Keanu Reeves may nicely be anybody’s first selection for something, however he wasn’t Ben Stiller’s.
The “Severance” co-creator revealed Monday on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that he truly had someone particular in thoughts for a refined celeb cameo throughout the Season 2 premiere in January — and that the “Matrix” star, who in the end took the half, mockingly wasn’t the one.
The position required a pleasing and docile voice to dub an animated video proven to staffers on the fictional Lumon Industries. Stiller, who government produces the present and has directed most of it, stated he needed none aside from former President Barack Obama to do it.
“I didn’t ask him in person. I knew someone who knew his lawyer, and his lawyer said, ‘I can relay the request if you write an email,’” Stiller informed Kimmel. “So I wrote an email to him saying, like, ‘Hey, we have this show,’ whatever.”
He continued, “And two days later, I get an email back from President Barack Obama.”
The previous president regretfully declined the half nonetheless, main Reeves to get the gig and encourage Lumon’s intrepid Macrodata Refinement employees. The scene spawned viral posts on X, previously Twitter, after it aired from excited customers who acknowledged him.
“Shouted ‘oh my god that building is KEANU REEVES!!!’ to my friend during Severance and she was like ??? and turns out I was right!!!! Insane episode,” wrote one person on the time, with one other posting: “Is that fucking Keanu Reeves in Severance season 2?!?!”
Stiller shared Monday that Obama informed him he was a “big fan of the show,” however that he couldn’t do the job due to a busy schedule, prompting Stiller to joke Monday, “What’s more important than … doing the voiceover for the animated building in ‘Severance?’”
Scott Olson through Getty Photographs
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“It was pretty cool that he responded,” Stiller earnestly added nonetheless.
Obama wouldn’t be the primary U.S. president to behave in a film or TV present, as Donald Trump had a cameo in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1990), Ronald Reagan famously was an actor earlier than getting into politics (1937-1965), and Joe Biden appeared twice on “Parks & Recreation.”
In 2018, Obama launched his personal manufacturing firm, Increased Floor Productions, which co-produced 2023’s “Leave the World Behind.” And the previous president wasn’t a silent accomplice: The director of the apocalyptic psychological thriller famous that sure script notes from Obama “scared the fuck out of me.”
