As Root says, Fuches was “almost like a baby”
What’s new in Barry Season 4. Since the showtime moved back a few episodes, everyone looks a little different. But no one looks more different than Stephen Root’s Futches.
When he’s finally released from prison in Episode 6, he doesn’t seem nearly like every mild-mannered person he’s ever been through. Now he runs by Crow, complete with prison tattoos, a white tank top, nails painted black, and crazy eyes (you never leave the house without them). It’s a character Root enjoys playing — and one, he says, where he’s finally practically finishing up the day.
“I suspect [Barry star and co-creator Bill Hader] He’s had a physical description in his head all season,” Root told Polygon. “And we had to decide on the day how much transformation you’re going to have — will you see his whole body? Will you only see your neck? “
In the end, they decided on the whole body thing, which allows us to see just how much Fuchs has changed. His arms and chest are covered in tattoos (flowers, a skeleton, and even a red cross on his biceps), all pulled from an array of options available to him and the makeup artist who designed them. Root’s favorite is the crosshairs on the back of Raven’s neck, something he “didn’t even know if you’d see.” (Don’t worry, you can).
“It was such an endemic personality that he would have a target right there on his neck,” says Root. It all went down to his concept of Fuches as changing drastically with time in prison, changing everything from his appearance to the way he carries himself. He was playing the same character, but with a completely different set of tools. My favorite description of the crow is: He’s carrying the little bag of clothes [of prison]. But he doesn’t carry it like a lunch pail like some scrap. I made the decision I’ll pick up his introduction.
“He just grabs it because it doesn’t matter to him. And he gives it to someone who doesn’t matter. And that kind of got me into this guy’s stillness.”
Fox gets a taste of power.
Photographs: Merrick Morton/HBO
Like a lot of people on BarryIt is a stillness born of brokenness, a wound from Barry Hadar betraying him and spreading within him to create something darker. Of course, it also left him better off in prison – Root cites the dining room scene where everyone is waiting for him to eat as a moment that triggered the poison inside Fox to something else, and set him on the path to becoming the Raven.
“He’s now a strong person in this space, which he wasn’t before; he was being reviled and ridiculed. Now that he’s that strong, I think in the intervening years he’s become more confident. He’s getting more and more tattoos; he’s got more and more tattoos,” says Root.
But though everything is new in this futuristic world where Barry is a father, Sally (Sarah Goldberg) a mother, and Cosino (Henry Winkler) a hideout, Raven is as Fuchs as he ever was.
“I would describe Fox as a wasted lamb,” says Root. “And just a selfish person [like]And If you don’t do what I want you to do – He’s almost like a child.
“But it’s all about respect. When he finally gets respect, that’s when he changes.”
BarryFourth and final season It now airs Sunday nights on HBO and Max. Series finale, May 28.
Read more
“Typical beer trailblazer. Hipster-friendly web buff. Certified alcohol fanatic. Internetaholic. Infuriatingly humble zombie lover.”
