Severance season two’s premiere featured a surprising performance by a beloved Hollywood star. Keanu Reeves voiced a claymation version of Lumon’s headquarters in a video severed refiners watched after their Macrodat Uprising. At least, we were pretty sure that was Reeves. The part was uncredited and no one from the show would admit to what we all seemed to know. Now, series director and executive producer Ben Stiller has finally confirmed that really was the John Wick star we heard. But he also said Reeves wasn’t the first choice for the role. It was actually former President Barack Obama who turned down the chance to work for an evil corporation in Severance.
Ben Stiller finally confirmed Keanu Reeves involvement on Severance when he appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live. That’s where Stiller also told the story about how the series first choice for the part was Barack Obama. Stiller said he reached out via some backchannels to offer the role to the former POTUS and that Obama personally emailed him back two days later. A laughing Stiller said Obama wrote, “Hey Ben, big fan of the show, love Season 1, can’t wait for Season 2. Don’t think I have time in my schedule to make this happen.”
Absurd. Like Stiller said, “What’s more important than doing the voice-over for the animated building in Severance?”
The reason the show reached out to Obama is the same reason they hired Reeves (whom Stiller said took the very silly job very seriously). “We always wanted it to be somebody that people have certain associations with, but also, it had to be a very warm presence,” he told Jimmy Kimmel. “The Lumon building is very friendly in the context of this video, and there’s a friendliness to that particular voice and a heart to that particular voice.”
That makes perfect sense. Unlike Barack Obama turning down the opportunity to appear on one of TV’s best shows. If Severance makes a similar offer for season three, we doubt he’ll make that mistake again.
The post Ben Stiller Asked Barack Obama to Voice a Character on SEVERANCE appeared first on Nerdist.
Source: Kiat Media
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