'Severance' put Tramell Tillman on Hollywood's radar. Now Tom Cruise loves him.
All it took was a photo of Tramell Tillman to hook Tom Cruise.
“Mission: Impossible” franchise director Christopher McQuarrie was an early adopter of the hit Apple TV+ series “Severance,” which features Tillman as mercurial office boss Seth Milchick. So when casting the new “Mission” installment “The Final Reckoning,” McQuarrie called Cruise to tell him “there’s something special” about Tillman and showed the A-lister his picture.
Cruise’s response: “I love him.”
Tillman has never heard this story before, and his reaction is a grin as wide as Mr. Milchick’s (minus the semi-sinister undertones). “That's really cool,” he says. When Cruise shook Tillman’s hand and said he was glad Tillman was there, “I felt that it was genuine, but I didn't know that he was a fan,” the “Severance” breakout says.
Tillman has a small but key role in “Final Reckoning” (in theaters now) as Captain Bledsoe, the commanding officer of a submarine that Cruise’s superspy Ethan Hunt hitches a ride on during his mission to foil a villainous AI.
“This is a man of mystery, and I'm not shy (about) playing men of mystery,” Tillman says with a chuckle. To differentiate the character from Milchick, “I added a little more humor, a little more joy, a little more suave, and more intention of how he takes care of business.”
One of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars, Tillman talks about his “Mission” debut, that viral "Severance" marching band moment, and his Met Gala finery.
(Edited for length and clarity.)
Question: You have the best line in this movie that you say to Tom: “Mister, if you want to poke the bear ... Ohhhhh, you have come to the right man.” Is figuring out not only what you say but how you say it important in your process?
Answer: As actors, our job is to uplift the text to allow it to come alive. And any good piece of writing is going to inform not only the story but the character. I always enjoy leaning into the text. And with Milchick, because he's so specific in speech, his weaponry, his arsenal, are his words.
What's a better day: being on a submarine with a bunch of steely sailors or leading a marching band in an office space?
I mean, marching band, 100%. Now if you said performance review, then that would be something different.
That band scene in the “Severance” Season 2 finale was instantly iconic. You were in your high school band?
I was. I played the alto saxophone.
I played the tuba.
Oh, I was always afraid of the tubas.
Did you ever want to be drum major? Because you’re kind of a natural.
I went to Jackson State University; Sonic Boom of the South is the name of the marching band there. And those drum majors, their endurance, the energy, the showmanship is absolutely incredible. Their athleticism, it's unmatched in my opinion. So this was an opportunity to just give a little taste of that dream and have it realized.
You're still such a new face in Hollywood. Do you feel as if you’ve been shot out of a cannon, or at least that somebody has lit a fuse at this point?
Definitely a fuse has been lit (laughs). What's really rewarding has been the reaction that I'm getting from fellow actors and directors, people that I've watched for years and admired their work, that have embraced me and supported me. I'm honored by that. It's always wonderful to get love from home.
You recently attended the Met Gala and looked great doing it. What was that experience like?
I've wanted to go to the Met Gala ever since I knew about the Met Gala, and it's one of the hardest events to get into. It was important to give a nod to the Black Victorian era, an era that I wasn't even aware of until maybe five or six years ago. So I wanted to pay homage to that and give credence to that story of Black people in a place of elegance and strength and power.
You turn 40 next month. Are you doing anything special to celebrate?
I might be flying across the world doing an event or an interview or something (laughs). But I am definitely excited to enter a new decade, a new era.
Coming into this kind of success now, do you feel that the extra life experience was needed?
Yeah, I had to grow into my britches, as they used to say in the South. The timing for me was really important, and I don't think I would've been able to hold what I've been given now if I was at a different age. I don't think I would've been able to appreciate it and take care of it.