voting is in progress 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Awardsand this week we’re talking to some of the acting nominees.
“I’ve rarely played a guy who gets a girl. Or that guy,” said Christopher Walken. “Romantic, that’s all. Usually I chop people up or something.
This was a recent weekday morning video call between Walken and his longtime friend John Turturro. plays Bart and Irving, co-workers at a sinister mega-corporation called Lumon Industries. (Some spoilers for the first season follow.) To work at Lumon, employees must volunteer to be “disconnected.” “outie” — and vice versa.
The company maintains strict divisions between departments and romantic fraternity is discouraged. But Walken’s Bart, who works in the optics and design department, and Turturro’s Irving, who works in Macrodata his refinement, each actor has a series of Emmy-nominated painful slow-burns in his scenes. Somehow we find each other’s way.
In Episode 6, two men meet in a place like a greenhouse. They speak quietly, their faces and bodies coming closer. They almost kiss until Irving reminds him of the company’s stance on workplace relationships. “Romantic, isn’t it?” Bert asks. “Isn’t it romantic?” A lifetime of longing, two lifetimes, are concentrated in these few seconds.
Have the actors ever tried a kissing scene? They didn’t. “I’m so old that it would have been a little difficult to see,” Walken said.
They may have met at a Yale drama school party in the early ’80s (I don’t remember for sure), but Walken, 79, and Turturro, 65, were in the 1995 showbiz satire “Search and Destroy.” , hired Walken in “Jesus Roll”.
They don’t socialize much outside of work. (Walken blamed himself: “I live in a kind of isolated way,” he said.
“I’m a fan of Chris,” Turturro explained. He was wearing a white T-shirt and his face and shoulders spanned the screen. “We get along well and share a sense of humor.”
“We’re having fun,” Walken confirmed. He was seated away from the camera and dressed in all black. (“How are you, Elvis?” Turturro greeted him.)
74th Annual Emmy Awards Details
The 2022 edition of the Emmy Awards, which celebrate excellence in television, will take place September 12 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Turturro was first hired by “Severance”. When he read the first script and met series creator Dan Erickson and director and executive producer Ben Stiller, he suggested Walken to Bart. They knew and liked each other, he explained, so they didn’t have to struggle to create chemistry.
“I immediately said yes,” Stiller wrote in an email. “Because I’m not crazy”
“Severance” was filmed in upstate New York before a Covid-19 vaccine was available. Even under more ideal circumstances, taking part in a long shoot is a bit like being disconnected. That is, the actor is cut off from his personal life.
I have been in so many hotel rooms. We have a lot of stationery,” said Turturro. “You can wear it like this.”
The “Severance” set was close enough for both men to sleep in their own home most nights. spent wearing and negotiating a maze-like set Walken described as the largest he had ever seen. “I used to get lost,” he said.
So when they could film each other in a small room without masks, it felt like a respite. . Between takes, they often chatted.
“People think actors talk about motivation and acting,” Walken said. “Most of the time they talk about cooking, movies, sometimes girls.”
Turturro wanted to compile these conversations into a book called “Talkin’ and Walken”. But Walken killed that idea. He didn’t want to hurt the feelings of those who were still alive.
Once the cameras turned on, neither had to work hard to evoke the love between Irving and Bart.
“If you can put them all together in a frame and be able to react and dictate your own rhythm, it’s really beautiful to watch,” Stiller wrote.
What explains that ease? Turturro noted the similarities in style. “Chris is not a ‘leader’ actor. You feel his body in the scene,” he said. “I also like using my body, so I think it’s a good match.”
Walken put it a little more sentimentally. “When people are acting together, you can tell if they know each other, especially if they like each other and are comfortable being together,” Walken said. It’s implied, but it really shows up, and I think it’s what they call chemistry.”
Why are Bert and Irving so attracted? “That’s because Bert and Irving are really Chris and John,” Walken said. i.e. not disconnected at all.
Neither actor spent much time thinking about Burt and Irving’s life outside of LeMont. However, they think Bert and Irving will get along well outside of work. So that they can visit museums or attend operas.
“They are men of culture,” said Turturro.
And what about Bart’s on-the-go husband? They think he will understand.
They don’t even know what the upcoming second season of “Severance” will mean for these characters, or if Bart, who has retired from Rumon, will make an appearance. They hope the relationship will continue, but Walken squashed the idea of a sex scene.
I always think, “Do you want to see this?” He said. “No, not Full Frontal”
They argued for a while about the idea of Bert and Irving going on an expedition.
“If you go cross-country, it will take a long time,” Turturro said. “I’m going to stop for a restroom break.”
“And the police kept stopping us for driving too slowly,” Walken added.
Would either actor want to go through an amputation? Turturro sounded enthusiastic, but Walken didn’t dislike the idea.
“I’m a hit and miss actor,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever made a movie that’s good enough at everything. So if I could, I’d take away a lot of stuff.”
Through the screen, Turturro shook his head and let out a coughing laugh. “I think you are great,” he said.