Adam Scott already knows the ending of “Severance.”
“Oh Yes. I’m an executive producer on the show, so I’m involved in all of it. We talk with the writers, and Dan [Erickson], all the time. I know everything about what’s going on. [As an actor] I like having as much information as possible.”
Just like the whole world, he’s more than ready for Season 3.
“It’s going to be great. There’re so many surprises. I can’t wait to shoot it,” he said. As previously announced, Ben Stiller won’t be directing this time.
“Ben is still very involved in the show. It’s going to be great. You know, it’s been over two years since we finished shooting Season 2. We’re all anxious to get back. We miss each other.”
Scott, who will be receiving the Canal+ Icon Award at Canneseries this week, admitted he really, really wanted the role.
“I don’t know if I would categorize it as a battle, but I certainly had to prove I could do it. Which makes sense: It was a big show, a big investment for Apple, so they needed to see that,” he recalled.
“It’s an incredible role in an incredible world. It’s everything I’d always wanted to do. When I read the script, first of all, I thought: ‘I probably won’t get this job. But if I do, if I’m able to land this, it will be because I’ve been earning this over the last 30 years. The opportunity to be considered for something like this and a role where you get to explore different sides of this person.”
He added: “Happily, I auditioned only once. The more you do it, the more you can screw it up.”
When “Parks and Recreation” ended, he wanted to find something “a little more dramatic.” “I just wanted to change it up, and I had trouble being considered for anything that wasn’t comedic. I really sought out ‘Big Little Lies,’ for example – that was something I really wanted to do. I wanted to work with Reese Witherspoon and all those actors, and Jean-Marc Vallée. But I really had to campaign for that and audition a few times, and prove to them I could do something that wasn’t comedic.”
“Severance” “felt like a full meal,” he said.
“It felt like a complicated character and a complicated world – and an adventure. Everything I’d done up to that point, those were all things that fulfilled me. But this felt like more of a culmination.”
It took him a while to figure out how to portray the infamous scenes of transition. “Switching from one thing to another, in an elevator, could be really corny. Ben had this ‘elevator set’ he would keep off to the side, so whenever we had a few minutes, we could go over and practice, and try to see how that transformation would occur.”
“We must have done it hundreds of times before we landed on something that worked. I think it was Ben who came up with our eyes fluttering a bit. Oh man, I’m sure I did a bunch of stuff that was ridiculous.”
With many questions unanswered, “Severance” has quickly developed a “Twin Peaks”-like cult following.
“I love ‘Twin Peaks’ so much and I love that people keep discovering it over and over again. I don’t know if [‘Severance’] will live in culture and be remembered like that, but I agree – there’s a lot of power in not knowing.”
“Something we’re always trying to do on the show is retain an element of mystery. I loved the way ‘The Sopranos’ ended. I was frustrated by it, but it was brilliant and I still haven’t figured it out. I love it not only in TV shows or movies, but I like it in music. I’ve always loved bands that wouldn’t tell you everything about how music was made and who made it. I like when there’s a place for my imagination to reach out and meet the work.”
Scott doesn’t worry about being typecast again post-“Severance.”
“Something that’s good with a role like Mark is that I’m not sure what aspect of it would pin me down into being typecast. And even if I’m, it would be completely worth it, because I love the show so much.”
He recently made horror film “Hokum.”
“It’s really scary. I think with horror movies, just as a fan and as someone who participates in them sometimes, I feel like the criteria is it should be a good movie first and a good horror movie second. It should be able to stand on its own as a character, as an interesting character, an interesting story. And then the horror elements are almost a bonus, you know,” he said.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been a lead in something that’s come out in movie theaters. And I love it. It’s what made me want to do this in the first place: sitting in a dark room with a bunch of strangers and watching something that really moves you or gets you excited.”
“Severance” moves people as well.
‘When the show first came out, we were still emerging from the pandemic. People were slowly returning to the office or working from home, and this new work-life balance felt strange for everyone. I think the show evoked those feelings,” he said.
“With something that’s as high-concept as ‘Severance,’ there has to be an emotional element to connect to, and there have to be characters to connect to. Otherwise, it just becomes something that’s interesting, but isn’t emotionally engaging.”
He added: “If you were presented with this technology, would you do this? Once you really consider that question, you start thinking about your life in a certain way, and it sets you on an interesting journey.”
