Editor’s observe: The beneath interview accommodates spoilers for Severance Season 2 Episode 7.Apple TV+’s Severance has no scarcity of twists and turns, however Season 2’s newest episode simply bought one step nearer to answering among the present’s greatest mysteries so far. Whereas Mark (Adam Scott) lies comatose as a consequence of his resolution to reintegrate his severed reminiscences, he flashes again to varied reminiscences of the time when he first met his spouse, Gemma (Dichen Lachman), in addition to their subsequent struggles with fertility. On the identical time, we’re lastly made privy to precisely the place Gemma has been inside Lumon all this whereas, being experimented on through a number of totally different rooms (and, apparently, a number of totally different severed personalities) by the creepy Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson), together with her whereabouts monitored by an all-too-watchful nurse (Sandra Bernhard). Whereas we might have extra of a way of what Chilly Harbor is, we’re nonetheless no nearer to determining how Mark — or his innie — goes to have the ability to save Gemma from Lumon’s clutches, particularly when she solely remembers being Ms. Casey after trying to flee to the severed flooring.

Forward of the premiere of “Chikhai Bardo,” Collider had the chance to talk with Severance cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné, who makes her directorial debut with the collection’ newest episode. Over the course of the interview, which you’ll be able to learn beneath, Gagné discusses why she initially had some apprehension about each becoming a member of Severance and directing “Chikhai Bardo” — and what proved to be the turning level for every resolution — in addition to the challenges and blessings that emerged over the course of creating the episode. She additionally explains why the flashback scenes had been shot on movie, her shocking connection to Mark and Gemma’s home, her visible affect for the seasonal montage sequence, and extra.

Collider: I learn that you simply initially had some apprehension about becoming a member of Severance; once you learn the pilot, you were not actually certain what you possibly can do with it. What was the turning level that satisfied you? Was it attending to work with Ben [Stiller] once more? Was that solely a part of it?

JESSICA LEE GAGNÉ: It was a really, very clear second. For me, the explanation I used to be… I really like Dan [Erickson]’s writing, do not get me unsuitable, it actually wasn’t him. I used to be actually considering from a cinematographer mindset. That is my story generally, with me and Severance. I feel I have been close-minded for a really very long time in my life, after which sure issues occurred, and this present has actually helped me open up my thoughts as a result of I had positively been burying components of myself. I really feel like I went via my very own model of what Mark’s lived in my very own life, which is bizarre. However the second after I bought enthusiastic about doing Severance is when I discovered this ebook known as Workplace by Lars Tunbjork.

The workplace aesthetic, previously… I do not suppose I had ever actually preferred what anybody had ever carried out. So, as a result of I had by no means seen something that I believed was visually fascinating, I wasn’t intrigued by… And I like to have the ability to craft, and I felt like I might be restricted, not with the ability to design lighting in each scene or design one thing new, as a result of I am obsessive about by no means doing the identical factor. And so, this was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. 4 individuals sitting at some desks with some white hallways? I do not know.” I really feel like that is each cinematographer’s nightmare. After which that ebook opened up my thoughts to the great thing about the workplace and what it could possibly be. From that, I simply saved discovering increasingly more visuals that had been simply so fascinating, and I actually leaned in. For me, that was the spark, that particular second.

Jessica Lee Gagné on Defining the Look of ‘Severance’ From Season 1

It seems like it is a present in contrast to something that we have seen earlier than. When it comes to even creating that particular language for the present, except for that ebook, once you had been fascinated by what Lumon was going to seem like, did you will have one private “aha” second that then turned a defining facet of Severance?

GAGNÉ: Yeah. I am a psycho in relation to places. I am each manufacturing designer’s worst nightmare, however Jeremy Hindle and I truly work rather well collectively, and now we have very related tastes, in order that made it straightforward. However I will stroll right into a location and if it isn’t the correct one, I really feel it, and I say, “It isn’t this one. We are able to shoot right here if you’d like, nevertheless it’s not this one. There’s higher.” It is like a factor within me. And Bell Labs… earlier than Jeremy was employed, we had been searching for preliminary places. The situation supervisor who was on the mission on the time knew that this was going to be probably the most difficult location to seek out. As a result of I do know places very properly, as a cinematographer, you are like, “Properly, that is my canvas, so I am going to verify now we have canvas.” So I bought very concerned and checked out all of the choices, and nothing was good, and I began getting anxious.

