Polygon.com / 14.02.25

The making of Severance's incredibly unsettling John Turturro melon head

If it werent for the absurdity and mind-numbing grind of the corporate world, we wouldnt have Severance. Series creator Dan Erickson has often recounted the inspiration for the hit Apple TV Plus show, citing a really bad office job as the creative fuel for the show. We can also thank Ericksons experiences with corporate hell for the incredible imagery that appeared in this weeks episode of Severance, Trojans Horse: a watermelon carved to look like John Turturros severed head. Episode 5 of Severance season 2 features that unsettling, yet still tasty-looking, fruit sculpture as part of a funeral for Irving B., who was terminated from the severed floor in the previous episode.  The genesis of the watermelon goes back to when I was working in a series of corporate jobs the watermelon spread was a common trope, Erickson told me in a Zoom interview. It would be brought in, and oftentimes it was the worst kinds of melon that nobody likes: the green ones that [taste like] youre eating air, ba...
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