45:23]
Ben Stiller
It's just so interesting and fascinating and then you start to think, oh, wow. If someone being told these little snippets about their outside life, which, as you were saying, Zach Dylan doesn't know anything and they just can imagine things. So it's almost a reward or a treat for them to be told some reality about or supposed reality about their outside life. And we do lay some actual facts in there that down the line we learn about.
- [45:53]
Adam Scott
Yeah. Your Audi likes the sound of radar. That's one that I particularly like. Deechen Lockman is playing Ms. Casey, who is absolutely incredible.
- [46:05]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. I remember her self tape audition that she sent in was just fantastic. And I remember thinking, this person seems like they're just from another planet or something.
- [46:14]
Adam Scott
Yeah. On the outside world. Mark goes to the address that Petey gave him. He finds an abandoned greenhouse. Petey's there waiting for him. And that was another thing to decide on the day like when we were doing the scene. Like, Mark still needs to be skeptical of this guy. He drove all the way out here. But it's still outlandish, the shit this guy's saying. But then he plays that tape and Mark is pretty much in at that point.
- [46:41]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. And I think also there could be an argument that whatever sort of permeates the severance barrier.
- [46:50]
Adam Scott
Yeah.
- [46:51]
Ben Stiller
Whether it's friendship, love, affection, the things that would make people friends. Maybe somehow there's an instinctual thing that you trust them enough to want to take them to your house.
- [47:04]
Adam Scott
Yeah. Love is one of those things that's continually approached by the show of. Is this something that can be affected by your brain and barriers of any kind?
- [47:18]
Ben Stiller
Right, right. What is that? What is the essence of that? And. But then you guys end up going back to your basement, right?
- [47:26]
Adam Scott
Yep.
- [47:26]
Ben Stiller
He sleeps in the basement there.
- [47:27]
Adam Scott
Yep. And Helly finally figures out refining in the sense that she does get scared by some of the numbers. She says they were Scary. The numbers were scary. And Britt's fantastic, of course, in the scene.
- [47:41]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. And she's interrupting the argument between you and Irving about, you say. Cause you're talking about that Burt's a. You call him a fuck.
- [47:49]
Zach Cherry
Yes. Yes.
- [47:50]
Adam Scott
Yeah, yeah.
- [47:52]
Zach Cherry
Dylan has bought into the. We don't know if it's real, but this sort of propaganda mythology of his department is dangerous.
- [48:04]
Ben Stiller
And then we see you also at the vending machine trying to choose what you want to eat at some point, too, which I think is like, we sort of have a little runner. Like, Dylan can't choose. Like, he can't choose the melon ball. He can't choose which shriveled raisins or which snack he wants to get.
- [48:20]
Zach Cherry
Which I think sort of in some ways connects to why he likes these rewards. He likes to be given a thing, but choices may be too much sometimes.
- [48:30]
Adam Scott
Oh, that's interesting.
- [48:31]
Ben Stiller
Yeah, yeah.
- [48:33]
Adam Scott
That's like overload almost.
- [48:34]
Zach Cherry
Yeah.
- [48:35]
Ben Stiller
It's sort of like the rat in the cage that doesn't want to leave his environment.
- [48:39]
Adam Scott
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So back at the basement, Petey ignores a phone call on his cell phone and then starts having reintegration sickness and his nose begins bleeding and suddenly there are two of him in the bathroom. And that's a crazy sequence.
- [48:57]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. He starts hallucinating and starts seeing himself in the shower. And we start to see his realities are kind of intermingling and his office reality and his Audi reality. And we wanted to play around with different ways of doing that, which we continue on in the next episode in terms of the language of that and. Yeah, and then that's it. That's the end of the episode. We don't know what's happened as Petey sort of like goes still in the bathtub on the floor.
- [49:27]
Adam Scott
That's right, Zach, you now have more phone time.
- [49:31]
Zach Cherry
I can't wait. I can't wait to get back on my phone.
- [49:36]
Adam Scott
Thank you for doing this, Zach. Thank you for hanging out for so long.
- [49:40]
Zach Cherry
Yeah, it was fun.
- [49:41]
Ben Stiller
Yeah. It's good to see you, man.
- [49:42]
Adam Scott
Next up is episode three in perpetuity. Stream all episodes of season one on Apple TV plus right now. And season two again, premieres January 17, 2025.
- [49:53]
Ben Stiller
I have to say, episode three is one of my favorite episodes.
- [49:55]
Adam Scott
Is it? Yeah. Wow. Huge surprise from Ben Stiller. Late breaking news.
- [50:02]
Zach Cherry
I'm a huge fan of 1 through 9.
- [50:04]
Adam Scott
No way. The Severance podcast with Ben Stiller and Adam Scott is a presentation of Odyssey, Pineapple Street Studios, Red Hour Productions, and Great Scott Productions.
- [50:18]
Ben Stiller
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 Bari Finkel, Henry Malofsky, Jenna Weiss Berman and Leah Rhys Dennis. The show is produced by Zandra, Ellen and Naomi Scott. This episode was mixed and mastered by Chris Basel. We have additional engineering from Javi Cruces and Davy Sumner.
- [50:41]
Adam Scott
Show clips are courtesy of fifth season music by Theodore Shapiro. Special thanks to the team at Odyssey, Maura Curran, Eric Donnelly, Michael Lavey, Melissa Wester, Matt Casey, Kate Rose, Kurt Courtney and Hilary Schuff.
- [50:57]
Ben Stiller
And the team at Red John Lesher, Carolina Pesakov, Gian Pablo Antonetti, Martin Valderruten, Ashwin Ramesh, Maria Noto, John Baker, and.
- [51:08]
Adam Scott
Oliver Agart, and at Great Scott, Kevin Cotter, Josh Martin, and Christy Smith. At Rise Management.
- [51:15]
Ben Stiller
We also had additional production help from Gabrielle Lewis, Ben Goldberg, Stephen Key, Kristen Torres, Emmanuel Hapsis, marielexa Cavanaugh, and Melissa Slaughter.
- [51:25]
Adam Scott
I'm Adam Scott. I'm Ben Stiller and we will see you next time.
- [51:42]
Ben Stiller
Hey, Adam.
- [51:43]
Adam Scott
Yeah?
- [51:44]
Ben Stiller
Is your experience at work a bit dysfunctional lately?
- [51:46]
Adam Scott
I don't know. I think it's. It's okay.
- [51:49]
Ben Stiller
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 one work experience from your home lives. Or you could try Confluence by Atlassian.
- [52:01]
Adam Scott
Oh my God. Well, if it's a choice between those two things, I think I would 100% choose confluence by Atlassian.
- [52:09]
Ben Stiller
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. 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.
- [52:35]
Adam Scott
So that would equal out, like, if we're playing with like, let's just say 100%, 5.2 of those percentage points. Yeah, that's the improvement.
- [52:44]
Ben Stiller
I mean, I'm not great at math, but that sounds very close.
- [52:46]
Adam Scott
Well, I'm doing the math in my head right, right now as we speak, and I think that's great.
- [52:51]
Ben Stiller
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 confluence that's a T L-A-S S I-A N.com C O N fluence.