Ben Stiller enforced this rule on Severance set after one thing “drove him crazy”

Severance Season 2 was a long, complicated shoot. So, to prevent his cast and crew from getting distracted, director Ben Stiller borrowed a rule from Christopher Nolan.

If you’re wondering why Severance took so long to come back, there are three reasons: the Hollywood strikes, rumored animosity between Dan Erickson and Mark Friedman, and its complex production.

For context, each episode cost a whopping $20 million, making it one of the most expensive shows made for a streaming service (as we noted in our Severance Season 2 review, it looks amazing, so at least they made good use of the enormous budget).

With so much at stake (not just money, but the weight of fans’ expectations), Stiller wanted everyone working on the series to stay focused and busy – so he banned the one thing everyone has.

Ben Stiller banned phones on Severance set

Stiller enforced a “no phones” policy on Severance Season 2, and he had a great reason.

“Crew have to use phones sometimes to communicate, but, for me, I like no phones anywhere near the eyeshot of the actors,” he explained on Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast.

“My least favorite 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.”

Stiller added that acting is “such a vulnerable thing”, so he always wants his actors to feel safe and secure – however, he also acknowledged the crew’s needs.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Stiller took another rule from Nolan and Noah Baumbach: there are no chairs on his sets. To be clear, people can still find a place to sit down, but he’d rather everyone was always moving.

Until the next episode of Severance drops, check out our recaps of Episode 1 and Episode 2 and find out more about Miss Huang’s actress and Cold Harbor.