There are fans from day one The bearand then there’s Ramy Youssef, a longtime friend of FX series creator Christopher Storer, who was also executive producer of his Hulu comedy-drama series Ramy. “I was already a fan of The Bear before we knew if it would be picked up,” he says THR“Chris sent me the pilot and I was completely blown away.”

Youssef, a longtime friend and collaborator of the FX series’ creator, was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding directing after stepping behind the camera for the season two episode “Honeydew,” which finds Marcus (Lionel Boyce, nominated for outstanding supporting actor) in Copenhagen, where he works with Will Poulter’s staunch chef Luca to create one-of-a-kind pastries. (Poulter was also nominated for his guest actor role.)

The opportunity to direct, Youssef jokes, arose out of necessity rather than preferential treatment.

“To be honest, I only got the job because of scheduling issues. Chris called me and said, ‘Look, man, I can’t be in two places at once. I trust you to do your thing,’ and he let me do it.”

Youssef’s planned few days of exploration turned into weeks spent exploring Denmark’s capital. “In a way, this process was similar to the wandering that ultimately occurs in the episode,” he says. “It’s a love letter to this city.”

What were your conversations with Lionel Boyce like when you came on board?

It was a really cool experience to walk around Copenhagen with him. We were directing at Noma (the French term for accompanying chefs), so we were able to be in this legendary kitchen together and talk about
his character leaving the country for the first time and wanting to spread out but also being scared. Lionel is so sensitive and has such a great screen presence. So much of Marcus’ character comes from his being, so it was really nice to get to work on that.
with him and I also get to create the dynamic between him and Luca, Will Poulter, where you have this more stoic, downbeat chef who is kind of touched by Marcus’s essence and it almost brings him back a little bit to remember why he started. Lionel brings this really beautiful curiosity as a person that inspires everyone around him.

It was a nice surprise to see Will Poulter again in this episode.

With these two guys, it’s just: how do you get out of the way? It’s hard to take any credit for that when you have a great script, a great show and great actors. In the conversations I had with Will, the focus was on the character Marcus leaving this really hectic kitchen in Chicago and coming to Copenhagen to focus entirely on the craft. Something that Chris and I had worked on in the early seasons of Ramywe talked a lot about how to represent prayer on screen in a grounded way — something I think is lacking in contemporary film and television. And I think the way we approached this episode is to represent baking as prayer. You’re really just isolating prayer and removing it from the church or the mosque or the synagogue, but just focusing on the act itself. (Marcus) left the hustle and bustle of the institution, the kitchen, and just focused on that little part itself. So they have this little enclave where they can focus on why they love it.

This feeling is evident in the final shot, as Marcus carefully prepares his dessert and then takes a satisfied bite.

I don’t think that was originally the end of the episode, but I remember we found that moment in the edit. For the scope of the episode, that felt like the greatest accomplishment. When you think about something you’re working on, you have that feeling when you feel it expanding you – and that might not be perceptible to other people, but you see it and you feel it. I remember going through the footage and seeing that piece of Lionel and feeling it on set too. At one point I looked at Chris and thought, “I really think it could end here because it feels so beautiful.” Fueled by his performance, you feel like, wow, something has expanded, something has changed. And we were just able to witness this little glimpse of growth that is, in many ways, much more gratifying than anything anyone else would ever see from the outside. It’s always those little things.

This idea of ​​the little things is also present in another scene when Marcus helps a man who has had a bicycle accident. The audience just sits and watches their interaction, especially the embrace of gratitude.

On paper, that was probably the scene that Chris and I talked about the most to make sure we got the emotion across. We talked a lot about service and the phrase “service industry.” And I think that moment was all service, no industry. To me, there’s nothing in that but a pure act of service that transcends culture and language and is just this really small part of a day that is kind of meaningless after everything else. But it’s so meaningful because you see this guy who can’t help but care about people. That scene was ultimately about the hug. It was about that moment where you’re trained as an audience member and even as a fan of that particular show for suspense, but it doesn’t happen. And I think there’s something really beautiful about that because that’s life. Sometimes you brace yourself, like, “Oh, wait, something’s about to happen.” And then it just doesn’t happen.

This story first appeared in an August single issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine and subscribe, click here.