Daily Variety — COVER STORY: Clayton Davis Remembers Everything About His Time With Tramell Tillman; Sharon Stone Talks ‘Euphoria’ on ‘Nobody 2’ Red Carpet

In today’s episode, Variety chief awards editor Clayton Davis unpacks his interview with “Severance” star Tramell Tillman in our Cover Story segment. Marc Malkin dishes with Bob Odenkirk and Sharon Stone on the “Nobody 2” Red Carpet. And host Cynthia Littleton offers a tutorial on Variety slanguage superlatives boffo,  whammo and socko.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and
analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Wednesday, August thirteenth, twenty
twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co
editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm in
La He's in New York, and Variety has reporters around
the world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode,

(00:30):
we all unpacked this week's Variety cover story on Severance
star Tremmel Tillman with Variety Chief Awards Editor Clayton Davis.
Mark Malkin brings us a Just for Variety red carpet
segment on the Nobody Io premiere with some fun quips
from Bob Odenkirk and Sharon Stone. And then I'll offer
up another Variety slanguage lesson. This time we'll explore the

(00:53):
differences among our signature superlatives Baffo, Wammo and Soco. But
before we get to that, here are a few headlines
just in this morning that you need to know. AI
Giant Perplexity has made an unsolicited offer of thirty four
point five billion dollars for Google's Chrome browser business. That

(01:14):
is a big bet that the federal government's push to
break up parts of Google will continue. Writer director Park
chan Wu has responded to his expulsion from the Writer's
Guild of America. The guild says he violated strike rules
in twenty twenty three by working on the HBO Robert
Downey junior series The Sympathizer. I have never violated any rules,

(01:37):
Park chan Wu says in a statement. Good coverage on
all of this right now on Variety dot Com from
Variety's Gene mattis a licensing deal that is a sign
of the times. Disney has struck a pact with Webtoon
Entertainment to license major characters, including Spider Man, Captain America,
and Darth Vader, for use as webtunes. Those are online

(01:58):
graphic novels and a again, go to Variety dot com
if you want to learn all about them. And finally,
in news that is making my dreams come true, Darryl
Hall and John Oates have settled their legal dispute. The
longtime musical partners went at it publicly two years ago
over Hall's efforts to sell his half of their songwriting
catalog to Primary Wave. No word yet on where that

(02:22):
deal stands. All of these stories and so much more
can be found right now on Variety dot Com. Now
we turn to conversations with Variety journalists about news and
trends in show business. In this week's cover story segment,
Clayton Davis remembers everything about his very memorable time with

(02:42):
Severance star Tremmel Tillman. He's delivered us quite a portrait
of an actor on the CUSP. Clayton Davis, thanks for
coming on today.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Said deal a little Jimy, glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Did you deliver us a cover story or what? Dear listeners,
Run to your newsstand, Run to Variety dot com because
Clayton Davis's profile of Tamel Trellman of Severance is not
to be missed. Drop everything, go read it. Clayton, reading
this story, I was moved from the very beginning. Tell

(03:17):
me where you met Trammel, what he was like in
the interview, Give me some set the scene for me.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
I got to interview him back in my native state
of New York, and I just want to say, I
think the best of me comes out when I'm in
New York City. We filmed them at this place downtown
on a rooftop an interior inside saw him do like
four autpha changes. He was a natural in front of

(03:43):
the camera. Britt Lauer, his co star from Suffrance, compared
him to an orchestra in my piece. It's because she
can just do anything. He's probably one of the most
multi talented people I think I've met. He's a good
kind soul, and that's like hard sometimes to fine in

(04:03):
this business. Best job I have in the world is
being able to work a variety because you don't get
to meet very many Tremmellzillmans.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
And the best part of the best job in the
world is when you can profile or do a key
story for somebody at an inflection point in their career,
and you can just be a little bit of a
rocket booster for somebody who's so talented. I've had that
pleasure many times. It's really meaningful. Let me ask you
about Tremmell's background. He burst onto the screen in Severance

