‘A Man’s Job Is a Man’s State’: ‘Severance’ Star Tramell Tillman on Milchick and What He’s Hiding
Tramell Tillman nearly missed the audition for Severance’s perma-smiling Mr. Milchick. On a frigid January day, he made a split decision to make the 15-minute commute on foot, rather than wait for a delayed train. Acting on instinct, much like his limber counterpart, Tillman ran through the industrialized South Bronx to the studio lot.
“There are shopping carts that are mysteriously flying by,” Tillman tells Rolling Stone. “There’s a gentleman who’s foaming at the mouth, wild fro. He’s pushing empty refrigerators on a cart, and he looks at me sideways, like something is wrong with me.”
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He charged on. A man offered to watch him tussle a stranger. He declined. He crossed a Bronx river passage only to arrive on the opposite side of the studio. By the time he barged in, his suit drenched with sweat, he realized that the team was behind schedule. “I’m out of breath, I’m a little dizzy, I’m dehydrated, but I made it,” he says. By the audition’s end, he’d made the show’s director, Ben Stiller, laugh. He felt like he already won.
In Severance, Tillman’s Mr. Milchick doesn’t have much time to catch his breath. The workplace comedy, helmed by Stiller and creator Dan Erickson, follows employees who undergo a surgical procedure that separates their work selves (“innies”) from their personal selves (“outies”). Mr. Milchick oversees the floor of Lumon Industries where severed employees Mark (Adam Scott), Helly (Britt Lower), Irving (John Turturro), and Dylan (Zach Cherry) collect data for an undisclosed purpose. In the show’s second season, Tillman replaces his cutthroat predecessor Harmony Cobel, played by Patricia Arquette, as department chief and takes on a young assistant, Ms. Huang (Sarah Bock). Before breaking out as the vocab-savvy, soft-spoken Lumon manager, Tillman picked up roles on shows like Elementary, Godfather of Harlem, and Dietland. The 39-year-old actor has had his fair share of odd jobs, including catering deviled eggs, waffles, and other treats, and teaching abstinence to high schoolers. He says he’s applied his classroom tactics to his sinister-smiling character.
“I was able to keep the kids a little off kilter so they didn’t really know how Mr. Tramell was going to show up in the space,” he says. “What I learned is that when you keep people guessing, you’re able to guide.”
In a video call from his New York apartment, wearing a vanilla bean turtleneck that resembled his character’s apparel, Tillman tells Rolling Stone about adjusting to the newfound fame, the show’s viral “defiant jazz” scene, and what his character might be hiding under his infinity grin.
You and the Severance cast were part of a Lumon office pop-up in New York’s Grand Central Station this week. How did that go?
My task was to not engage, to not break the fourth wall in this funny way, because we’re in this glass cube. Anytime, anywhere you look, you’re looking at people and they’re watching, but they were so enthralled and were just amazed by it. Ben was like a kid in a candy store. He was just bright-eyed, and like, “This is so cool.” So many people came out and stayed the entire time. I think we were there for three hours or so, and so you can tell there’s so much excitement behind this show.
That puts into perspective how big the series is and how much of a fandom it’s developed since it launched in 2022.
The fandom is intense. Unrivaled. The Reddit thread around this show is so extensive, and the only reason why I know about it is because friends of mine, and colleagues, will say, “Tramell, you got to see what they’re saying about the show.” And there’s a plethora of theories and ideas and concepts, and the fan art is so creative.
What theories have you found around your character?
There’s a theory that’s going around saying there’s multiple Milchicks on the severed floor and I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting.” One of them said that, in the outie world, Milchick and Dylan are actually partners. They’re actually lovers. So a lot of them are all over the place, and they’re just way off. But it’s fun to be able to hear people’s thoughts.
What has it been like working with Patricia Arquette?
