Britt Lower, the leading actress in this season’s breakout series ‘Severance’ reveals the secrets of Helly R and Helena

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Matt Wilkinson sits down with Britt Lower on Apple Music 1 to talk about the Apple TV+ series, ‘Severance’. During the interview they talk about how Britt uses music to get into her character(s), how she is inspired by Patti Smith and how she would love to play her in a biopic. Britt also talks about her dual role in ‘Severance’ and how she prepares for it, the mysteries of the series and working with Ben Stiller.

How she uses music and art to get into character

I use music a lot, but especially with ‘Severance’. This is a series that deals with the subconscious. Helly R wakes up on an office table not knowing who she is. She doesn’t know her personal history, her literal history, but she has an energy and a nature that are quite definitive, and from the beginning in the script, she is defiant. She moves through the universe of the story with a forward direction, with a kind of frequency that I could pick up through music. I also did a lot of gestural drawings and paintings, especially when I was understanding the first season, because again, she doesn’t know who she is, but there is an innate rhythm in her. And I found it through a lot of Patti Smith’s music; her album Horses was very present in me when I met Helly R and it is still an important part of how she sounds in my head.

How Patti Smith’s Horses album inspired her portrayal of Helly R

It has energy and it also has a certain kind of rhythm. There are a lot of elements there that fascinate me, but that driving force is the main one. You can feel it when Helly R walks down the corridors, and also that sense of joyful defiance, I guess.

I think, like many artists, I was inspired by her book Just Kids and I dove right in. I also performed a play that she wrote with Sam Shepard called Cowboy Mouth at Webster Hall in New York over a decade ago. I adore her deeply. I met her once briefly, maybe twice, and I melt when I see her because I’m such a big fan. It would be an honor to play her in her biopic.

How Big Thief’s Change inspired her

I love their sound and the poetry. I’m looking at the lyrics here: “Would you live forever and never die while everything around you passes? Would you smile forever, never cry while everything passes?” I think that’s at the core of the theme of ‘Severance’: is it worth avoiding the uncomfortable parts of life or are those the ones that really define you? Would you want to be in the sun all day and never experience the moon? Yes. A little dialogue between Helly and Helena. “And death as a door,” when you go through that door in our series, that’s a death.

Working with Ben Stiller

Ben Stiller is brilliant. I think he’s one of the great directors of our time. It’s been a pleasure to build this world with him and to see the team he’s formed through all the departments: the costumes, the hair team, the make-up team, the design team… they’re all equally obsessed with making the series, and there’s a good balance between serious work and serious play, which I think is important. He really enjoys what he does, and I think that’s a great quality.

Britt Lower on the mysteries of ‘Severance’

It’s full of questions. I think what’s exciting is that people are also asking those questions. It’s a series about identity. The first question Helly is asked at that table is “who are you?” And that’s a question these characters are unraveling for themselves throughout both seasons.

On his dual role in Severance

I have to thank the writers for giving me this 5D chess game. It’s an exciting challenge. I think we all have different parts of ourselves that show up at different times in our lives. I think the contrast in this character is so pronounced because, as viewers will understand if they’ve watched the series, (sorry if I’m spoiling it), Helena was raised in a total control group within the family at Lumon, and that made me think she had the most intense rebel buried inside her, and maybe she was never allowed to express that part of herself, or maybe not since she was very young. So again, I go back to the inner child, what is that raw nature of this person that awakens as a new consciousness in the first episode? And you can see her going through those hallways and breaking windows.

About preparing for the role and his first days in the show’s production

I got the pilot episode and then shortly after I got the first few episodes when we were about to start production, but then the pandemic hit, and the writers were able to complete all the episodes before we started filming, which is pretty rare in television. So I had all the scripts from the beginning and created a map, almost like a little graphic novel on my wall, with all of Helly’s actions throughout season one, so I could see how she physically moved through space, which was helpful when we shot out of order. I guess the work-life balance was a little off, but it was an exciting challenge. We were in a literal bubble, especially in the first season because of the pandemic. A lot of the sterility of Lumon, I think, was reflected in the way we filmed. We were all wearing masks and shields, there were air purifiers, and we were all adapting to these strange new protocols. All of that contributed to Helly R’s inspiration to think, “What the hell is going on? Get me out of here.”

Attention to detail on set

I haven’t worked in an office as such, but I love office supplies. That was my favorite part, going back to school and buying my folder, my pens and my notebooks. I love that aspect. Our desks are super inspiring. Everything has the Lumon logo on it, so when you look at your desk, you find all those little treasures. Everything is so meticulously done. I asked before I picked them up “can I keep this Sharpie?” I kept a couple of Sharpies.

Helly R or Helena

I’ve spent more time with Helly R, so I can’t help but be a little biased, and it’s so much fun to walk the halls like her. But I also have a lot of empathy for Helena. There’s a lot of longing inside her to, I think, be different than she is. And that’s really fascinating to me. I’m also really interested in her curiosity about Helly R, that kind of wondering if there’s a different or better version of herself and feeling conflict with that version. I mean, they’re both fun, it’s like a 5-dimensional chess game and all the moves are fun.

On whether he knows what’s coming next or if it’s an unknown like for the audience

A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B. I’m also going to be in the point of discovery, but I know some general directions. I think the coolest thing is the end of season two… we come to a fork in the road and we take one of the paths, but then there will be more forks to come. So I, as a fan of the series, think my imagination is full of many directions, wondering where everyone is going.

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