On Friday, January 17, the doors of Lumon Industries will be reopened and audiences will be welcomed back inside for Season 2 of Severance. The Apple TV+ series has been one of the streamer’s biggest hits, and with a killer script, dynamite cast, and perfect storytelling, it’s understandable why. Part of the glue holding the machine together is Ben Stiller, who has directed multiple episodes of the title and also serves as an executive producer. Over the last few years, the Zoolander star has been working overtime to ensure a solid comeback for fans to fully enjoy. But, with the second season’s premiere just around the corner, you may be wondering what he has up his sleeve next.
Asking the questions that we absolutely must know the answers to, Collider’s Steve Weintraub got to the bottom of Stiller’s plans during a recent chat for Escape From Dannemora (which is now streaming on Netflix). While he’s not completely sure what he’ll be up to next, the actor-turned-director has plenty of ideas rattling around in his brain. For starters, a true story may inspire his next directorial project, with Stiller explaining:
“I’ve got a couple of things that I’ve been wanting to do. One of them that I’ve been sort of nurturing and nursing along for a while is Slaying the Badger, which is about the 1986 Tour de France and Greg LeMond, the first American to win the Tour de France. That’s a story I really wanna tell, and that could be the next thing. But honestly, it’s been full-on working on Severance.”
But that isn’t the only project on the horizon for the Reality Bites helmer. We hope you have a box of tissues nearby because the other primary piece is bound to tug on your heartstrings.
“Then the other thing that I’ve been working on is this documentary about my parents. This is something I’ve been working on for the last almost four years, and I think we’re getting to the point now where I think I’m gonna finish it up in the first part of next year. That’s been taking up my time.”
An Ode To the Stiller Family Legacy
Many folks already realize that Ben Stiller comes from a famous family. His father, Jerry Stiller, was a comedic legend thanks to his roles in big-screen titles like Hairspray and TV shows including King of Queens, while also pairing up with his son on productions such as Zoolander and Hot Pursuit. Meanwhile, his mother, Anne Meara, was also an icon in her own right, having been nominated for four Emmys and one Tony thanks to her work in Kate McShane, Archie Bunker’s Place, Homicide: Life on the Street, and Anna Christie, respectively. A real family business, both of Stiller’s parents also worked alongside one another as comedians, going by the stage name, Stiller and Meara.
Obviously, covering the pair’s impressive lives will be a tough one, but Stiller has a solid handle on how he wants the project to shake out. It’s all about honoring their legacy and pulling back the curtain on who they were together, separately, and as parents.
“A lot of people know my dad from Seinfeld and King of Queens, and some people know my mom, and then some people of a certain generation know my parents together as a comedy team. It’s so much about their relationship and how they worked together and how they evolved as creative people while also having a marriage, and then also my own life and growing up in that, and how that’s sort of affected my own relationships. It’s really been an interesting process. I guess for me, now having lost both my parents, so many people don’t have all of this incredible archival footage of their parents that exist, so I feel very lucky to have that, but also, it’s kind of daunting to dig into all of it and get in there. It’s fascinating, too. It’s been a really interesting process.”
Stay tuned to Collider for more about the Stiller family documentary. In the meantime, you can watch Severance on Apple TV+ and look for our ful interview with Stiller soon.
Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives. When a mysterious colleague appears outside of work, it begins a journey to discover the truth about their jobs.
- Release Date
-
February 18, 2022
- Creator
-
- Seasons
-
1
- Story By
-
dan erickson
- Writers
-
Dan Erickson
- Showrunner
-
Dan Erickson
, Mark Friedman