Three weeks ago, Ben Stiller completed production on David Gordon Green’s “Nutcrackers” — his first starring role in over seven years.
Why the wide gap of absence in acting? That’s because Stiller has found a new calling as the director of smartly efficient television. 2018’s “Escape to Dannemora” was just a warmup for what he would do next.
In 2022, Stiller absolutely triumphed with his dystopian WTF-did-I-Just-watch sci-fi office drama “Severance.” The atmosphere of minimalist world-building was incredibly realized. The reviews that the series garnered were flat-out raves, it was one of the best, if not the best, show of 2022.
“Severance” left us with more questions than answers, but one need not worry as production on the second season is finally, and officially, underway. We can expect this new season to arrive sometime in 2025, three years after the first one premiered on Apple TV.
The plot follows Mark S. (Scott), an employee of the fictional corporation Lumon Industries who agrees to a "severance" program in which his non-work memories are separated from his work memories. The events that followed were indescribable in nature — asking just how much of ourselves should we actually give to our jobs.
The series, created by Dan Erickson and directed by Ben Stiller, stars Adam Scott, Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, Tramell Tillman, Jen Tullock, Dichen Lachman, Michael Chernus, John Turturro, Christopher Walken, and Patricia Arquette.
Stiller also has a fairly successful as the director of feature films, his credits include “Reality Bites,” “The Cable Guy,” “Zoolander” and “Tropic Thunder.”
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.