(04:33):
a couple of years ago, but prior to that, he
didn't have a ton of experience in film and TV.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Correct in Hollywood years, he's one of the newer kids
on the block. It reminds me of when Danielle ted
Weiler burst onto the scene a few years ago with
Till We may have seen her a couple of times,
and Tremmell had a little bit of a like that
guy that we had seen around but you know, mostly unknown,
and he lands this role. When they wrote the of

(05:00):
Seth Milchik, it wasn't specifically black, it was pretty wide open.
And then when he got the audition call, then they
were asking for a black man. So by the time
it got to him, they had decided that it would
be a black person. And everyone that speaks about him

(05:20):
and looking at his come ups, you know, he was
born in Maryland, comes from a very big family, youngest
of six, you know, went to HBCU schools, very good student.
Then he graduated top of his class with his MFA
at University of Tennessee for his Black Persons with him
that acting program and was top of the class. The
guy just really exudes the passion for the business. He

(05:45):
cares about his craft, he wants to get better. And
when I loved so much about him, he doesn't quite
know how great he is yet, and that is one
of those endearing qualities.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Well, the Emmy No Nation is a big hint for
an actor to come out of nowhere, even in a
big show. There's a lot of competition in severance, but
he landed a nomination for Supporting Drama Actor, so well deserved.
You use the word interior earlier, and that is so perfect.
You get so inside of his psyche even with somebody

(06:19):
open in an interview. How did you get there? How
did you feel the comfort to write it with such
authority that you did?

Speaker 2 (06:26):
Well? Thank you for that. Mostly I get this question
a lot from other journalists will say like, how do
you get these types of interviews from people? How to
get them to open up so much? And very early on,
I had made a decision that I was never going
to talk to a celebrity like a celebrity if you
look at them as people and they're just you know,
Tremmell from the block or Tremuel from the scene, you know,

(06:48):
and you really take out the celebrity, because I think
that's what celebrity quote unquote. They want to be looked
at as people and not as celebrities. So when I
was talking with Tremmel, I felt a great advantage of
writing about him because I felt like a lot of
people don't know a lot about him. They know him
as Milchik Reseverance. Best of all, they know they know

(07:11):
that he's an openly gay man. But and I didn't
want to, you know, make it about like, you know,
just his coming out story. But the way he tells
that story, he talks about the evolution of it, of
you know, what he was like as a child and
not even really realizing that and then coming to terms
of that as an adult, talking to his mother, who

(07:32):
was his best friend at first coming out as bisexual
and then later on as gay. Interview with someone who's
listening and getting to those moments and really honing in
on what he is pulling from the way he would
look across the room and he would recall the moment.
There's a difference between getting personal and getting salacious talking

(07:56):
about a love life or who you're gating. That's you know,
tablet stuff. When someone is willing to be open like that,
you can catch those special moments that you can get
anywhere else. And maybe it's a lot of it because
we come from the state background. You know, I'm at
Port Gonna Black. He's a Black bank grow up on
the East Coast, from the East Coast, so even something
as like, what did you call your living room? Do

(08:16):
you call it the front room? That's a very big
thing in black culture, and he was like, I didn't
hear about front room until I got to college. Those
types of things really allow connection, and you should see
connection and the little things that finds our common ground.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well, I think that this is a portrait of Tremel
Tillman that is going to stand for a very long time.
Two little bits that I loved. Clearly he comes from
a strong family because he talks about playing Uno.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
I love Uno.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's my go to It's my go to baby gift
because at some point everybody with a child should get
on the floor and play.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
You know, But Cynthia, do you play with stacking rules?
That's a very important question.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Usually a traditionalist, occasionally we go a little crazy. Another tidbit. Again,
don't want to toil it entirely, but Tremmel made a
significant contribution to the incredible season two finale of Severance,
and I will let you read in the story what
that was, but it's a great little insight into how
that episode all came together.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
He's definitely a gift to the show, but he's someone
to really watch in this business. It really reminds me
of Sterling K. Brown. I'm ready for it.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Clayton, thank you so much as ever for delivering a
great piece.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Thank you, boss.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Next up we have Mark Malkin with a just for
Variety red carpet segment. Mark dished with Bob Odenkirk and
Sharon Stone on Monday at the Nobody Too. Premiere.

