Adam Scott was surprised by his “Severance” co-stars, who sent in videos congratulating him on his Canal+ Icon Award at Canneseries.
“You are so deserving of this award. You make coming to work feel like going to summer camp – a weird summer camp where we have no access to sunlight. You lead with kindness, hard work with joy, and I’m often distracted by how good you are at acting and how slowly you walk down the hallways,” said Britt Lower, who also had a question for Scott:
“How much of your day is built on routines versus spontaneity?”
“That’s bullshit about me walking slowly down the hallways,” he laughed.
“I am a creature of routine. When we’re shooting the show and I’m on my own in New York, I like to do laundry. It helps me wind down. When I ran out of stuff to wash, I would go around looking for towels or anything to put in the washing machine. Routine suits me.”
Tramell Tillman had another question, referencing the fruit basket used to convince Scott’s character Mark to return to Lumon. “What fruit, or food item, would convince you to do something you find appalling or dubious?”
“I love ants on a log, which is celery with peanut butter and raisins. But is it delicious enough to make me do something morally dubious? Maybe a Rice Krispies treat?”
During a masterclass at the French fest, Scott said he had no idea “Severance” would become such a hit.
“Man, I really didn’t know. I don’t think any of us did. We all thought it was weird and it could be met with a shrug. At the back of my mind, I thought people were going to point, laugh, make fun of us and run away. That was my ultimate nightmare,” he confessed.
“With the reaction to Season 1, and then the reaction to Season 2 being even bigger, I am just in a constant state of relief. That people connected to it, and got it, is just amazing. And the fans are really creative and it triggers their imagination. I couldn’t ask for more.”
However, he still doesn’t feel like part of pop culture.
“That’s hard for me to wrap my head around. I engage with pop culture so much, so to think I’m woven into its fabric for some people is weird and difficult to recognize.”
He also doesn’t think of himself as an icon.
“It’s strange to have something with a word ‘icon’ on it. I still feel exactly as I did when I was 20 years old, looking for an agent and not knowing if any of it would ever come together. It doesn’t feel like 30 years have gone by.”
Scott opened up about his beginnings, recalling an early obsession with “E.T.”
“It’s the first movie I saw by myself. I had coerced every single adult in my life to take me to see it. Anyone who was a family friend or a relative, it didn’t matter. If you were able-bodied and my mum said it was O.K., you were taking me to see it. One day, when I was sulking because I hadn’t seen it for a day or two, my mum said: ‘Why don’t you just see it by yourself?’ It was a transformative experience.”
For the longest time, he didn’t tell anyone he wanted to become an actor.
“I kept it a secret. It was embarrassing. I kept it to myself for years and years. But I always felt like I could do it, ever since I saw ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’”
“My mum was the first person I told. I was watching the Academy Awards and River Phoenix was nominated for ‘Running on Empty.’ I was so proud to see him, this kid, nominated for an Academy Award for this extraordinary performance. I said: ‘Hey, I think I can do that.’ She replied: ‘Yeah, I know. And now you have to go to bed.’ She was always so outrageously supportive.”
He didn’t really understand the odds he was dealing with. “I had this unearned, bulletproof confidence, but I was also wildly insecure. It was this combination that kept me going.” So at first, he tried to mimic his hero: Ethan Hawke.
“In 1994, when I was just starting out, ‘Reality Bites’ had just come out. He was the coolest person I had ever seen. I wanted to dress like that, talk like that. I wanted to emulate him. I was so unsure of everything, and what he was doing felt like something solid I could latch onto. It took me years to realize that, if you want to present authentic work as an actor, you can’t be emulating anyone. The one power you have is yourself.”
He doesn’t really compare himself to others anymore.
“That’s a short road to one place: misery. In show business, you could easily get caught up in jealousy. But that misses the whole point. What you bring to the table is yourself. It took me 12, 15 years to realize that, in order to do this properly, I have to be willing to share everything inside of me.”
“Step Brothers” was another crucial experience, one that “turned everything upside down” for him as an actor.
“These guys were having so much fun. They would do one or two scripted takes, and then throw everything up in the air, improvise and screw around. I’d never thought about it way. I was so rigid, always trying to get it right. I compare it to learning how to throw a javelin at the Olympics, with all the cameras and the audience. But by the time that movie ended, I never wanted to go back.”
Still, you never feel like you’ve made it. At least in this industry.
“I don’t think anyone does. Everyone always feels like they are on somehow shaky ground. That’s part of the excitement of it – everyone’s a little unsure.”
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