Is it just me or is Bill Hader turning into this ultra-talented filmmaker? Some of the shots he creates in “Barry” are absurdly impressive — especially the action sequences. The guy know how to build up taut, tense and terrific setups.
And so, It is with high anticipation that Hader fans are wondering when we’ll be getting the actor’s feature directing debut. With “Barry” about to end its four-season run next month, Hader is already hinting on three movie ideas he’s ready to turn into movies
In a new interview with Deadline, Hader confirmed the first film script that he is now developing — a horror-comedy with one of his closest “Barry” collaborators.
“I’ve written [a project] with Duffy Boudreau, one of the writers on the show. He’s my best friend from Tulsa. We’ve known each other since we were like 18, so you need that on set. You need your friend from Oklahoma who goes, ‘Yeah, man. That sucks. We wrote a movie that I’d like to make at some point, which is kind of like what everybody usually does. They try to make a little, small thing. And then I have two other ideas. One is kind of hard to describe, and then the other one is ‘Barry’-like in tone, but instead of a crime thing, it’s like a horror thing.”
Hader is dead-set on directing all three film ideas, and he would even star in the horror space one:
The horror one, I would star in. The other two, as of now, I would not be in But I’ve done this before, where I’ve talked about things, and then once it gets out there, you’re almost really jinxing it. So, we’ll see. Always, the thing you’re concentrating on is the thing that kind of goes well, and then this thing over here that you’re half thinking about, that’s the thing that [takes off]. I mean, that’s what happened with ‘Barry.'
Hader directed some of the most acclaimed episodes of the show and he helmed all eight episodes of this current final season.
Hell, even Guillermo Del Toro is a fan and hasn’t been shy in expressing his love for Hader’s hitman comedy. Del Toro wrote in 2019:
“I used to admire Bill Hader as an actor (not just comedy, the man has huge range) but now I feel that way about him as director.”
“Hader is a massive well-cultured Cinephile and a punctillious storyteller. His added advantage is to value disruptive violence, Pathos and humor as things that happen often all at once.”
“Barry” follows Hader as hitman Barry Berkman, whose trip to Los Angeles to assassinate someone goes terribly wrong and he, unintentionally, ends up joining an acting class. This inspires him to begin asking questions about his own path in life.
Hader’s “Barry” is a show that works like wonders and feels vividly alive. It’s the best kind of dark comedy; filled with nasty thrills, a perfect sense of comic-timing and incredible casting. Every single episode has been, more or less, 30 minutes in length.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.