Speaker 3 (09:38):
Thanks Cynthia. Bob Odenkark's latest vacation has taken a deadly turn,
a very deadly turn. The better call. Saul Star wars
on the Blue Carbon Monday night for the premiere of
Nobody Too, the sequel to his hit twenty twenty one
action comedy. He returns as secret assassin Hutch. This time around,

(09:59):
he's on vacation with his family at a water park
when he unexpectedly crosses paths with an evil bootlegger played
by Sharon Stone. Odenkirk told me he sent a note
to Stone asking her to sign on to play the
villain after they met for the first time at the
Golden Globes.

Speaker 4 (10:16):
We needed a big villain, a big presence, a big personality.
I wondered if Sharon would be willing to be that
big as she said yes, and you could see what
she does. She owns the third act entirely.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
Stone said her work was inspired by real world problems.

Speaker 5 (10:34):
There's a lot of pent up feelings about a lot
of things that I put on the screen. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, so is therapeutic for you?

Speaker 1 (10:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
I'm not real happy with what comes out of social media,
and I wanted to portray that, the cruelty, the lack
of any sort of care or sense of responsibility, empathy.
There's no empathy, no empathy.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
Nobody too is in theaters Friday, August fifteenth. Meanwhile, stoneaf
Surveel that she begins shooting Euphoria season three in just
a couple of weeks. What drew you to Euphoria?

Speaker 5 (11:12):
I am a big, big fan. I'm a big fan
of all of the kids that are on that show,
past and present, and I feel they've hit something that's really,
really important.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
It's tough for me to watch at the beginning.

Speaker 5 (11:26):
It should be, but it's something that we do need
to see and understand and I think it's really important
and I'm grateful to be a part of it.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Now, let's take time out for a quick slanguage lesson.
Slanguage is varieties, zingy and zany slang words that we've
used for more than a century. Today, let's go through
some of our signature superlatives. Boffo spelled bo f fo
is the most resonant in culture. It means outstanding, boffo

(11:58):
b oh a film brought in great box office, but
we do have a scale. Boffo is good, but whamo
wha mmo is even better. It means sensational, off the charts,
beating all expectation, and then soco SoC ko means very good.

(12:24):
Here's a representative use of boffo from a story on
Sophie Tucker from nineteen forty three. When Sophie Tucker bows
out of the Copa Cobana ny nightery after six weeks
of baffo biz. She'll be followed by Jimmy Durany February
twenty fifth. And here's an example of Whammo from nineteen
forty nine. We wrote Inkspots Whammo in London, opening the

(12:47):
ink Spots open to smash Biz at the Palladium Monday.
Originally booked for three weeks, their advance was so big
that the engagement was extended another week even before they
opened Soco was the first of these terms to appear
in our pages in nineteen thirty one. Then came Whammo
in nineteen thirty six. Boffo followed in nineteen thirty eight.

(13:08):
Now you know the difference. Trust me when I say
at Variety we always strive for whammo in all that
we do. As we close out today's episode, here's a
few things we're watching for. Here's a panel of CEO
titans that's not to be missed. John Malone will sit
down with Barry Diller, Mike Freeze, and David Zaslov on

(13:30):
September fourth at the Pailey Center for Media, New York.
Malone is promoting his new memoir Born to Be Wired.
Also not to be missed on Briday dot Com is
my colleague Patzapristine's great story on the LA filming locations
used in Freakier Friday. Sadly, lensing a major feature in
LA is a real rarity these days. Before we go,

(13:52):
congrats to Kevin Costner. He will be honored with the
Eva Manley Award from the Location Manager's Guild International. The
Guild's annual gala is set for August twenty third in
Santa Monica. Thanks for listening. This episode was written and
reported by me Cynthia Lyttleton, with contributions from Clayton Davis
and Mark Malkin. It was edited by Aaron Greenwald. Stick's

(14:15):
Next hick Picks. Please leave us a review at the
podcast platform of your choice, and please tune in tomorrow
for another episode of Daily Variety.