Ben Stiller gets honest about ‘no phone’ policy on ‘Severance’ set

Ben Stiller has recently made shocking confession about his strict policy while filming hit show, Severance.

Speaking on the latest episode of Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out podcast on January 27, Ben, who directs and executive produces the Apple+ show, revealed that he followed “no phone” policy as he adopted director Noah Baumbach’s style.

The Zoolander star said that the movie crew could only use phones “sometimes to communicate,” but he never liked phones anywhere near the eyeshot of the actors.

Ben shared that his “least favourite thing” was to see a “dolly grip guy hunched down while an actor is acting their brains out, and he’s scrolling or whatever”.

“It drives me crazy,” declared the 59-year-old.

Elaborating on why Ben didn’t prefer cell phones on set, Ben said that performing in front of the camera is “such a vulnerable thing”.

“As a director, you want to protect that environment for the actors,” continued the Madagascar star.

Ben pointed out that it’s important to be respectful of the crew.

“These people are actually working really hard, and you have to figure out how to motivate them to want to be on the team,” mentioned The Cable Guy actor.

Ben opened up that the cast “haven’t been with the script that you’ve been writing for five years”.

“They just came on last week therefore, it’s on you as a director to figure out a way to get everybody on board,” added the actor and director.