I have a feeling Barry has an autobiographical element – it’s an interesting thing about the killer.
You’re not the first to say that. There’s something autobiographical about it, as far as you’re concerned. We talk about this a lot in the writers’ room: things you’ve done, and whether you’ve been able to forgive yourself, for certain things. I don’t like when I’m angry. I’m a nice person, I’m a very laid back person. But when I do lose my temper sometimes in life, I always feel bad afterwards. So while checking, well… why am I feeling this way? And then it’s like, oh, this has to do with insecurity, or feeling like you’re being dishonest. All my life, I’ve had the Midwestern “give it all and be polite.” Then all of a sudden you just exploded and you go,
what’s that?
Also, you know, I’ve dealt with anxiety and depression. And then you start putting these things on the show, and sometimes you don’t even realize you’re doing it. And you look at it and go: Oh man. It’s always funny when someone very close to you watches these episodes and goes, “Wow. I know
that Where did come from.”
In seasons 1 and 2, I can honestly say that there are still moments when I will
Barry is considered a crime show. Then for some reason—perhaps a pandemic—my body changed. Because I will say during the pandemic, I’m very depressed. So…you know…you get it out at work. That’s what work is for. That’s when you get involved.
In the final season, you directed every episode. How do you balance acting and directing on set?
The real trick is you need someone objective to say, “I need you again. “
For example, there’s a scene in Season 4 Episode 1 where I’m in the bathroom and start banging against the wall. Like, I’m really freaking out. I did my first shoot and it was kind of like, I don’t know... Our first commercial Gavin Kleintop and writer Duffy Boudreau came in and they said, “Yeah, I think…we should do it again.” [laugh.] They didn’t say it was bad. They were like, I think we should go again.
