Tim Cook quits Apple for Lumon Industries in 'Severance' promo

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"Severance" director Ben Stiller has shared a video of Apple CEO Tim Cook's new morning routine, as he goes from being an outie to an innie, in the now famous Lumon elevator.

Smiling older man with short white hair and glasses, wearing a black shirt, standing against a plain, softly lit background.
Tim Cook in the "Severance" elevator -- image credit: Apple



"Severance" has played host to skits before, with Stephen Colbert including an extended sequence of him working at Lumon Industries. But for season 2 of the Apple TV+ hit, it was no longer enough to get a comedian in on the act, the show had to go right to the top.

Was helping this new guy find his office this morning pic.twitter.com/ldBBvH7AmU

-- Ben Stiller (@BenStiller)



As shown by the show's director and executive producer Ben Stiller, Cook goes through the transition most of the drama's characters do. He got in the elevator as his outie, his non-work self, and during the ride is changed to his innie, his working mind.

In truth, the move is an astonishingly complex piece of cinematography. While viewers are always aware of how the background of the elevator moving unnaturally, what's happening is that a zoom lens is being extended.

It's similar to the shot made famous in "Jaws" where the camera focuses in on Roy Scheider's character while the background seems to rush away from him. With "Severance," the move is more subtle, though.

Rather than an overt zoom, the elevator shots in the show begin at quite an extreme zoom. Then there is a subtle extension of the zoom and it means we see only a small difference in characters' faces.

The rest of the move is sold by the actors themselves, who portray someone switching between these modes. Tim Cook is actually remarkably good at this, to the extent that you can see his personality changing in front of you.

It just isn't going to change all that much. While Cook has recently begun to open up more about his life, he's always the unalterably perfect spokesperson for Apple.

The video is less than 90 seconds long but you know it took hours to film. Plus it appears to be on the "Severance" sets, so Cook will have had to fly to New York to shoot it.

There's no clue as to when the video was filmed but whenever it was, it was at least a day out of the busy CEO's schedule. Maybe as he stood there, imagining life as an outie, he remembered his saying in 2021 that he'd probably be leaving Apple in the next ten years.

If Ben Stiller ever lets him leave without severance pay.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    Tim Cook is the ultimate CEO.. he puts his personal feelings on hold and just does what has to be done . I imagine him washing his hands for 2 minutes and maybe up chucking after dealing with the petty orange dictator.
    M68000jas99grandact73watto_cobraJanNL
     2Likes 3Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 2 of 16
    Xedxed Posts: 2,967member
    After his personal $1M donation I can see why he wanted to get severed.

    In all seriousness, is that the hallway from Severance? It looked different than I remember. If it's not the same, why didn't they use the same set?
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 16
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 7,018member
    I think that's the biggest smile I've ever seen from Cook.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 16
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,826member
    I had AppleTV when they gave me a free account and even purchased a paid subscription for a few months. They have some great content. I remember enjoying Ted Lasso, Silo, Severance, the sci-fi series but can't recall the name, and a few more. But my main issue with AppleTV is you can pretty much watch all the content fairly quickly. There is just not enough to justify paying for it monthly. I am already paying for Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, and Max which all have much larger libraries. Hard to justify AppleTV with its small library of shows. 
    williamlondonteejay2012darbus69lolliver
     0Likes 4Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 16
    Xedxed Posts: 2,967member
    gwmac said:
    I had AppleTV when they gave me a free account and even purchased a paid subscription for a few months. They have some great content. I remember enjoying Ted Lasso, Silo, Severance, the sci-fi series but can't recall the name, and a few more. But my main issue with AppleTV is you can pretty much watch all the content fairly quickly. There is just not enough to justify paying for it monthly. I am already paying for Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, and Max which all have much larger libraries. Hard to justify AppleTV with its small library of shows. 
    You pay month-to-month so you can watch their high quality content at a very low cost over the course of a year if you plan a little bit.
    edited January 24
    williamlondonwatto_cobradewmelolliver
     4Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 16
    loopless said:
    Tim Cook is the ultimate CEO.. he puts his personal feelings on hold and just does what has to be done . I imagine him washing his hands for 2 minutes and maybe up chucking after dealing with the petty orange dictator.
    Huh??
    williamlondonblastdoor
     0Likes 2Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 16
    gwmac said:
    I had AppleTV when they gave me a free account and even purchased a paid subscription for a few months. They have some great content. I remember enjoying Ted Lasso, Silo, Severance, the sci-fi series but can't recall the name, and a few more. But my main issue with AppleTV is you can pretty much watch all the content fairly quickly. There is just not enough to justify paying for it monthly. I am already paying for Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, and Max which all have much larger libraries. Hard to justify AppleTV with its small library of shows. 
    ATV+ is the cheapest $9.99/m and ‘it’s small library’  feels like an outdated opinion. There’s plenty of fantastic stuff and not enough time in a month to watch things.

