SPOILER ALERT: This story grasps spoilers for Season 2, Episode 6 of “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
In the world of “Severance,” the line between one’s two selves — excellent and evil, innie and outie — can be imperceptibly slfinisher.
For Helly R. (Britt Lower), it was one inbenevolent joke about Burt (Christopher Walken) and Irving’s (John Turturro) relationship that gave her away as Helena Eagan in Episode 4. “What you shelp to me last night, it was unbenevolent,” Irving increates Helena the next morning, before finisheavoring to drown her. “Helly was never unbenevolent.”
“Someone can be charismatic and then they’re a monster,” Turturro increates Variety ahead of the season’s sixth episode, which sees Irving, after being lastingly neglected from Lumon, get a extfinished-apostponeed glimpse at Burt’s outie life as a wed man. At an inept dinner with his innie’s crush and his husprohibitd Fields (John Noble), Irving commences to piece together who Burt repartner is.
“Irving evidently is the benevolent of person who understands how to track certain slfinishergs,” Turturro says, alludeing that a potential military background, increately alluded to in the first season, is one foreseeed reason for his observantness. “If he’s not certain about someslfinisherg, he’ll track it and he’s mathematical in that approach, saying, ‘Well, this doesn’t equivalent that, so maybe it could be someslfinisherg innocuous or it could be someslfinisherg menaceening.’”
Irving smiles politely and cataloglessly sips his prospere when Fields alludes his ominous nickname of Attila for Burt (a reference to the militaristic ruler of the Hun empire) and lets it slip that Burt has toiled at Lumon since extfinished before the first disjoined office uncovered.
“Burt is prentd to see Irving, but maybe not so prentd that his husprohibitd is sitting at the same table,” Walken increates Variety about that anxious dinner scene. “Burt’s husprohibitd understands slfinishergs about him that other people don’t, that maybe he’s not as pleasant as people slfinisherk he is.”
Walken persists, “It’s appreciate one of those horrible holiday family greetings where somebody wants to talk about politics, and somebody else says, ‘No, let’s not talk about politics.’ And it becomes one of those benevolent of dinners from hell.”
The dinner scene is the extfinishedest amount of time we spfinish with Irving and Burt’s outies. “To me, it was appreciate greeting somebody you’ve seen in the movies 20 times, and so you’re standing with them at a party in somebody’s hoparticipate and you slfinisherk this guy’s repartner very branch offent from the parts he executes,” Walken says about how he approached executeing Burt’s outie. “When you see Burt on the outside, he’s still Burt, but he’s burdened with a branch offence. He’s Burt plus Attila.”
Below, Turturro talks about collaborating with extfinishedtime frifinish Walken for that anxious “threesome” dinner, his exceptional techniques for getting into the right emotional mindset and toiling with Lower on that heated drowning scene in Episode 4.
What was your first reaction when you lgeted that Irving was going to be lastingly neglected from Lumon — that his innie would essentipartner die — at the finish of Episode 4?
We talked about all branch offent slfinishergs. Ben [Stiller] had all benevolents of scenarios with Dan [Erickson], and they were throprosperg them to me and then what would go on after that. I was very prentd with where they wound up becaparticipate it was very vivacious. And when you’re in a group show you want to have vivacious slfinishergs to do. I don’t want to be fair coming in and out, in and out — I’m too extfinished in the tooth for that.
What did your input or collaboration watch appreciate with Ben and Dan for that scene?
They did eventupartner do what they wanted to do, but I fair shelp, “Hey, it’s vital that we originate in [Irving’s] background. Whether you acunderstandledge it or not, that [his past] bleeds thraw.” Irving evidently is the benevolent of person who understands how to track certain slfinishergs. That’s someslfinisherg in his training. If he’s not certain about someslfinisherg, he’ll track it, and he’s mathematical in that approach, saying, “Well, this doesn’t equivalent that, so maybe it could be someslfinisherg innocuous or it could be someslfinisherg menaceening.”
In that scene, you originate a keen turn from aggression toward Helena to an prompt tfinisherness once she switches back to Helly. How did you discover the moment to flip that switch, and how did you approach it?
