“Cancel” goodbye? John Turturro doesn’t say the end for Irving

(This story contains important spoilers of Compensation Season two, episode nine, “The After Hours”.))

“I want to remember it.”

“Probably better if we don’t.”

Two of the most heartbreaking and yet heartwarming sentences that have ever been pronounced in two seasons Compensation – And it’s not a shock that she says. That would be John Turturro and Christopher Walken, who deliver a master class into a running and forbidden romance as Irving and Burt, once lovers in Lumon Industries and now …

Now it’s gone. If only currently.

In “The After Hours” the previous hour of Compensation Season second season, Burt and Irving say goodbye to each other again, if not for the last time, like the former Lumon “Goon”, the current Lumon Rebel Irving in the last train unknown. If Irving stays, it won’t be good; He torn too far into the belly of the Lumon animal, as a result. Escape is the only way to bring it to safety, and so Burt takes over, who believes that he is still possible with the recording of his innies to save his lover from a completely different life.

It is a painful farewell filled with recalls for her early romance in the first season and not just painful for Burt and Irving. It is also painful for the audience because we are forced to ask the question: is it for Irving? Is it a series wrap on Turturro after it has already been released from the MDR department and has now been led out of the city?

Not likely after the man himself. There is still so much that we don’t know about Irving, and yet so much that Turturro himself knows about his character, a source of background story that he wants to share with the world. Although we do not see Irving this season with only one episode, the future is wide open so that the older statesman of MDR returns in a large way. Below the award -winning actor talks to us The Hollywood reporter About everything that went primarily into the construction of Irving, his surprising directions in season second and what he hopes to bring into the world Compensation next.

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How much of Outie Irving’s story do you already know?

(Creator Dan Erickson) had written all this background story for me before I ever made the show because I wanted to know. So I did a lot of research and actually introduced someone with whom I spoke as part of it, so I knew certain aspects from which the guy came as if it was separated, even though nothing is explained (on the screen). And that was helpful for me.

I am not used to being in a show. I am used to making a mini series, a kind of bow. I think you have a background story (in ongoing series television), but still write them and then other authors are involved and how people react while you see them and all these things. So you don’t know who will go, who will come back and, will you come back as an indoor or outside elf? The whole thing is a mind! You have to find out what is bleeding in what. You don’t play two different people, you play two different countries. Dan has a really interesting brain.

It is fascinating because we have learned a lot about Outie Irving this season, but mainly through action, hardly through information. So much happens with him that we have no idea now.

Yes, Irving knows a lot what they don’t know. There is a big reason why he takes all of these pictures, do you know? Everything he is looking for. Everyone is separated on this show for various reasons. Grief, maybe you are lost, maybe you are the owner’s daughter. Maybe it is also looking for someone.

How much of what they knew about Irving’s history has changed over the years?

I think it was last year, then said: “I’m not sure (piece of Irving’s story) and said:” Well, let’s wait a second because this ship went. “” (Laughs) For me it won’t change what I play. This does not mean that we cannot have an enormous variety here, but you have to have a spine for the character you create. You need a frame to hang your hat.

In a show like CompensationI can imagine that it can free itself not to know much about the life of their character outside of the separated soil, while at the same time the feeling of needing this information in order to play a younger, almost innocent version of the same character.

Yes. I don’t think they are too different. Their language is not much reduced (from Outie to Insa), their habits, their approaches, they bring them with them. They do not remember certain things and that is the concept that you have to navigate here.

It’s pretty complex!

Yes, but available! I had jobs like Dan, where you say: “I have to get out here. I can’t.” And I would have all these fantasies. I would do that if I was in this kind of positions and would do everything I had to do, but knew: “I won’t be there here. I will not be behind a bar that listens to someone or in an office or in an construction site.” I think unless you are really, very, very clever, and all your attention is … I don’t know.

I really think that the show with younger spectators is a resonance and I was fascinated. I think to be part of the younger ones is that they still form their life and personality, and if they get older, even if they want it to change, they have less the opportunity to say: “I don’t want to be there anymore.” And so you see this split because you have all these decisions. If you are happyYou have decisions. There is a separation when you go to work from your personal life, and you can see you when you go to sports games, the people who skip their fandom, and sometimes their vitriol. I think it’s almost like video games. Where you can participate.

Yes, this is a very participatory show with countless conversations online about what actually happens in Lumon. So much of it is about intusing the story and not just decoding information.

I like that, intuition. I would like to make an episode in which I have (all fans) around me. I would ask her: “So what should I do?”

Don’t put it out! People are too excited.

Look, you can’t really write it! ((Laugh.) But when it comes to sculpture? Fully.

The relationship between Irving and Burt was a highlight of the entire show, and this episode was particularly intense. It was not clear whether Burt would help until the last minute Irving or him. And then we say goodbye with so many physical recalls to your former Innie interactions, even with the dialogue.

I can’t speak for Chris, but I don’t think he wanted to lose what we had built (in the first season). Burt has his own reasons why he was separated and how he worked for Lumon. But here … I don’t know, some things should be. With Chris and me, the sum of our parts is greater than whatever it is. That’s how it is with us. One plus one two with us. So it is when you have a certain type of chemistry. It is innate. You can’t force it. It is there or it is not. You have your friends who mix you, right? You can go with you anywhere in the world and you really crack them. With Chris and me it is as if we are in second class. Sometimes we only have one ball. Sometimes our decisions may not be so appropriate. But sometimes that leads us somewhere. I learned that from Chris.

We talked about intuition; How much can you be intuitively intuitive on the set instead of picking up from what is literally in the script?

It is always a dance between Chris and me, then usually comes in (director Ben Stiller) and lets us explore more. There is this moment (in the farewell scene) in which I repair his hair or touch his cheek. I can’t remember whether it was in the script or whether that was just something we did. Sometimes a gesture can be as strong as an entire written scene. Someone does something and thereby show them exactly who they are. If you can find this from a kind of unconscious place, it will be very revealing.

Burt says: “Bon voyage, buddy.” There is a world in which this whole scene is a last farewell to these characters. Would you feel satisfied if this were the end for Irving?

No and I don’t think it’s so. If someone wanted the story to be complete? It could be! But I think there is so much more here.

Is there a piece of your background story that you really hope to bring the screen with you?

Oh yes. Oh yes. And it should be very active.

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Compensation Publishes the final of the second season next week and stream on Friday on Apple TV+. To read Th.Season reporting and interviews.