    I’m jealous people have that much time on their hands to watch that much TV lol
    williamlondonBart Ywatto_cobraradarthekatblastdoorlolliver
     6Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 16
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,826member
    gwmac said:
    I had AppleTV when they gave me a free account and even purchased a paid subscription for a few months. They have some great content. I remember enjoying Ted Lasso, Silo, Severance, the sci-fi series but can't recall the name, and a few more. But my main issue with AppleTV is you can pretty much watch all the content fairly quickly. There is just not enough to justify paying for it monthly. I am already paying for Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, and Max which all have much larger libraries. Hard to justify AppleTV with its small library of shows. 
    ATV+ is the cheapest $9.99/m and ‘it’s small library’  feels like an outdated opinion. There’s plenty of fantastic stuff and not enough time in a month to watch things.

    I’m jealous people have that much time on their hands to watch that much TV lol
    I watch far more than I should for sure. But my Prime membership is basically free because I get it as a part of my Amazon Prime. paramount+ is also free because I get that as a part of my Amex Gold Business membership perks which includes Walmart+. And I also get max for free as a perk with some other credit card. So the only one I actually pay for is Netflix.  Max is just $4.99 a month though with student discount and ads so it is cheaper than AppleTV
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 16
    This must be the most boring clip ever.
    williamlondonJanNL
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  • Reply 10 of 16
    The cine effect of zooming in while moving the camera away is called the 'Vertigo Effect' pioneered by Sir Alfred Hitchcock in the film of that name, released in 1958. It has been much copied including in Jaws but to attribute the effect to Jaws is something of an affront. 
    dewmefred1
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  • Reply 11 of 16
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,906moderator
    gwmac said:
    I had AppleTV when they gave me a free account and even purchased a paid subscription for a few months. They have some great content. I remember enjoying Ted Lasso, Silo, Severance, the sci-fi series but can't recall the name, and a few more. But my main issue with AppleTV is you can pretty much watch all the content fairly quickly. There is just not enough to justify paying for it monthly. I am already paying for Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, and Max which all have much larger libraries. Hard to justify AppleTV with its small library of shows. 
    Foundation I think is the one you were trying to recall. 
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 16
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,352member
    gwmac said:
    I had AppleTV when they gave me a free account and even purchased a paid subscription for a few months. They have some great content. I remember enjoying Ted Lasso, Silo, Severance, the sci-fi series but can't recall the name, and a few more. But my main issue with AppleTV is you can pretty much watch all the content fairly quickly. There is just not enough to justify paying for it monthly. I am already paying for Prime, Netflix, Paramount+, and Max which all have much larger libraries. Hard to justify AppleTV with its small library of shows. 
    Careful not to confuse "AppleTV", the device, with "TV+", the subscription service.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 13 of 16
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,873member
    I think the wheat to chaff ratio on Apple TV+ is about as good as it gets outside of Disney+, at least for the streaming services I use. Of course it all depends on what you like to watch and how much time you devote to TV viewing. I have had Apple TV+ since day one and I’m very far from running out of things to watch in the catalog. 
    lolliver
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 14 of 16
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,150member

    I watch far more than I should for sure. But my Prime membership is basically free because I get it as a part of my Amazon Prime. paramount+ is also free because I get that as a part of my Amex Gold Business membership perks which includes Walmart+. And I also get max for free as a perk with some other credit card. So the only one I actually pay for is Netflix.  Max is just $4.99 a month though with student discount and ads so it is cheaper than AppleTV
    So let me get this straight. You’re a student and also make enough money to have the Amex Gold Business membership but you still have enough free time to watch five or six streaming services? 
    You’re doing something right!
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 15 of 16
    Tim Cook gave a $1 million bribe/extrortion payment to. man who recently pardoned insurrectionists, including those that attacked and killed a police officer in defense of the United States capitol.

    I will never buy another apple product.

    Cook has shown where his allegiance lies.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 16 of 16
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,150member
    Tim Cook gave a $1 million bribe/extrortion payment to. man who recently pardoned insurrectionists, including those that attacked and killed a police officer in defense of the United States capitol.

    I will never buy another apple product.

    Cook has shown where his allegiance lies.
    I agree with you entirely about it being a bribe and about giving in any way to a president who went on to pardon people who did that, but in order to see this donation clearly, you should know that:
    1. The money was donated after Trump was elected, not in order to help him win (though Cook probably gave for his campaign and for Harris’s too).
    2. This money was from Cook’s pocket, not Apple’s.
    3. A whole lot of companies also gave for the inauguration:
    https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/trump-inaugural-companies-top-donations

    In addition, I wonder how much of the money given was pocketed by Trump because the ceremony was moved to indoors and because of that, cost less. 

    muthuk_vanalingam
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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