Severance director Ben Stiller has recently made shocking confession about voice role in his sci-fi series.
During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on March 3, the Zoolander star revealed he approached the former US president Barack Obama for providing the voice for the animated version of the Lumon administrative building that appeared in a video shown to staff in the series.
Ben told Jimmy that he “had a very short list of people in mind for the unusual part… There was one person that I asked before Keanu Reeves, and he said no”.
When Jimmy asked who it was, Ben replied, “President Barack Obama.”
He went on to say, “I didn’t ask him in person. I knew someone who knew his lawyer, and his lawyer said: ‘I can relay the request if you write an email, so I wrote this email to him saying: ‘Hey, we have this show… whatever.’”
Ben recalled receiving an email two days later from Barack, saying, “Hey Ben, big fan of the show, love season one, can’t wait for season two.”
However, Barack added, “Don’t think I have time in my schedule to make this happen.’”
“What’s more important than doing the voice-over for the animated building in Severance?” he quipped.
Ben mentioned, “But it’s pretty cool that he responded.”
Elsewhere on the show, Ben shared his working experience with Matrix star Keanu.
“We did it like a full-on recording session. He was in LA, I was in New York, but he went into the studio and did multiple takes. He took it very seriously. He’s the warmest and inviting voice,” said the 59-year-old.
Meanwhile, the second season of Severance can be viewed on AppleTV+.