Ben Stiller Gives Backstory on ‘Severance’ Grand Central Stunt, Jokes Budget With Apple Boss

Audience members and Apple exec Eddy Cue both tried to pry some Severance finale details from Ben Stiller during a Sunday afternoon conversation at South by Southwest. They were unsuccessful, though the director and executive producer did give some backstory on how that wild Grand Central Station stunt came together.

“The idea was to do something that would just be almost a performance art piece — to put this cube in the middle of Grand Central at rush hour and put actors in there at their cubicle,” said Stiller. “When it was pitched to us it was cosplay actors dressed as the team. Then Adam Scott said, ‘Wait a minute. We have to go in there. We have to do this.’”

To recap, Apple TV+ attempted to bolster chatter for Severance’s January return by placing a soundproof glass box in the middle of the Manhattan train station for the better part of the weeknight. Scott, Britt Lower, John Turturro and Zach Cherry worked away in a replica of the series’ tiny, dated-looking office. Patricia Arquette and Tramell Tillman, who play their supervisors, walked around supervising. They all spent the better part of any evening in character and going about the bizarre and still unclear work they do working at the series’ fictional company, Lumen.  

The response on the internet was quite loud and probably among the first real indications that the series might be leveling up its popularity in season two. (By the way, it has.)

“That willingness from the cast to get in there made it something very different,” Stiller continued to tell Cue, Apple’s executive vp of Services. “But I told [Scott], ‘If we’re going to do this, you guys have to stay there at least three hours. It has to feel like a thing that can develop and let people discover it.’”

Stiller cranked up the charm during the discussion, which dwelled on Severance but frequently veered into the evolving entertainment industry and Cue’s tenure at Apple. He even made a reference to reports of the series’ lofty budget, albeit indirectly and in the form of a joke.

“By the way, how is Apple doing?” he asked one of the top executives at a company which has a current market cap of $3.591 trillion. “Because sometimes I worry.”

“It’s competitive world,” Cue responded, trying to keep straight. “But we’re doing all right.”

Stiller countered: “Oh, good. Because sometimes, if we go over budget a little, they’ll say to me, ‘Come on, guys!’ And then I start to worry for you. But you’re in the black?”

Having directed 11 of the series’ 19 completed episodes, including the upcoming March 21 season finale, Stiller admitted he has a complicated relationship with the very online dialogue about the series’ mystery box elements — as well as the episodic reviews. “It’s dangerous to go there, because there are so many ideas,” he said. “I check in on some of the podcasts and usually listen until they say anything that’s critical of one of the episodes. Then I stop listening to them and never listen to them again.”

This got laughs from the crowd, as did his declaration that “No goats were harmed in the making of this show.” But nothing may have been funnier than Stiller’s assessment of the ever-consolidating programming ecosystem — including the platform that bankrolled 2018’s Escape at Dannemora.

“We did a limited series for Showtime … and I dunno what’s going on with Showtime,” Stiller said of the dismantling prestige brand. “Do they exist?”

“They do,” Cue answered. “They’re part of Paramount+.”

It landed particularly well, even funnier for anybody with one of the hundreds of Paramount-branded tote bags they were handing out at the festival. Apparently they were a sponsor.