Bill Hader Reshot a Key ‘Barry’ Finale Scene to Avoid ‘Fan Service’: ‘It’s Embarrassing Just Talking About It’
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[Editor’s Note: The following story contains spoilers for the “Barry” series finale]
The final season of “Barry” earned rave reviews, with critics praising Bill Hader — who directed all eight episodes — for skillfully guiding his dark comedy towards a fittingly bleak conclusion. But as it turns out, Hader was concerned that things were getting too bleak.
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Appearing on an episode of Variety’s “Making a Scene,” Hader explained that he had to reshoot part of the series finale to remove what he came to see as an inappropriate moment of positivity. When NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan) kidnaps Sally (Sarah Goldberg) and her son, Barry’s personal life finally collides with his criminal network in an irreversible way. While Hank is eventually murdered by Fuches (Stephen Root), Hader says he originally wanted him to spend some of his last moments bonding with Sally over their shared experiences with Barry.
“I initially made a massive mistake in his death… I thought Sally and NoHo Hank meeting was this really big moment in the show,” Hader said. “It’s embarrassing even talking about it. You see that they kind of have this common bond, which is that they both love Barry and they’ve both been wronged by Barry. I thought, ‘Oh, they would connect.’”
Hader recalled that Goldberg questioned the logic behind her character bonding with a man who kidnapped her and her child, prompting Hader to reevaluate his creative choices.
“I had no answer,” he said. “I realized later the answers were fan service. I got insecure and I was like, ‘Oh, the fans will love this.’ Two, I was insecure and enough people had told me, ‘The show has gotten so bleak’ that I was like, ‘Oh, it should have a nice hopeful moment.’”
They eventually reshot NoHo Hank’s death scene, resulting in the character dying alone beneath a golden statue of his former love Cristobal. While Hader was embarrassed about his mistake, Carrigan said that he was thrilled to have another opportunity to get the scene right.
“One of the biggest things for actors is once you do something, especially on the drive home, you’re like, ‘Oh, I should have done it that way. Oh, wow. Yep. I should have,” Carrigan said. “I really felt this relief that I was going to be able to do it again and focus on different things.”
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