Tramell Tillman Says Betty White and ‘Golden Girls’ Inspired His Swedish Pronunciation on ‘Severance’
Mr. Milchick and the Lumon brass may be a categorically humorless bunch, but even the mysterious middle managers of Severance aren’t immune to the charms of Ms. Rose Nylund.
We’re just two episodes away from the conclusion of Severance Season Two, and, although series creator Dan Erickson is sure to leave viewers with yet another cliffhanger, the greatest question many fans have in regards to the critically acclaimed mystery box thriller’s unfolding saga is, “What the hell was Tramell Tillman saying about that Swedish king?” In the recent Severance episode “Trojan Horse,” the ever-charismatic and delightfully cryptic Mr. Milchick told an historical anecdote to the disgruntled macro data refinement crew, one that failed to answer the main Severance cast’s questions and sparked even more inquiries from Swedes and non-Swedes alike over Tillman’s peculiar pronunciation.
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On Monday night's episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the breakout star explained that the story of Gråkappan was as much about the honor of an ancient Swedish king as it was an ode to a contemporary comedy queen.
After Colbert read Tillman the mixed and hyperbolic reviews to his pronunciation of the word Gråkappan in his telling of a folk story about a king going incognito in his kingdom while wearing a great gray cloak (the Gråkappan in question), Tillman acknowledged that his personal choices in enunciating the complicated name were less scholarly and more sitcom-y.
“It is a totally made up word, and I didn’t know that until I talked to (Severance writer and producer) Beau Willimon,” Tillman claimed of the controversial phrase Gråkappan. “And I asked him, ‘How do you pronounce this word?’ And he said, ‘I have no idea, go with God!’”
And that’s just what Tillman did, eventually turning to the late TV deity Betty White for guidance — but not before attempting the traditional route.
After turning to his “Swedish advisor” for advice (Google), Tillman pieced together the correct Swedish pronunciation of the syllables in Gråkappan, but he couldn’t decide between doing a “Swedish” delivery of the line or a flat, unaccented American. “Then, I got a little inspired,” Tillman explained. “One of my favorite television sitcoms is Golden Girls, and Rose Nylund, played by Betty White, has Swedish-Norwegian roots.”
“So I thought to myself, ‘How would Rose Nylund say this word?’” Tillman revealed of his unique approach.
Tillman tried each pronunciation of Gråkappan — Swedish, American, Nylundian — in separate takes when it was time to film the scene for “Trojan Horse,” but, as we all can agree with the show’s editor, that lattermost option was absolute gold.
