LOS ANGELES – John Turturro is a tall, elegant man with a very particular sense of humor. He carefully observes the world around him —no wonder, his first comment upon entering the interview room where Filmelier was present was that the roundtable didn’t live up to its name. “It’s more like a square. Though it curves a little at the very end,” he said, drawing laughter from the journalists present. He is also, quite evidently, anxious. He moves a lot, has a nervous tic on his face. And he makes it clear: series are not his thing.
“It was stressful,” the actor admits, in a Filmelier question, about the experience of making his series debut with Severance, now available with its second season on Apple TV+.
No ending
According to him, the big issue with doing a series —unlike movies and miniseries, where the whole story is well defined— is simply having no idea how his character’s journey will end. For an actor with decades of film experience, that’s particularly stressful, even when it comes to understanding who that character is. In Turturro’s case, he plays Irving Baliff in Severance, one of Lumen’s employees, who has an interesting development in the second season.
“I like to know what I’m doing, I like to know the full arc of the story, even if it’s ten hours long,” says the actor, always remembered for The Big Lebowski. “I admit I was hesitant to accept the project. Because I didn’t know how I’d react to that. I read several scripts, we talked about who would be my character’s love interest, and I suggested Chris [Walken]. When he said yes, I felt more comfortable.”
Later, in an informal conversation with the press, Filmelier asked if John would accept another offer to do a series. He answered right away: no. He prefers to focus on films and miniseries.
“I really admire people who can carry a TV series for years. Many times you don’t get the material in advance. We were lucky, we usually got the scripts ahead of time on Severance,” the actor explains with honesty. “Now, for me, it’s important to dive deeply into something. That’s one of the reasons why I love acting: to explore. And now, doing this series, I realize it’s a very rich universe.”
Beyond John Turturro in Severance
Despite the stressful experience of doing a series, Turturro says he has good memories and enjoyable stories from behind the scenes of Severance. In fact, he really enjoyed returning for the second season —and now, he’s already preparing for the third batch of episodes.
“For me, as soon as we got back on set, it felt like the first day of school after summer break,” the actor recalls, also in the Los Angeles interview. “I didn’t know exactly how I would feel, but as soon as I reconnected with the people I work with, everything became familiar right away. It was fun to talk about what the journey of the second season would be. And when I read the scripts, I was totally surprised by the twists.”
Warning: the text below may contain sensitive spoilers for the second season of Severance.
There’s also another interesting element in returning to work with the same team: building relationships. Christopher Walken, in fact, is the closest to Turturro on set because of their characters’ relationship, and he commented on their bond as actors.
“It was great. I’ve worked with Chris many times: I’ve acted with him, I’ve directed him, and I’ve always admired his work. He’s like a great jazz musician —you never know exactly what’s going to happen,” John says. “He has the experience of someone older, but also this almost childlike openness. That’s wonderful. When you act with someone like that, it’s like an even playing field: what he gives me and what I give him create the scene. Many times it’s not just you delivering a performance, it’s the other actor who takes you there.”
So, despite the stress of doing a series, Turturro seems genuinely happy. Even without knowing Irving’s ending, the actor finds relief in relationships, in encounters and connections. And in this way, Severance is worth it in Turturro’s career. “An actor’s life is very nomadic. Many times you really like someone, but you only see them again 20 years later,” he says. “[Doing the second season] was good to see everyone again. I was going through some things and it was very important to be in the company of people I already knew.”