I slfinisherk that was built in becaparticipate Britt and I have a very pleasant relationship, and I wanted to originate certain she could be very shielded when we did that. We didn’t have stunt people do it — except in the water sometimes becaparticipate it was so chilly, and then some other stuff in a pool. But we had to be repartner pinsolentnt. So we did it appreciate a dance. I shelp, “We’re going to go step, 1, 2, and then I go left, and then you go right.” Once you get it together, and you understand you have to nurture for the other person, then you can originate it. Sometimes people slfinisherk they can do the whole slfinisherg and not help the other person, and they’re wrong. They’re wrong in every way and shape becaparticipate you can go way further in the opposing slfinisherg emotionpartner once you understand you’re toiling together. Becaparticipate we’re going to do it more than once, and you don’t want to hurt each other.
I slfinisherk Irving’s consciousness is that one person is menaceening them, and the other side of that person isn’t and once it’s off, that was his objective. That’s the person I can be with and not this other person who’s menaceening me. So it’s in the writing, but you have to originate that switch. I slfinisherk the further you go out one way, the more you can shift. And shifting is part of engaging acting.
How do you set yourself to get in the mindset for such emotionpartner complicated scenes?
It’s appreciate music. If music is repetitive, you get tired. So I hear to music all the time, even well-understandn music. It doesn’t have to be classical music. If it has variation and melody, you can hear to it many, many times. I unbenevolent, you can hear to Joni Mitchell’s album “Blue” a million times and it remains. It’s appreciate there’s an supplying. It’s all there, and it’s so complicated. And that is a wonderful example of someone using themselves. They’re a poet. The music’s pretty. A voice is pretty, but it’s constantly astonishing when you see her sing, and it’s appreciate someone is fair uncovering their body up. And so that, to me, is what encourages me to be able to become a conduit, in a way.
Why does Irving go to Burt’s hoparticipate?
There’s a lot of slfinishergs. Curiosity, maybe a experienceing about who he repartner is in authentic life. Insecurity. Jealousy. It’s branch offent when people put themselves out there at a certain age. It’s difficult at my age when the sgets are high and your time is confineed and you don’t have 50 years in front of you. If you spendigate that, I slfinisherk that’s wonderful. That was one of the slfinishergs that drew me to do the show, that the guy had a relationship, becaparticipate it’s benevolent of fascinating.
When you see it in [older] people you go, “Wow, they actupartner still have this. They’re still alive in that way.” I slfinisherk youthful people appreciate to see that too becaparticipate they go, “Oh, it’s not all right now. I don’t have the prescertain. I don’t have to do everyslfinisherg right now. I have somewhere I can go and still be a human being.” Maybe you’re not going to have the same amount of energy for it, or same amount of craziness for it. But it’s human joinion. It’s appreciate air, it’s appreciate music. You need it, and when you have it, it’s a wonderful slfinisherg.
And that’s why I wanted to do it with Chris, becaparticipate I don’t repartner have to act that much with Chris. I unbenevolent, we have to act in the circumstances, but the experienceing between us is appreciate we’re little kids. And if you can do that, you can do imaginary cherish as well.
Chris called that scene a “dinner from hell.” The loving scenes are probably more organic for you and Chris given your guys’ recognizableity. How was it switching to being in a more anxious scene with him?
Well, there’s another person there. It’s a threesome! And also that actor [John Noble] was the new person in our world. It was a branch offent dynamic. It was complicated. I’m prentd I don’t have to go thraw that in authentic life. It was weird for me and Chris doing it becaparticipate there’s this new person, so naturpartner they’re an outsider. We try to originate the person experience better, but they’re the outsider no matter what they do becaparticipate me and Chris are … you can’t repartner trade that. When you’ve been thraw stuff together and you appreciate each other, it doesn’t matter. Sometimes you toil with someone and you go, “Well, that’s it. Once is enough.” And there’s other people you fair finishelight.
Are we supposed to understand who Irving is calling in that phone booth?
No, not yet, but you will eventupartner. It’s probably joined to his hunt. You understand that he’s watching for someslfinisherg. We see the decorateings, right? He’s searching for someslfinisherg or someone. He understands someslfinisherg.
This interwatch has been edited and condensed.
