Washington DC [US], January 28 : Actor-director Ben Stiller imposed a 'no phone' policy at the sets of 'Severance' during the making of the series, reported Variety.
After a gap of almost three years, Ben Stiller's directorial 'Severance' made its return with the second season on Apple TV+ on February 18. During the making of the series, the director was quite strict with his crew members as he imposed a 'no phone' policy on the sets while the actor was enacting a scene on camera.
"Crew have to use phones sometimes to communicate, but, for me, I like no phones anywhere near the eyeshots of the actors. My least favourite thing is to see a dolly grip guy hunched down while an actor is acting their brains out, and he's scrolling or whatever. It drives me crazy," said Ben Stiller quoted by Variety.
He called it a necessary step in maintaining the environment for the actors and crew members on the sets while they give their all during the shooting of a scene.
"As a director, you want to protect that environment for the actors. But by the way, you also have to be respectful of the crew. These people are actually working really hard, and you have to figure out how to motivate them to want to be on the team. They haven't been with the script that you've been writing for five years. They just came on last week. So, it's on you as a director to figure out a way to get everybody on board," said Ben as quoted by Variety.
The director admitted that these strict measures on the sets were loosely inspired by filmmaker Noah Baumbach's filming style while he was working with him on 'Greenberg'.
Stiller starred in Baumbach's 2010 rom-com and recalled on Mike Birbiglia's "Working It Out" podcast that the director had "no chairs" on set as reported on Variety.
"I think it was like 10 days into shooting, and I'm like, 'Where's the chairs? Oh my God, there's no chairs here,'" Ben said. "And that's his choice because he doesn't want to have people sitting around."
However, the people still found a place to sit down, but it helped keep everyone focused and moving, added Ben. Inspired by these tactics, Ben decided to adopt the same during his directorial adventure comedy 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' a few years later.
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