‘That feeling of having a first crush': How Zach Cherry and Merritt Wever made their ‘Severance' marriage feel real
While Wever is a two-time Emmy winner with almost 30 years of film and TV experience, Cherry just broke through with his fan-favorite Severance performance as loudmouth MDR employee Dylan. Watching Season 1, Wever was definitely impressed by his work, and loved hearing that the show was planning to explore Dylan's domestic life in Season 2.
More from GoldDerby
Brandon Scott Jones on CBS' 'Ghosts': 'I enjoy playing characters that are desperate'
Critics hail Celine Song's 'Materialists' as an 'exquisitely made' modern love story - not a 'glossy romantic comedy'
Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro reunite, tease 'Meet the Parents 4'
READ:
'I had binged the first season, and I remember thinking really highly of Zach as an actor,' Wever says. 'I hadn't seen him before, and so it's one of those really lovely discoveries when you find someone's work for the first time. And I remember when I found out what they were planning for his character, I thought that it was something that, as a viewer, I'd be interested in. But then as an actor, I was like, 'Oh, that's a wonderful thing to give him as a character to do.' And then I met him and he was lovely and wonderful to work with.'
Over the course of Season 2, Wever's character Gretchen interacts with both the 'outie' and 'innie' versions of Dylan. She's used to the former, since she's been married to him for years with multiple children, but Lumon's new 'family visitation' perk allows her to interact with her husband's work persona for the first time. Wever commends Cherry for making the two Dylans actually feel like different characters.
Over the course of the season, Gretchen discovers that while the Dylan she knows is burdened by all the baggage of middle age and parenthood, Innie Dylan is seeing her with fresh eyes — and is falling in love with her for the first time all over again. Wever even developed an emotional relationship to Cherry's two performances similar to Gretchen's.
'I enjoyed the scenes with Innie Dylan so much that I kind of missed them. I preferred them to the Outie Dylan scenes,' Wever says. 'The character is getting to experience these feelings she hasn't felt for so long, and she's getting to feel what it's like for her husband to look at her a certain way and maybe even love her again in the way that he used to. What I'm experiencing as both a character and as an actor is a lot lighter and more pleasant, almost like that feeling of having a first crush. So then when we went to shoot the outie scenes, it's so much dimmer and bleaker.'
Wever continues, 'Because we always shot the innie scenes first, episode to episode, I had a visceral [as opposed to just an intellectual] understanding of what it was that I had just gotten from Innie Dylan that I wasn't getting from Outie Dylan.'
Season 2 found the MDR employees reckoning with the differences between their innie and outie selves. But while Mark Scout (Adam Scott) and Mark S. couldn't reconcile their differing desires, leading to that cliffhanger ending, the Dylan's developed a better understanding. Gretchen made all the difference. Even when the two Dylans get a little competitive over her affection, it's because they both love the same person.
'He's very vulnerable when he suggests that maybe they get married,' Cherry says of outie Dylan. 'That's kind of a big shock to him, but I also think that feeling allows him to understand his outie in the sense that, 'Oh, this is how much I care about this person who I've only spent 95 minutes with.' So then when he gets the letter from his outie and realizes there are things about him that his outie is maybe even jealous of, that allows him to appreciate his role in his outie's life and that they're in this together.'
Dylan ends Season 2 on a good note, but that cliffhanger ending makes it hard to predict what the future will hold for him. No one yet knows what might happen in Season 3 of Severance, but Cherry likes it that way.
'When Season 1 ended, this storyline was not on my radar at all,' Cherry says. 'We had not discussed this storyline, and then when we came back in for Season 2, they were like, 'OK, here's what we think we're going to do.' So I'm just excited to see whatever thing I can't even imagine now that they will tell me about once we start Season 3. I'm just looking forward to that.'
