Apple TV’s highly anticipated show Severance season 2 has made a triumphant return after nearly three years. The season premiere kicked off with Adam Scott’s character sprinting frantically through the halls of Lumon Industries’ severed building, channeling his inner Tom Cruise.
The scene from Severance Season 2 has become the talk of the town as people draw similarities between Scott’s sprinting with Tom Cruise’s well-known action sequences, a comparison that Scott also acknowledges.
The scene is undeniably a visual masterpiece of exceptional cinematography and camera work. The impact is so significant that people started doubting the possibility of using CGI. However, the allegation was debunked when director Ben Stiller and Scott broke down the opening scene in an interview, followed by a BTS video.
Ben Stiller and Adam Scott break down the Severance season 2 opening scene, debunking the allegation of using CGI
In an exclusive video by Vanity Fair, Severance director Ben Stiller, and lead actor Adam Scott thoroughly break down the intricate work behind the viral scene. Stiller explains how they captured this dynamic shot using a massive piece of equipment called a bolt arm.
The device is a motion-control robotic arm that is huge and occupies a considerable amount of space. Stiller also shared it needs rigorous safety protocols, once it starts programming it can’t be stopped– “So there are a lot of safety checks you do beforehand.” There are a lot of rehearsals behind it–
Yeah, we had to rehearse it many, many times so I knew exactly where to be at any given moment, ’cause this thing would just go right through you.
Stiller also broke down some important moments where they used CGI and their stance on visual effects.
We don’t like to use visual effects too much in the show in terms of creating backgrounds and environments, but we needed to for this shot because of the Bolt arm taking up all the space.
In the transition scene, they used a pogo stick gimbal instead of Steadicam because “it’s just too hard to run with Steadicam”.
A lightweight camera on a stick was used to shoot the full-speed chase.
Ben Stiller revealed that the running sequence of Severance season 2 took five months to shoot
The running sequence may appear a single continuous shot but it was more than 10 different pieces of shots–
The 10 or so different pieces of this shot were done across four or five months, depending on when in the schedule we could fit in with our specific set up of the hallway sets.
The Night at the Museum actor shared each segment demanded unique setup adjustments within the claustrophobic maze of hallways. Honestly, the set was a real maze of hallways which is intact and claustrophobic. He revealed the complexity of the shoot, stating that walls had to be removed to accommodate the bulk of the bolt arm, requiring a certain rescheduling.
There are also some scenes that involve no set with Scott running on the treadmill against a CGI background. They had to use harnesses to run as fast as possible.
Scott had a lot of running shots in the scene. He shared that he even picked up on a certain signal indicating when his running shot would occur, “I always knew something was coming when someone would come up to me and say, wait, what is your favorite color of Gatorade again”?
A behind-the-scenes clip is also going viral on the internet that clearly shows the use of cameras in the running shot, dismissing the allegation of using CGI.
One Twitter user also pointed out the scene where Scott had to turn and run toward the camera in the hallway proving further the absence of CGI.
Although Scott did not take any formal training for the running scene, he credited Tom Cruise as a significant source of inspiration. On the other hand, the eye-watering budget of the second season proved to be worthy with such high-paced scenes and brilliant cinematography. The second season is already making the rounds with exceptional high rates and there is no doubt that season 3 will be another high-budgeted masterpiece.
The duo also thanked the collaborative efforts of cinematographer Jessica Lee Gange, production designer Jeremy Lee Hendel, and the visual effects team. The team really needs a big bucket of appreciation for crafting such a visually stunning sequence.
Severance is available to stream on Apple TV+.
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