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Severance director Ben Stiller has revealed that former President Barack Obama was asked to be the voice of The Lumon Building in the hit show.
In season two of the Apple TV+ series, during the Lumon Is Listening video, Keanu Reeves voices a cartoon version of the Lumon building, which is shown to staff to attempt to prove to them that the company cares about them.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Stiller was asked if it really was the John Wick actor in the role, given that he was uncredited. “Yes, how cool is that?” he confirmed. “We reached out to him and he was like ‘Yeah, ok I’ll do it’ and 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”.
When asked if Reeves was the first choice, he replied: “It was a very short list of people. There was one person that I asked before (Keanu Reeves), and he said no: President Barack Obama”.
He recalled the process of getting in touch with the politician, saying: “I didn’t ask him in person. I knew someone who knew his lawyer, and his lawyer said ‘I can relay the request, would you write an email?’ So I wrote an email to him”.
He continued: “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’”.
The comedy star then joked: “What’s more important than doing the voice-over for the animated building in Severance?” before admitting: “It was pretty cool that he responded”.
Severance has been winning rave reviews from fans, with a recent episode being hailed as a “masterpiece”. Recently, Odesza shared an eight hour “music to refine to” mix from the show.
The post Barack Obama is a ‘Severance’ fan but turned down cameo: “Don’t think I have time in my schedule” appeared first on NME.