The Intro Of ‘Severance’ Season 2 Took Five Months To Shoot In Ten Different Parts, And Adam Scott Watched Videos Of Tom Cruise Running For Inspiration

I'm gonna say this and try to sound as least douchey as I possibly can: I absolutely love the art of filmmaking. 

I think I first became fascinated with the behind-the-scenes "movie magic" stuff around 2005, when I was seven years old watching all of the Special Features included on the 'Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith' DVD. Seeing how the lightsaber duel on Mustafar between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi was crafted - from the concept art and storyboards to the fight choreography and training/rehearsal to the filming itself and the CGI/post-production process - that completely captured my imagination. I watched it over and over, almost as much as I watched the movie itself, and actually spent the next few years telling everyone who would listen that I was going to be a filmmaker just like George Lucas when I was older. 

Obviously I went in a different direction and became a shitty blogger instead, but I haven't lost that love for movies/television shows and all that go into producing them - ESPECIALLY when I watch something that makes me go, "How the hell did they do that?" like I'm seeing an actual magic trick.

The opening "one shot" sequence of the 'Severance' Season 2 Premiere was definitely one of those things that broke my brain and had me questioning everything I knew about how cameras worked. We saw some of it in the trailer, but I mean - how in the who now?

How do you even begin to map that shot out practically? How does the idea of it spring to mind?! How much of it is real versus CGI? Is it against a green screen? It's fucking insane and I can't even begin to wrap my head around how they pulled it off, even on multiple rewatches! Then, the rest of the sequence - mostly just Adam Scott running through the maze-like hallways of Lumon Industries - is also presented as a one shot, and while you can tell where they likely spliced the different takes together, the edits/CGI/camera movement are flawlessly done to hide any actual cuts. It's perfect.

Ben Stiller has always done an amazing job directing 'Severance', and uses stuff like Spielberg's "Vertigo Shot" so well in the context of the show….

….but this sequence was a moment where he just dropped his nuts on the table and flexed on everybody in the room (but particularly that rat bastard Rone, who disparaged Stiller's good name last year). It's a guy who has been waiting years to return to the most critically acclaimed show on streaming saying "We're back" with an exclamation point. It's a lead off home run on Opening Day.

As impressed as I was with the scene, I never could've predicted the work (and more specifically the time) that went into it. According to Adam Scott, it took FIVE MONTHS for them to shoot this in ten different parts, they used a god damn robot arm for certain portions of it, and he's even just running on a treadmill against a greenscreen for a shot! I don't even understand how you could break up a two minute shoot (where Adam Scott looks exactly the same the whole time) over the course of five months but again - I'm not a filmmaker! I decided to become a shitty blogger instead! 

Adam Scott also added that he watched videos of Tom Cruise running in 'Mission: Impossible' for inspiration, and I don't know if he was joking about that or not - but I could totally see this video pumping you the fuck up….

Thank god 'Severance' is finally back in our lives, and thank god they're already working on Season 3/have a plan in place for what they're gonna do with the series as a whole….

We can't let that three year gap between seasons happen ever again. Oh, and one more 'Severance' thing - I found this quote that Christopher Walken "doesn't have the equipment" to stream the show hilarious….

They just send him DVDs to pop in the ol' DVD/VCR combo box. How sweet. Grandpa Walken is adorable.

P.S. You can watch the 'Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith' Special Features I was talking about in this blog below. It's still pretty awesome…..

P.P.S. If you're also very interested in the "How did they pull that off?" aspects of moviemaking, check out this "CGI Artists React" series on CorridorDigital's channels - they do an amazing job of explaining this stuff….

Hopefully they do a breakdown of this sequence soon - I bet they'll get lots of request for it. If they don't, Ben Stiller and team working on 'Severance' should.