She’s a mama bear. She is so funny and unpredictable, it’s a joy to watch her on set because I never know what she’s going to do. I never know what she’s going to say. She has such care for us as a cast. I remember when we were in the middle of filming, and we were talking about the vaccines, because this is when Covid vaccines were first starting to become available, and she said, “You have to get a vaccine. We have to make sure everyone is OK. Did you check? Did you check?” Well, there’s a whole waitlist? She was like, “No. No. You’re getting a vaccine.” She just made sure everyone was well taken care of.
And what about the new hire Ms. Huang, who’s played by 18-year-old Sarah Bock?
Sarah’s fantastic. She’s great. She is wicked smart. She’s an incredible Wordle player; she gets the word like that, such an inspiration and she loves the work. I wish that Milchick felt the same way about Ms. Huang as I feel about Sarah. It was really fun to be able to play off of each other. Ms. Huang represents the same energy that Milchick represented for Cobel.
How would you describe Mr. Milchick’s approach to leading the severed floor, compared to Ms. Cobel?
Cobel is a lot more old-school, by-the-book, stern, as you said. Whereas Milchick’s approach is a bit softer, more jovial — reward with kindness, if you will. There’s that old saying, “You get more flies with honey,” that kind of approach.
Something I still want to know is if Milchick aligns with Lumon or its severed employees.
I don’t think it’s clearly defined. You can’t do what this man does and not have a sense of passion for it. This man revitalized the whole break room. He built a visitation suite. He developed a PR campaign to paint the innies as heroes. Yeah, there’s something there. I don’t know what that something is, but that, to me, speaks to care, it speaks to attention, it speaks to focus. You wouldn’t do that if this was a part-time job.
In Episode Three, Milchick experiences an unsettling exchange with the Lumon board. What does this say about what he might be masking under that grin?
Instinctually, I have to say identity. It’s really powerful that the first line of this show is, “Who are you?” I believe Milchick has totally invested in Lumon. It’s become his identity.
I remember my uncle had said, “A man’s job is a man’s state.” His identity is tied to his work. If he does not work, a man is no longer a man. I was a kid when I heard it, but I think that speaks a lot. It’s an old-school way of thinking, and he’s a different generation, but I think that also speaks to where Milchick is.
The “defiant jazz” scene from Season One has become a phenomenon. Could you break down how that scene came to be?
The script literally said “music dance experience.” So it was up to myself, Ben, Britt, John, Zach, and Adam to really figure out, what does this mean? So they brought in a choreographer just to help build a shape. Tara Harte-Rodriguez stepped in to figure out, how does Milchick move?
The idea is that it would start small and just get bigger and you would slowly invite other people to the party. So I started with Brit, then Adam, then John, and then Zach, and then it exploded. So what you saw was really on-the-spot acting. The lights turning on, that was in the moment. I didn’t even know the lights did that. I had no idea. So when I pushed the button, I was like, “Oh my gosh. Oh, that’s cool,” It was like, “Let’s just start this party. Let’s get it going.”
With the pandemic, the writers’ and actors’ strikes, and other delays, it’s been three years since audiences have spent time with the show. How did you return to the character?
I don’t think I ever let him go.
How’s that?
Well, because there’s so many questions I have about this character, there’s so many thoughts, theories. While it’s great to be able to talk with Ben and Dan about their thoughts of the character, and I would present my ideas, it’s all still unsolved, and because it’s unsolved, I’m still digging. And because I’m still digging, it’s challenging for me to just let it go.
You’ve had guest roles in Elementary and Godfather of Harlem, starred in Dietland, but how do you feel about this potentially being your breakout role at this point in your career?
I’m floored. Sometimes I sit and I’m like, “How did this happen?” I remember when I was at Comic-Con in Brazil, and we were backstage, waiting to go onstage. I could hear the anticipation and the excitement, people screaming and so excited about this show. And I went over to Dan, and I said, “Dude, what have you done?” I mean, I could not have anticipated that this show would blossom and take off the way it did, and there’s no way that anyone would have known that. I knew that it was special.
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