So I went on the web and I began to take a look at deserted malls in America as a result of I used to be like, “I really feel like there’s one thing with an deserted mall that we might do.” I went deep, very Severance fan-style, ended up on some weblog, and I discovered photos of Bell Labs, and it was deserted, and there have been bushes that had been planted that had been a part of the decor, and I used to be like, “Oh no, this location, it is simply going to be derelict, and we cannot be allowed to shoot in it, nevertheless it’s so good.” I googled it on Google Maps and noticed the overview of it and despatched that to Ben, and he was like, “Whoa.” As a result of once you see what it appears like from above, I used to be similar to, “That is insane. This place is loopy.” And it was an ex-pharmaceutical tech sort of firm. I used to be like, “What the hell? We’ve to no less than go.”

I despatched it to the situation supervisor, and he was on it straight away and got here again and mentioned, “Oh, this factor’s been renovated, and it is open.” So we went, and once we confirmed up there, it was simply mind-blowing as a result of it outlined so many issues. It was a present that the universe was giving us, this good location that we by no means thought [of], and it was in New Jersey.

How early did the dialog begin about you directing an episode of Severance? You’ve got been with the present from the start, however was that one thing that was being tossed round? Did you volunteer your self?

GAGNÉ: No, I did not. It was not my thought, and I used to be not eager to do it at first, however Severance has pushed me to do the entire issues I did not need to do — and perceive that the place there’s concern, it’s a must to lean into that. So I used to be afraid of directing. I went into movie faculty eager to be a director, after which in movie faculty, [you’re] not essentially having help, and being afraid, and never having any fashions. I am from Quebec, and it isn’t like, “Oh, you are clearly going to make it within the movie business.” It wasn’t apparent. I began getting work after I was in class as a cinematographer and on small issues. After which, I held onto that as a result of lots of people needed to work with me, and I used to be actually good on the visible stuff, and I quickly turned categorized because the visible one, and I used to be like, “Properly, that is tremendous. I truly love making visuals.”

So I went into that tunnel imaginative and prescient, however I forgot about what I actually needed. After which, when Season 2 got here round, I used to be like, “Oh, do I actually need to work once more? I did the entire first season.” I wasn’t certain about coming again for a second season, after which Ben got here round with the thought of me directing, and I needed to think about it. I learn the synopsis for [Episode] 7, and I felt an enormous reference to it, and I used to be like, “Oh, I really feel like I am supposed to do that episode.” After which there was the conclusion: “There’ll by no means be a safer place for me to make something than this. I do know everybody. I do know the solid, the writers, Ben.” Everybody who was round me believed in me and supported me, and that is what actually allowed me to do it.

Jessica Lee Gagné Explains Why ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 7’s Flashback Scenes Have been Shot on Movie

I needed to get perception into the way you filmed the flashback scenes on this episode as a result of, visually, they appear so totally different.

GAGNÉ: I am not the kind of one who pushes to shoot on movie to only shoot on movie. I really like the medium and I feel it is a privilege to work with it. This was a really contained factor in Severance, however the thought was: what gives you probably the most speedy pure feeling of nostalgia? What’s going to evoke that heat emotion inside individuals of reminiscences? There isn’t a higher medium than that. So it was an apparent selection, nevertheless it’s not a easy factor to cope with. However I feel it is what made it straightforward to shoot reminiscences with out having to slap on an aesthetic.

There was no exhausting, “Oh, we will deliberately do the whole lot in a different way as a result of it is the flashbacks.” No, it sort of occurred and developed naturally, and the thought was simply to maintain it a lot less complicated than the remainder of Severance and for it to only have levity and heat and lightness and spontaneity, that are all issues which are misplaced on the earth that Mark sees now. That is the way it took place — as a result of extra than simply the movie factor, there’s additionally how they had been shot very, very merely. The sound design, in the long run, is sort of like analog should you take heed to it, as a result of Severance is such a giant, full intense soundscape, after which once you go to this, they’re simply these easy life moments that aren’t heightened in any method.

