Carl Herse (‘Barry’ cinematographer): ‘It was truly the greatest project of my career’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Tony Ruiz
·3 min read
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“It was more like shooting a movie than a TV series,” declares cinematographer Carl Herse about the final season of HBO’s dark comedy “Barry.” He worked on all eight episodes of the show’s final season alongside co-creator and star Bill Hader, who directed all of the installments. For his work this season, he is nominated for Best Cinematography for a Single Camera Series, his second consecutive nomination in that category. In an exclusive interview with Gold Derby (watch the video above), Herse describes working side by side with Hader on the Emmy-winning show’s final season.

Working with same director on the whole season of a show, Herse argues, streamlined the experience of filming. “For us it was a very clean way of working because we had total control,” he says. “We have a very similar sensibility, creatively. So we are able to attack the whole season as this one long story.” He describes the shorthand that developed between himself and Hader over the course of their collaboration, their discussions referencing famous shots in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “The Shining” to name a few.

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Herse submitted the episode “tricky legacies” to Emmy voters. The show time jumps eight years into the future as Barry and Sally (Sarah Goldberg) are living in hiding and raising a son. Herse describes the episode as having a different feel to it because of the time jump. “For me, that episode was just its own entity in a weird way,” he argues. Herse debated choosing other episodes for his submission before choosing “tricky legacies.” “That episode is the best example of the cinematography doing a lot of the storytelling work,” he says. “So I’m hoping that that is something people respond to when it comes to looking at the options. I’m very proud of our work on that episode.”

With the completion of the series, Herse has had time to reflect on this experience and what it has meant to him. “It was truly the greatest project of my career,” he says. “This is as close as I’ve gotten to working on something that I really believe is the strongest example of the filmmaking medium.” He is also quick to admit that he’s hoping for another chance at working with Hader in the future. “Bill’s a young filmmaker at the beginning of his career and I think he has a lot of compelling stories to tell,” he says. “Hopefully he’s ask some of us back to help him out with those.”

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