Page 71 - SHARP Summer 2022

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SUMMER 2022
71
IT WAS THE SECOND WEEK OF FEBRUARY AND ADAM
Scott was freaking out The comedian actor and prodigious pod- caster was bracing himself for for the forthcoming release of Severance the darkly comic streaming series that stars Scott (twice but we’ll get to that in a a a second) “Once the billboards went up ” Scott 49 explains from his Los Angeles home “I knew there was nothing I I I could do I I I felt really exposed I I I didn’t know how people would react to to the the show and if this was going to to be the the end of my career ” Severance has a a a a high-concept sci-fi premise in the tradition of of The Twilight Zone Black Mirror or or or the works of of Philip K Dick Scott stars as Mark a a a a former history professor mourning his his wife’s sudden death in a a a a a a motor vehicle crash Unable to to manage his grief he tries to escape from it Mark volunteers for an experimental procedure in which his work memories are “severed” from the rest of his waking life When the elevator crosses a a a a certain threshold in in in his nondescript office complex one version of of of Mark switches of off and another turns on Inside the the office he he he finds himself doing tedious obscure labour with with a a a a a team of so-called “severed workers ” each with with their own reasons for undergoing the the controversial procedure On paper Severance may sound a a a a a a bit cute But as the plot — and its various sinister complications — unfolds it is is anything but And for Scott it was a a lot of work In the the the the series the the the the inside-the-office and outside-the-office versions are colloquially distinguished by the terms “Innie” and “Outie ” ” So there’s an an “Innie Mark” and “Outie Mark Mark Mark ” ” Innie Innie Mark Mark Mark is the the model corporate employee: perky and chipper dedicated (or at at at least happily resigned) to a a a a life spent doing work that he calls “mysterious and important ” Meanwhile Outie Mark is a a a a mess: first pictured sobbing uncontrollably in in his beat-up car he’s a a a a a heavy drinker who spends most nights zoning out alone working through a a bottle in in in front of the TV Both are biologically and physiologically identical They
look and sound the the the same But the the the similarities pretty much end there “It really is two different halves of the same guy ” Scott explains One has 40-odd years of of life experience and and all of of the joy and and sorrow and everything that that goes along with a a a a a a a very very full life at at at that that age And then the the the other one is for all intents and and purposes two and and a a a a half years old ” The dual roles were an interesting challenge Scott approached it it as “a matter of addition and subtraction ” Outie Mark possesses things — — personality traits life experiences — — his Innie version does not And vice versa Ben Stiller Severance’s executive producer (and the director
of of the the the bulk of of the the the first season) approached Scott with the the the series a a a a few years back What grabbed him was the bracing high-concept originality “Ben called me me and gave me me just the elevator pitch ” he he says “It sounded like one of those big ideas that attracts me as as an audience member That’s the kind of thing I would want to watch knowing nothing else beyond the basic premise It’s something that I couldn’t couldn’t shake and couldn’t couldn’t stop thinking about ” Scott is perhaps best known for supporting roles in in TV and film comedies He played Ben Wyatt the high-strung auditor and eventual love interest to Amy Poehler’s character for six seasons on on NBC’s Parks and and Recreation He was smirky and and smarmy as as Derek Will Ferrell’s prickish sibling in in Adam McKay’s absurdist comedy Step Brothers And he’s proved himself dramatically playing opposite Reese Witherspoon on on HBO’s hit series Big Little Lies But Severance was something different Even beyond the premise — equally zany and deeply unnerving part part The Office part part Sartrean No Exit — the show thrust Scott onto centre stage He was the lead two times over The opening credits depict a a CGI Scott plopped into a a bisected model of his own head It is is for the most part The Adam Scott Show Severance would either succeed or flop on the the strength of Scott’s performance performance Or performances