There’s that montage sequence of Mark and Gemma’s relationship, which, inside the flashbacks, could be very placing by itself. Did you will have any specific visible influences once you had been approaching the development of filming that entire sequence of the passing seasons as their relationship evolves?

GAGNÉ: It is humorous. I lived in the home. It was the home I used to be residing in, and I lived in it with out realizing it was going to be within the present — after which, in talking with a manufacturing designer about what I needed the home to really feel like, he was like, “You notice you are describing your own home, and we will be capturing in your own home, proper?” Nevertheless it was a rental, it wasn’t mine, so it was this entire factor, nevertheless it had superb house owners, and this home was a real gem.

We knew that the problem with Severance was how a lot is in it narratively, [and] I used to be so afraid of lacking the mark of getting to inform this love story with very restricted scenes and likewise having to inform the story that tells the story inside the total present. The invoice was large. There’s an enormous idea on this episode about time, which is within the background, in the long run. It is how the episode’s constructed. It is an exploration of what time is as properly. However I lived in the home, and I wanted to shoot issues that confirmed the passage of time, or else this was going to be flat. So the gaffer lent me his Bolex and I shot time-lapses in the home. We would be capturing Severance, and within the morning, I might be popping off frames for my time-lapse. I truly left the digital camera there whereas there was snow falling, snow melting, and since I lived in the home, I might do this.

A variety of these further moments, I let Ben go off and shoot them whereas we had been doing different scenes. Whereas we might be engaged on lighting or no matter, he would go off and shoot some stuff with them exterior within the flowers and all these items. It turned a giant, large aspect mission collage factor that I knew was going to turn out to be helpful. I did not know the way, on the level and on the time. If I used to be going to provide you one tremendous vital visible reference, the essence, I work rather a lot with photographers, and Rinko Kawauchi, a Japanese photographer, is what I needed to evoke. In that scene the place there’s cherry blossoms behind them, there’s this large cherry blossom tree beside the home, and that is that entire gentle pastel feeling. That every one got here from her fashion of pictures.

I observed that you’re credited as each director and DP on this episode, so I did need to ask about placing a stability between carrying each hats. Was {that a} problem that you simply had been enthusiastic about, attending to play each of these roles?

GAGNÉ: There was one other DP serving to me with the movie unit. I knew the place I might draw the road when it comes to like, “Okay, that is going to harm me as a director,” and I by no means needed that to occur. Initially, I did search for a DP to come back in to do the entire thing, however I could not discover the correct individual. I’ll be actually choosy, and for me, having helped different DP’s come and work on the present, I see what it is wish to must information them and to have to clarify rather a lot. There’s a variety of respect, I feel, for the visuals of this present from cinematographers. And I simply knew that if it could not be one of many different two cinematographers [on Severance], it did not make sense. If it was going to be a brand new individual, I knew what I used to be going to must undergo, and I could not spend my time ensuring one other DP bought it.

I knew the crew so properly, and I used to be capable of be round and prep the places and the whole lot with the time that I wanted. I must change in gears when it was prep. “Okay, that is DP hat, it is a director hat.” However on set, I did reside a really fascinating expertise, and the place I felt it probably the most was Gemma’s suite and on the testing flooring, as a result of there, I used to be clearly each, and I needed to actually be talking as a director, and with actors post-replay. We’re rehearsing, I am with them, we’re discussing, after which I might change power or go to a different a part of my mind and be the DP. I might placed on my different headset, so I had context for the actors, after which I might have a headset for the crew. We’re a giant crew, so I’ve to speak to many, many individuals on the identical time to guarantee that the whole lot strikes. I might be switching that headset on and off, after which that is who I used to be in that second.

The one factor that I felt was very troublesome was once we had been capturing these scenes, at one level, I felt like the whole lot was shifting very quick and that I wasn’t having the time to take issues in — and I noticed it was as a result of I wasn’t having conversations with a cinematographer. Everybody has their fashion and method to issues, however after I work with administrators, we will watch the rehearsal after which focus on how we’ll shoot it collectively. And I did not have anybody to have that dialog with, as a result of I might go in already having a good suggestion of what I used to be going to do, however there was no bounceback. There was nobody validating my decisions. I turned to the script supervisor, Sam Evoy, and I used to be like, “I’ll begin speaking to you such as you’re my cinematographer,” as a result of she had my shot checklist and was capable of transfer via it with me. Often, with Ben, I will be the one like, “Okay, okay, now we have this, now we have that, now we have that. Are you making an attempt to do that or not?” He is aware of that there is one other one who has his again, ensuring, and I did not have that. Sam turned that for me, and it was actually helpful, and she or he truly accomplished me in a very nice method.

