Ben Stiller on Directing the Second Season of 'Severence' | Variety Studio at TIFF 2024 - video Dailymotion

David Gordon Green and Ben Stiller sit down at the Variety Studio at TIFF.

Transcript

00:00You mentioned pressure, and Ben, you're returning with Severance, the second season, which ended

00:05on a cliffhanger.

00:06What is it like to come back with a show that was so well-received, and what can audiences

00:10expect for the second season?

00:13It's an interesting experience.

00:15I've never been through it before, a second season of anything.

00:19Everything I've done has gotten canceled back in the day.

00:24I feel like there's an expectation that the audience has that they should have if they

00:29love something, and for us, it's just been the process of trying to, for us, live up

00:36to our expectation of what we think the show should be and commit to that.

00:43It's been an interesting trying time over the last few years to make things on all levels

00:47for people, first with the pandemic, and then for us, the second season, getting interrupted

00:54by the strike, and the crunch that's put on so many people.

01:00To keep that focus on trying to make the best possible season, being aware that it's taken

01:09a long time, and I, like other people, get frustrated when things take a long time.

01:14I want to have the next season sooner, and so I understand that feeling of the expectation,

01:20okay, well, it's taken a long time.

01:22I hope it's good.

01:24People are just wanting something to live up to what they've experienced and have it

01:31hopefully not let them down, and so I don't know.

01:36All you can do is try to do what you think is good, and I'm excited for it.

01:40I think we've put everything into it, and it's been fun to explore the story and work

01:48with these actors and with Dan, and I've never had that experience of being with something

01:56so long where the characters really start to have a life, and the actors understand

02:01the characters so well, and it kind of grows into something more, and it's been really

02:08enjoyable working on that, and I'm really excited for the second season, for people

02:12to finally see it.