Best of GoldDerby
Brandon Scott Jones on CBS' 'Ghosts': 'I enjoy playing characters that are desperate'
'She's got tunnel vision': Wendi McLendon-Covey reveals what she loves most about her character Joyce on 'St. Denis Medical'
Marlon Wayans on laughing through tragedy in 'Good Grief' and why social media has made comedy 'toxic'
Click here to read the full article.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Steve Martin reflects on a magical, full-circle 80th birthday: ‘It's like going to work when you're 15 and coming home from work and you're 80'
Steve Martin spent his 80th birthday in the most magical place on Earth — Disneyland — where he experienced a moment of personal magic that brought his life full-circle. "I shot a little one-day scene at Disneyland on my birthday, Aug. 14, and it was in the magic shop where I worked when I was 15," Martin revealed during the Only Murders in the Building panel at the Television Academy's Televerse event on Saturday. "I'm standing at the exact same spot that I stood on when I was 15. I said, 'It's like going to work when you are 15 and then coming home from work and you're 80.'" More from Gold Derby Bryan Cranston reveals the surprising inspiration behind his outlandish character on 'The Studio' 'Incredibly sad and shocking to us': 'Andor' creator Tony Gilroy on real-world politics mirroring the prescient 'Star Wars' series Martin was joined by costars Selena Gomez and Martin Short (remotely via video) and showrunner John Hoffman. During the Hulu panel hosted by Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Martin discussed his character's emotional arc, pointing to the Season 4 finale where he is dealing with the death of character's close friend Sazz, played by Jane Lynch. "This goes back to more like Father of the Bride, that are essentially comedies but also have very serious dramatic, emotional elements," Martin said of his role in the 1991 film. "There's a scene in the finale where I walk over and start talking extremely emotional and it's kind of second nature and part of what a comic actor has to do. It's not just be funny all the time." Throughout his career, the actor has consistently balanced humor with heart, he noted that while his first film was the comedy The Jerk, his follow-up was the drama Pennies from Heaven. The critically acclaimed Hulu series, Murders in the Building, returns on Sept. 9. The show first premiered in 2021 and follows three unlikely neighbors in a New York apartment building who start a true crime podcast and find themselves repeatedly entangled in real murder investigations. Martin, Short and Gomez have each received multiple Emmy nominations for their work on the show, which has become catnip for high-profile actors. During the panel, Hoffman spoke about the trios ability to draw in huge guest stars. "These three have been magnets for the likes of which I could never have dreamed of working with," he said adding that he makes sure to check in with them before casting any of the guest stars. "It's very important that we have people that are in the spirit of being on that set. I love that it's become a home for great New York character actors but also for the opportunity to work with people we have all dreamed about working with." Best of Gold Derby 'Australian Survivor vs. The World' premiere date and cast photos: 'King' George Mladenov, Cirie Fields, Parvati Shallow … 'Five new life forms from distant planets': Everything to know about 'Alien: Earth' as new trailer drops Everything to know about 'The Pitt' Season 2, including the departure of Tracy Ifeachor's Dr. Collins Click here to read the full article. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Incredibly sad and shocking to us': ‘Andor' creator Tony Gilroy on real-world politics mirroring the prescient ‘Star Wars' series
Andor creator Tony Gilroy is a firm believer that rules can be liberating, at least when it comes to framing a packed two-season series that serves as a prequel for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. 'One of the reasons that the show is as precise and resonant and whole and thematic as it is, is that we know exactly where we're going. We knew exactly where we were gonna end up from the very beginning,' Gilroy said during a panel at the Television Academy's inaugural Televerse Festival in Los Angeles on Saturday. 'I find that liberating.' More from Gold Derby Bryan Cranston reveals the surprising inspiration behind his outlandish character on 'The Studio' Steve Martin reflects on a magical, full-circle 80th birthday: 'It's like going to work when you're 15 and coming home from work and you're 80' Gilroy was joined onstage by his brothers, Dan Gilroy and John Gilroy, who served as writer and editor on the series, respectively. As the Disney+ series has come to a close, landing 14 Emmy nominations this season — despite controversial snubs for stars Diego Luna and Genevieve O'Reilly — the Gilroy brothers dove deeply into pivotal moments from Season 2, including the tragic Ghorman Massacre, the backstory of Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), and the sacrifice Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) makes for the resistance while hiding a secret from Cassian Andor (Luna), the father of her unborn child. Tony said that it was a "legit impulse" to have the final moments of the show reveal that Bix is pregnant, because he didn't want the series 'just going off into the bummer of [Andor] dying' in Rogue One. 'Let's be really honest, it doesn't hurt me when I can tell [Walt Disney CEO] Bob Iger there's a baby,' Gilroy explained. 'And he can name it, and he can sex it, and they can do whatever they want with it.' However, Gilroy admitted that convincing the Andor team that Bix's choice to leave Cassian was necessary proved especially difficult. 'Her willingness to leave him for the greater good was an issue that a lot of people had questions about all the way through,' Tony said. ''Would it work?' and 'will it be delivered?' and 'are you going to be able to get us there?' All this stuff. It really helps for anybody who has any doubts. You get to the end, you go, 'Oh my God, she was pregnant.'' That moment of hope is preceded by several tragedies throughout the season, which was narratively divided into three-episode arcs, allowing the show to jump ahead in time. Perhaps the most notable was the Ghorman Massacre, in which the Empire unleashes extreme violence on peaceful protestors who live on the planet Ghorman — an incident that catalyzes the Rebellion. Giving editing credit to his brother John, Dan added that earlier episodes were leading up to the Ghorman Massacre. 'There's so many swirling plot lines,' Dan said. 'This is just a constant building of suspense and tension and energy.' While the Ghorman sequence was 'always on the calendar,' according to Tony, he and his team ultimately had to condense five seasons of storytelling into two. 