Severance‘s thrilling mystery is just one of the many draws that keep fans coming back for more in the Apple TV+ hit — another is the unexpected love story between Lumon Industries employees Burt and Irving, played by Christopher Walken and John Turturro, respectively.
As the audiences (and characters alike) try to figure out what really is going on within Lumon Industries, Walken’s Burt and Turturro’s Irving lighten the mood every time they appear onscreen.
“We have fun together and it’s easy to develop a sort of a chemistry,” Turturro, 67, says in a joint interview with Walken, 81, for PEOPLE.
Starring on Severance has also placed a spotlight on the pair’s offscreen dynamic like never before. Yet, what exactly is their dynamic like?
“Do I annoy you?” asks Walken as Turturro replies, “No, no. You never have. No.”
“Good,” says Walken.
“I know that you like when my wife makes banana bread, if I bring something in [to set] and I share with you, I know you like that,” Turturro says.
“I do like that!” Walken shares.
“That’s sort of an important thing, sharing home-cooked baked goods,” Turturro adds. “That’s why we’ve worked together so many times.”
Their friendship spans decades, having first crossed paths when Turturro was a graduate student at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. At the time, Walken had been performing in a Yale Repertory production.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“I remember I said hello to you. I was an usher. I was a student,” Turturro recalls. “That’s the first time.”
“And then, we did Search and Destroy,” says Walken, referencing the pair’s first onscreen role together in the 1995 drama. “Lots of night shooting.”
Of that time, Turturro recalls, “Do you remember we were driving a car? Me, you, and Griffin [Dune] and they loaded the camera. I was driving and we just kept doing it over and over again and I lost the lead car and we ran out of film, but we kept doing it.”
“Well, it was March shooting outside in Jersey, I think,” Walken chimes in. “I remember it was so cold the camera froze. Remember? The camera wouldn’t turn it was so cold.”
“Yeah, and they said, ‘Oh, no, we didn’t get those takes.’ But we said, ‘Well, those were good takes for us,'” adds Turturro.
The pair have continued to work together over the years. Turturro cast Walken in three films he directed: The Jesus Rolls, Illuminata and Romance & Cigarettes. “I had so much fun doing those and I keep asking you when you’re going to do another one,” Walken tells Turturro.
After all this time, they have not grown tired of each other, either.
“What is it about me that keeps you coming back?” Walken asks Turturro, who responds, “Unpredictability, spontaneity. I have fun — a lot of fun.”
For more from Christopher Walken and John Turturro, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here.
As for whether they would describe their bond as a “bromance,” they each say “No.”
“I’ve known John a long time and we get along,” Walken says.
“I mean that’s the nice thing about life when you connect with people, you appreciate that,” Turturro concludes. “And you also have a return engagement, which a lot of times you don’t. I mean, sometimes there’s people you like to work with and you never get a chance to work with them again.”
New episodes of Severance air Fridays on Apple TV+.
Read the full article here
