"Severance": Adam Scott Was Inspired By Micheal Keaton In "Multiplicity"

What is your favorite television show? Is it a comedy or a drama? Or is it a combination of the two?

As Apple TV+’s Severance prepares for Season 3, star Adam Scott reveals a surprising inspiration behind his performance: Michael Keaton in Multiplicity. Known for playing multiple versions of himself in the 1996 comedy, Keaton’s method left a lasting impact on Scott’s approach to portraying Mark Scout — a man literally split between two identities.

“To keep track of Mark’s ‘innie’ and ‘outie,’ I bought a poster board and drew out two separate timelines,” Scott shared. “I heard Michael Keaton did something similar in Multiplicity, and it really helped.” He even annotated two different scripts to distinguish the psychological nuances of each persona.

Ben Stiller, the series’ director and executive producer, praised Scott’s detailed process: “Everyone has their own system, but Adam’s commitment goes deep. We all live with the show — it’s in us.”

This behind-the-scenes insight adds depth to a series already rich with psychological layers. Severance explores memory, identity, and the ethics of workplace control, and Scott’s Keaton-inspired method highlights the complexity of embodying fractured consciousness.

The series, now a cultural juggernaut with its theme song played at Knicks games and references embedded in office lingo, owes much of its success to performances like Scott’s — disciplined, deliberate, and deeply influenced by cinematic greats.

As writing for Season 3 continues, and potential spinoffs are teased by Stiller, fans can thank Michael Keaton, in part, for helping bring Mark Scout’s divided world to life.

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Source: Variety

Photo Credit: Apple TV+/Columbia