Ramy Youssef on Directing Honeydew Episode of ‘The Bear’, Will Poulter

There’s day-one followers of The Bear, after which there’s Ramy Youssef, a longtime good friend of Christopher Storer, the creator of the FX collection who was additionally an government producer of his Hulu comedy drama Ramy. “I’ve been a fan of The Bear since earlier than we knew if it was going to get picked up,” he tells THR. “Chris despatched me the pilot, and it type of blew me away.”

A longtime good friend and collaborator of the creator of the FX collection, Youssef has been nominated for an Emmy for excellent directing after stepping behind the digital camera for season two’s “Honeydew” episode, which finds Marcus (Lionel Boyce, who’s nominated for excellent supporting actor) in Copenhagen, crafting distinctive pastries alongside Will Poulter’s staunch chef Luca. (Poulter additionally has been nominated for his visitor actor function.)

The chance to direct, Youssef jokes, was born purely out of necessity relatively than any kind of preferential therapy.

“Truthfully, I bought the job actually out of scheduling points. Chris referred to as me and was like, ‘Hear, man, I can’t be in two locations without delay. I belief you to do your factor,’ and he let me go do this.”

Youssef’s deliberate couple of days of scouting became weeks spent exploring Denmark’s capital. “In a manner, that course of was much like the roaming round that finally ends up being within the episode,” he says. “It’s a love letter to that metropolis.”

What had been your conversations with Lionel Boyce like once you got here on board?

It was a extremely cool expertise to stroll by means of Copenhagen with him. We staged [the French term for shadowing chefs] at Noma, so we bought to be on this legendary kitchen collectively and speak about
how that is his character’s first time in another country, and he desires to be expansive, however he’s additionally scared. Lionel is such an empathetic individual and such an incredible presence onscreen. A lot of the Marcus character comes from his essence. So it was actually stunning to get to work on that
with him and likewise get to form that dynamic between him and Luca, Will Poulter, the place you might have this extra stoic, beaten-down chef, who’s type of moved by Marcus’ essence, and it virtually takes him again a bit to remembering why he began. Lionel, as an individual, brings that actually stunning curiosity that conjures up everyone round him.

It was a pleasant shock seeing Will Poulter again for this episode.

With these two guys, it’s simply, how do you get out of the way in which? It’s laborious to take any kind of credit score when you might have an incredible script, you might have an incredible present, and you’ve got nice actors. The conversations that I had with Will had been in regards to the Marcus character leaving this actually hectic Chicago kitchen and coming to Copenhagen to concentrate on simply the craft. One thing Chris and I, on the early seasons of Ramy, talked loads about was, how will we discover a grounded method to painting prayer onscreen — one thing I felt was lacking in modern movie and TV. And I believe the way in which that we approached this episode is that act of baking as prayer. They’re actually isolating simply the prayer and eradicating it from the church or the mosque or the synagogue, simply specializing in the act itself. [Marcus] was leaving the hecticness of the establishment, of the kitchen, and simply specializing in that small piece itself. So that they have this little enclave the place they get to concentrate on why they find it irresistible.

That sentiment exhibits within the closing shot, when Marcus is meticulously crafting his dessert after which he takes a satisfying chew.

I don’t suppose that was initially the tip of the episode, however I bear in mind we discovered that second within the edit. For the size of what the episode was, that felt like the most important achievement. If you consider something you’re employed at, you get this sense once you really feel it increasing you — and that may not be perceptible to others, however you see it and you’re feeling it. I bear in mind going by means of the footage and seeing that piece from Lionel and likewise feeling it on set. In some unspecified time in the future, I checked out Chris and I used to be like, “I actually suppose it might finish right here as a result of this feels so stunning.” Pushed by his efficiency, you get the sensation that, wow, one thing expanded, one thing shifted. And we simply bought to witness that little glimpse of development that in so some ways is far more pleasant than something that anybody else would ever see externally. It’s all the time these little issues.

That concept of the little issues is current in one other scene when Marcus helps a person who’s had a motorbike accident. The viewers simply sits with their interplay, significantly the embrace of gratitude.

On the web page, that’s in all probability the scene that Chris and I had essentially the most conversations about, ensuring that we precisely landed the emotion there. We talked loads about service and that phrase, “the service trade.” And I believe that second was all service, no trade. There’s nothing in it for me aside from a pure act of service that transcends tradition and language and is simply this actually small little bit of a day that by all different accounts is definitely type of meaningless. Nevertheless it’s so stuffed with that means since you see this man who can’t assist however maintain individuals. That scene finally turned in regards to the hug. It turned about that second the place, as an viewers and at the same time as a fan of this explicit present, you’re skilled for rigidity, but it surely doesn’t occur. And I believe there’s one thing very nice about that as a result of life is like that. Typically you’re bracing your self, like, oh wait, one thing’s about to occur. After which it simply doesn’t.

This story first appeared in an August stand-alone difficulty of The Hollywood Reporter journal. To obtain the journal, click on right here to subscribe.