Severance: John Turturro Reveals Why Christopher Walken Is a Perfect Scene Partner

John Turturro helped secure Christopher Walken’s place on Severance purely for the joy of working with him again. In an interview with ComicBook ahead of the premiere of Severance Season 2, Turturro confirmed that he suggested Walken for the role of Burt Goodman. He said he finds it fun and easy to work with Walken, and that he cares about Walken enough to make their on-screen relationship work.

“I suggested Chris because I’ve worked with him, I think, five times before,” Turturro said. “I’ve directed him in three movies, we’re in two other movies together, and I’ve known him for a really long time, and I love working with him. When you have to play someone that you fall in love with, it’s great to have someone that you really care about and have a lot of fun with. I think when you have fun with people, you can go to different places, and there’s all these built-in obstacles that make the story quite evocative.”

For those interested, the movies Turturro directed Walken in are The Jesus Rolls, Romance & Cigarettes and Illuminata. The two movies they appeared in together were Gods Behaving Badly and Search & Destroy. Turturro continued to sing Walken’s praises, saying: “I love working with him because he’s kind of like a jazz player — you never know how he’s going to spin the ball, how he’s going to blow his horn. It’s a delight to work with him.”

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In reference to the show’s terms for the characters’ split personalities, Turturro said: “He’s someone who — we talk about ‘innie/outie,’ the child and the outside world — Chris is very much in touch with his inner child. There’s something really delightful about watching him, A man with all this experience, still have that childish joy. It’s really a great pleasure to work with him.”

Severance is a sci-fi thriller about a biotech company that has developed a procedure which can divide a person’s psyche, so that they don’t remember any of the time they spent at work and they can’t bring any sensitive information home with them. Turturro plays Irving Bailiff, a severed character who is attracted to Walken’s character Burt. The two don’t even know the sexual orientations of their personas on the outside, and any fraternization is forbidden during their conscious time as “innies.”

Severance Season 2 premieres on Friday, January 17th on Apple TV+. Season 1 is streaming there now.