Ben Stiller reveals Barack Obama rejected role in ‘Severance’
Ben Stiller has revealed that Barack Obama was initially his first choice to voice a small yet important role in the second season of Severance.
Stiller is the director and executive producer of the record-breaking Apple TV+ show which he promoted earlier this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live. During the conversation, Stiller shared that he contacted Obama with an offer to voice the animated version of the Lumon administrative building, which is shown to staff in an instructional video.
The actor and director stated he had a “very short list of people” in his mind for the role, which eventually was filled by second-choice candidate Keanu Reeves.
“There was one person that I asked before, and he said no,” Stiller told Kimmel. The Zoolander star then explained the convoluted process he undertook to contact Obama, stating, “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.”
Naturally, Stiller did not expect the former President to accept the offer, and he was right to suspect it would be rejected. However, he was impressed that Obama went out of his way to politely decline the opportunity rather than ignore it.
“Two days later, I get an email back from President Barack Obama saying: ‘Hey Ben, big fan of the show, love season one, can’t wait for season two. Don’t think I have time in my schedule to make this happen,'” he added.
Stiller also laughed while joking, What’s more important than doing the voice-over for the animated building in Severance?” On a sincere note, he continued, “It’s pretty cool that he responded.”
Last month, it was revealed that the ongoing second season of Severance has surpassed Ted Lasso to become the most-watched series on Apple TV+.
Matt Cherniss, head of programming at Apple TV+, said in a statement: “We have long admired Ben’s extraordinary gift for original and immersive storytelling, and with he and Dan at the helm, Severance has proven to be an extraordinary success and a cultural phenomenon. The series has become an obsession for audiences all over the world and we can’t wait for people to continue to experience all the masterful twists and turns as the rest of the season unfolds.”
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