'We were deep in shooting the first season, and I was trying to come up with a second season, and Diego and I, literally, we're sitting in the backyard of a little hotel in Scotland having a drink and we're like, 'What are we f--king going to do? We can't do five years of this show. I mean, it's just impossible,' Tony explained. '[Diego would] be ancient.' Not only did it take 22 months to produce a single season, but Tony was also concerned about the potential cost and how Disney would respond. So when they landed on the timeskips, he said they felt 'lucky.' 'We were like, 'Wow,' and Disney was like, 'OK, yeah, because we don't want to pay for like 90 seasons of this,'' Tony added. However, working on the story as a series versus a film gave the team more breathing room, with both storytelling and edits. 'Editing is kind of like finding the truth,' John said, 'and it just gave you that couple extra seconds per scene that you're allowed to find the truth.' That truth extended to the audience eventually finding out Luthen's backstory and his connection to Rebellion partner Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulao). 'My original reason for wanting a standalone was because I didn't want anybody, after the show was over, to be defining that relationship,' Tony said, also noting his intention to hold out on the explanation for as long as possible. What the Andor team didn't intend was for the show to end up eerily similar to real-world events. 'Mon [Mothma]'s speech was so inordinately, powerfully important to the show. And to me personally,' Dan said about writing her speech, which followed the Ghorman massacre. 'Throughout Andor, the first two seasons covering the five years, what you're really watching is the Senate's descent into total Emperor control,' Dan said. 'So to sit down and go, that's the assignment. I'm going to write an assignment where I'm talking to these two audiences while events in the world are mirroring what this is.' 'I was getting choked up writing it because these are massively important elements in our lives, particularly right now,' he added. As the series continued, the resemblance to reality, Tony said, became uncanny. 'Things were fomenting as we're going, but the detail with which the world has just grafted onto our show and started replicating what we were doing is incredibly sad and shocking to us,' he said, recalling how U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla from California was forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security press conference the week Andor was showing the Ghorman senator being arrested in the Galactic Senate. 'Our internal chat group is like, 'What the f--k?'' he said. While Tony was well prepared to write a series about authoritarianism and rebellion, what he said he's especially proud of was the ability for the show to resonate even beyond the screen. 'I don't think I've ever convinced anybody in my family or at a dinner table to change their opinion about anything, ever,' he said. 'I feel happy or I feel affirmed that there are people out there that the show seems to have affected in some way that makes them think about courage.' Best of Gold Derby 'Australian Survivor vs. The World' premiere date and cast photos: 'King' George Mladenov, Cirie Fields, Parvati Shallow … 'Five new life forms from distant planets': Everything to know about 'Alien: Earth' as new trailer drops Everything to know about 'The Pitt' Season 2, including the departure of Tracy Ifeachor's Dr. Collins Click here to read the full article. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mike White Envisioned the Ratliffs as 'the Brunette Version' of the Family From ‘White Lotus' Season 1
The White Lotus creator Mike White made a rare appearance at HBO Max's Nominee Celebration on Sunday to celebrate season three's 23 Emmy nominations and shed some light on his unique process. Joined by stars Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell, Sam Rockwell, casting director Meredith Tucker and a virtual Carrie Coon, White explained that when he's putting together the group of actors for a new season, 'It feels like it works best when it's sort of like an orchestra, and you want different voices and you want a whole variety. I also feel like that when it comes to casting, it's fun to have actors who have different processes and different kinds of different vibes. It's like if you're a connoisseur of taste, you want a little a taste of this, a little taste of that.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Kaitlyn Dever "Couldn't Watch" Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey's Final Moment in 'The Last of Us': "I Don't Know How You Guys Did That" Conan O'Brien Says Late Night TV Is "Going to Disappear" But "People Like Stephen Colbert Are Too Talented and Too Essential to Go Away" Helen Mirren on Finding Time to Do It All and Why She Doesn't Plan to Retire Anytime Soon He pointed to Posey and Isaacs as a prime example of that, as 'they are so different in their approach. On the first day, I was like, OK, this is gonna be fun because they bring so many different kinds of methods to how they work. I don't need to tell them anything, they just do it and it's fun to just watch the chemistry.' Posey teased, 'I learn my lines front, back, left, right, up and down, and then Jason doesn't learn his lines at all. So it really was two different ways of working.' Tucker added that they don't do chemistry reads during the casting process but, when putting together the Ratliff family, did consider physical appearance 'to a degree.' White explained that it is important to him that actors playing family members look alike, and recalled how 'the first season, we did this family with Sydney Sweeney and Fred Hechinger and then Steve Zahn and we put them all together for the camera test and I was like, 'Oh, these people look exactly alike. This looks like a family.' And then I was like, 'We've got to do this with this Ratliff family.' I was like, 'We've got to make them look alike, maybe the brunette version of that family.' I don't know if they're as perfectly dwarfy cute blondes like that season, but they're amazing, I think they do [look related]. You want to buy it.' The cast also joked that it was such a unique experience working on The White Lotus that when it comes to meeting actors from past seasons, 'It's like being an astronaut,' Coon said. 'Like you've seen Earth from space and the only other people who've seen Earth from space are other astronauts. And so forever, the people who did these seasons will be like, 'I see you over there.'' White concluded the conversation on an emotional note, tearfully telling his cast, 'Can I just say, because I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to say this again with all y'all here — thank you so much for being so amazing. I was thinking about who's on this panel and how much you brought to this show and how much I learned from each one of you guys. I'm so grateful and I love you all, thank you so much.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
