Severancenewcomer Sarah Bock definitely did not see this coming.
“Truthfully, the Zoom audition I did, I thought that it went terribly, just becauseBen [Stiller]is such a chill and grounded and calm person. I don’t know why, but I took that as like, ‘Oh, he doesn’t like my audition,'” Bock admits. “But in reality, he’s just a very grounded guy. And it was great, it was very relaxed. But for some reason, I took it as — I’m not getting further.”
She landed the role after submitting a self-tape, doing a callback on Zoom with Stiller, who directs the show, and flying to New York City for a chemistry test withTramell Tillman(Mr. Milchick), who she would end up having a majority of her scenes with.
Within two months of submitting a self-tape, she was on set.
“For the first few scenes that I filmed where I have to really stare down people, that was kind of tough for me because they’re my icons,” she recalls of working with the Lumon employees for whom she’s the deputy manager:Adam Scott(Mark),John Turturro(Irving), Zach Cherry (Dylan) andBritt Lower(Helly).
Working with Scott, 51, was particularly nerve-wracking for her as a “huge fan.”
“I remember at one point, in the scene with the ball game where I have to stare at Adam for a really long time, intensely, I physically started shaking,” Bock says of the season 2 premiere scene. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this.'”
Eventually, her character’s signature intense, albeit blank, stare came easily. “By the end of filming, it became second nature and I was just side-eyeing people left and right, and I think I had to pull back at some point because Ben was like, ‘Okay.'”
There were other challenges though. “It was definitely a different experience to be the only kid on set and then also, in the scenes, have to boss them around,” she says of Scott, Turturro, Cherry and Lower, the macrodata refiners her character is in charge of.
“They obviously are so experienced and smart and have this wealth of knowledge about the industry and life in general, so I wanted to personally soak up as much of that as possible,” she explains. “So it was a weird shift in dynamics from before Ben would call action [I’d be] like, ‘Where do you guys think I should apply to college?’ And then ‘Action!’ and [I’m] telling them to go to the break room.”
Still, Bock says it was a “very lighthearted set” in her experience.
“Especially when I was filming with the MDR crew. Britt, Zach and Adam — they have this incredible gift where they can be talking and making jokes and doing bits right up until Ben yells action, and then they just snap into it. I don’t know how they do it. It’s so impressive.”
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source: people.com
