Jessica Lee Gagné made history on Emmy nominations morning: She became the first woman to be nominated in both outstanding cinematography for a series (one hour) and outstanding directing for a drama series for Severance. The Canada native, whose credits include Escape at Dannemora, was nominated for her work on “Hello, Ms. Cobel,” the first episode of the second season (which includes the incredible shot of Mark S., played by Adam Scott, running through the Lumon hallways in a panic).
“The thing I’m most proud of is the iconic look of the show and, for me, that has to be anchored in the hallways and in MDR [Macrodata Refinement], because that’s where we developed the language of the show,” Gagné tells THR about submitting that episode for the Emmys.
Jessica Lee Gagné
Courtesy of Subject
The opening scene of Mark running was a “huge, laborious process,” she says. The first step involved mapping out his route in overhead stage drawings and interactive animated video and then translating that to reality, which took five months to film. In the same episode, there’s a sweeping one-shot of Mark coming down in the elevator, unsevering and stepping into the lobby while the camera wraps around him. “That was done with a bolt arm, which is this big robotic camera,” Gagné explains. “There are walls that are missing that were put back in post to make this thing fit into the lobby.”
Gagné also received a nom for her directorial debut on “Chikhai Bardo,” the episode that delves into Mark and Gemma’s (Dichen Lachman) backstory and how she became imprisoned on the severed floor. “My biggest concern for that episode was, will we feel for Gemma?” Gagné says. “I felt very threatened by Mark and Helly [Britt Lower] — in how people love them, and how much of a symbol they are — and Gemma only gets one episode and 13 flashbacks for us to fall in love with her. So my focus was to make her feel like a real woman, a woman with depth, and I wanted people to love her. That was the challenge: doing all that in one episode.”
Gagné’s work as a DP on Severance helped her with directing that episode. “I didn’t have to worry how to shoot a scene. The backstory of being a DP on this show and understanding the language, which is quite complex, meant that I didn’t have to worry about the visuals. I could focus on the actors,” she explains.
Now, Gagné plans to focus on directing and take a step back from DPing. “I’m looking forward to working with cinematographers who are better than me,” she says.
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.