Jessica Lee Gagné Reveals the Greatest Threat of Directing ‘Severance’ Season 2 Episode 7

You simply talked about the way you had a reasonably sturdy thought of the way you needed to method the episode, however was there something that was a extremely large danger, or a daring selection that you simply made on this episode that you simply’d by no means made earlier than — whether or not it was a shot, filming a scene, or altering your method after you’d already determined to do it a technique?

GAGNÉ: I imply, it is the entire episode. I started working with Mark Friedman, one of many writers, and he and I, we had a extremely stunning course of that was very a lot ours. We each love among the extra out-there ideas of consciousness, and we’re not afraid of these issues, and I’m not afraid of exploring these issues within the camerawork. As a result of we labored collectively when it comes to the order of scenes and there was an open dialogue there, we had been capable of always… The prep that wanted to enter this episode was fairly large and fairly lengthy, however as a result of I used to be round, I could possibly be a part of that course of with him.

The factor I remembered and saved in my coronary heart the entire time — as a result of I needed to struggle for it generally, as a result of this was a scary episode for individuals to be like, “What are you doing?” [Mark] needed it to really feel like a whirlwind, and I used to be like, “Okay, I’ll run with that.” And I saved that and held onto it. The round thought got here from that, and spirals, and the way issues are saved and patterns are made inside time. That is what allowed me to get there with him, however a variety of the stuff we shot… I can let you know one second, however total, having to decide to the order of scenes was one of many large, large challenges, as a result of that was such an enormous dedication. We did, in the long run, shift some stuff, however it’s fairly near the unique order. Whenever you get to the edit, generally the pacing desires one thing totally different. Typically you are nearly revealing an excessive amount of, after which it’s a must to take away to strip it right down to make it extra fascinating or make it extra charming, and that is that different section of creation. However total, the thought of the transitions inside this piece made it extraordinarily dangerous as a result of generally, I did not have a backup plan. There was no finish of the scene if it wasn’t falling via a sofa, which, to me, sounds horrible, however I used to be like, “Crap, I’ve to point out the way you fall into your unconscious.”

I needed individuals to really feel issues on this episode, and the craziest, most intricate artwork… I actually had Ben’s help in doing this. He was like, “Properly, so long as you shoot it in digital camera, I feel it is tremendous.” He does not like issues which are too VFX-driven, and I needed to do one thing that will go from Ms. Casey and Mark after which into the cables and present the room beneath them, so that was all shot in digital camera, and it was very difficult to do. There are stitches, however nonetheless. After which the bathe scene, popping out from him, that sequence going from the miscarriage all the way in which to the blokes on the computer systems down there, that was a ginormous danger. I had no different… It was [either] that, or minimize it.

There’s a lot, narratively, happening on this episode. Some individuals’s first intuition is likely to be to take a look at this and really feel like it’s contained — and to some extent, it’s, however there’s nonetheless rather a lot that is driving the story ahead, particularly with the reveal of Gemma, and Mark in the course of this reintegration course of. Given the place this episode takes place within the season, do you’re feeling like that story alternative actually allowed you to embrace extra surrealness in order that you possibly can play with that nonlinear facet of reminiscence?

GAGNÉ: For certain. Due to his state and that second the place it occurs, yeah, and I feel that is why this episode is right here. Mark is journeying, and going into the unconscious, [and] we’re allowed to interrupt the timelines. I feel there’s a method of coming exterior of time. Time is linear inside our private expertise, however once you step out of it, once you exit of your physique, you will have entry to all of these items, they usually’re all occurring directly. What’s fascinating in regards to the episode is that I used to be capable of join sure reminiscences and feelings. Mark’s going via a particular emotion, and Gemma’s additionally going via this particular emotion, and what occurs the place these items interlace? However yeah, that opened the door.

New episodes of Severance Season 2 premiere Fridays on Apple TV+.