There’s day-one fans of , and then there’s , a longtime friend of Christopher Storer, the creator of the FX series who was also an executive producer of his Hulu comedy drama Ramy. “I’ve been a fan of The Bear since before we knew if it was going to get picked up,” he tells . “Chris sent me the pilot, and it kind of blew me away.
” A longtime friend and collaborator of the creator of the FX series, Youssef has been nominated for an Emmy for outstanding directing after stepping behind the camera for season two’s “Honeydew” episode, which finds Marcus (Lionel Boyce, who is nominated for outstanding supporting actor) in Copenhagen, crafting unique pastries alongside Will Poulter’s staunch chef Luca. (Poulter also has been nominated for his guest actor role.) The opportunity to direct, Youssef jokes, was born purely out of necessity rather than any sort of preferential treatment.
“Honestly, I got the job really out of scheduling issues. Chris called me and was like, ‘Listen, man, I can’t be in two places at once. I trust you to do your thing,’ and he let me go do that.
” Youssef’s planned couple of days of scouting turned into weeks spent exploring Denmark’s capital. “In a way, that process was similar to the roaming around that ends up being in the episode,” he says. “It’s a love letter to that city.
” It was a really cool experience to walk through Copenhagen with him. We staged [the French term for shadowing chefs] at Noma, so we got .