Ben Stiller Says Obama Turned Down 'Severance' Role

Ben Stiller said he asked Barack Obama to appear in the hit sci-fi series "Severance" and that the former President responded in an email. 

During an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Monday, Stiller said he reached out to Obama to lend his voice to the animated depiction of the Lumon administrative building featured in an employee video on the show. The part ultimately went to Keanu Reeves.

Speaking with Kimmel, Stiller said he had a "very short list of people" in mind for the part.

"There was one person that I asked before [Reeves], and he said no," he said, according to the Independent. 

When Kimmel asked who it was, Stiller responded that it was Obama.

"I didn't ask him in person," Stiller said. "I knew someone who knew his lawyer, and his lawyer said, 'I can relay the request if you write an email, so I wrote this email to him saying: 'Hey, we have this show ... whatever.'"

Two days later, Obama replied saying that although he was a "big fan of the show" and was excited for the next season, he was unable to because he did not have time in his schedule "to make this happen."

"What's more important than doing the voice-over for the animated building in Severance?" Stiller joked, adding: "But it's pretty cool that he responded."

Stiller also reflected on working with Reeves for the role. 

"We did it like a full-on recording session. He was in LA, I was in New York, but he went into the studio and did multiple takes. He took it very seriously," Stiller said. "He's just like the most warm and inviting voice. I don't know if when you see the building and hear his voice you necessarily immediately think that it's Keanu, but then I think you just have this innate sort of feeling."

"Severance" creator Dan Erickson spoke about the role in a separate interview, saying that they wanted it to go to somebody "that people have certain associations with, but also, it had to be a very warm presence," according to Variety. 

"The Lumon building is very friendly in the context of this video, and there's a friendliness to that particular voice and a heart to that particular voice," Erickson said.

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