Barry's Stephen Root Walks Us Through Fuches' Choices In The Surprising Series Finale [Exclusive Interview]

This post contains spoilers for the series finale of "Barry." If you haven't watched yet, consider yourself warned.

If you haven't recognized Stephen Root throughout his illustrious career as a character actor, then you haven't been paying attention. From his iconic role as the put-upon office worker Milton in "Office Space" and appearing in Coen films like "No Country for Old Men" and "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" to playing the blustery owner of a radio station on the cult NBC comedy "NewsRadio," Root's career not only spans decades and genres, but he's worked with some of the finest filmmakers around. And he's just now fresh off wrapping his role as Monroe Fuches on the remarkable HBO comedy/thriller "Barry," which concluded its fourth and final season tonight with an episode simply entitled "wow." Fuches' arc wraps up here as well, in ways that are both surprising and inevitable for anyone who's watched the journey that the faux-mentor for ex-military man-turned-hitman Barry Berkman has embarked upon throughout the series.

I spoke with Root (currently working in London) over Zoom to talk about how the finale shook out for Fuches, working with Bill Hader not only as a co-star but as a frequent director, what it's like to wield a massive gold-plated gun, and more.

Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

I know Bill Hader's talked about how he and the writers wrote seasons 3 and 4 together before rewriting some of this season. When did he tell you where Fuches' journey was going to end?

Pretty much at the end of season 3, although they did change some stuff then. By the time we got to starting to shoot [season] 4, he gave me an idea what might happen in the second half, but not really an inkling of what the guy was going to be.

Before Bill had informed you even broadly, did you have a thought in your head of where you envisioned Fuches was going to end up? 

We all knew at the end of season 3 he was going to be in prison, and I thought you could go so many [places] from there. I didn't have a specific way to go in my head where Fuches would go. But then again, I didn't know we were going to do a time jump, and nobody knew that for a while. [Hader] alluded to it and then we finally got some sense of it at the start of season 4. And at that point Bill hinted about what was going to happen, and I told him I would never be cast as [the Raven]. And he said, "That's okay, you can have fun." And we did, of course.

In Bill's word, he really sidled up to my left ear and said, "And I want you to be sexy." [laughing] I would never be cast as that. It would be a really, really fun challenge as a character actor to let most of the Fuches character go and come at it as confident and sexy.

When Hank tries to lure Fuches to his headquarters with the promise of both Sally and John, it's very clear that the only character who hooks him is Barry's son, who he didn't know existed.

Absolutely.

What do you feel like that means to Fuches, realizing Barry now has a son?

That's a life changer for him. But it's not a direct way to go because he hasn't still made the decision what he's going to do with the kid. He said, "I've got to get him away from this bald f**k." But whether I [as Fuches] destroy Barry with it or not is a decision I'll make after I get the kid. And then that's that. So I think it was made that early that he's really ... He'll do something, but he has to get the kid.

And Fuches does succeed in that quest.

He does. He does succeed.

Before he gets John, there's the big change of pace where he essentially rewrites the deal between him and Hank. It isn't about Barry anymore. It's about Hank coming clean about his past.

Well, that's his manipulation and he's a master manipulator. He did it at the end of [season] 3 when he was talking with the detectives. He did it in the end of [season] 1 when he was talking to all the Chechens. He's a manipulator and he continues to be throughout the series. But that was, I think literally, made up at the moment as a manipulator. "Well, okay, let's change the deal again." And he probably would've continued to do that until Hank blew it by saying, "Nope. Uh-uh. Not going to happen."

That change comes at the same time as that meaty monologue where Fuches admits that the posturing he embodied in previous seasons was just that, talking about how he acted like a mentor but wasn't really. That kind of speech, I imagine, must have been a gift.

It's a gift. Yeah, absolutely. It was an absolute gift for an actor and as [are] all the wonderful monologue pieces that these writers came up with, especially Bill. But what made it even better was that he had such a singular vision because he directed all the episodes. So everything to this point of confrontation was very meticulously built. And yeah, I feel very lucky as an actor to have been able to do it that way, and be able to do some really small work close up, which doesn't happen a lot.

As you note, that scene has some extreme closeups between you and Anthony Carrigan. Does that make it more challenging for you as an actor? Since you're maybe not sharing the moment with him as a performer versus looking into the camera. What's the experience like for you?

That's interesting. Yeah, because it's hard to do that because you're looking at ... I can see Anthony back there behind the camera, but I have to look at a specific X on the box to get the exact right eye line. But that never bothered me because I knew Anthony was right there and the inflection of his voice was right there. And even maybe I could only see one eye. That's okay. I could see everything in that.

So no, that didn't bother me as an actor to be that close. In fact, it was kind of comforting after a while because you're not moving around on stage. And [the monologue] told the story of the show. As Bill says, by the end of the show, everybody is someone else. And Fuches says that. That's kind of the crux of the show. So I felt honored to be able to express it.

In his big monologue, when Fuches says he's "a man with no heart," how honest do you think he is? Is that manipulation? 

I think at that point, that was a truly true statement that he was giving him. "We've known each other this long, I'm going to tell you exactly what I am now." Did that mean [Hank] was going to stop [Fuches] manipulating him to get the kid? No. But he did tell him the truth. That's how I played it at any rate.

That leads to the brief moment you mentioned where we think Hank may admit what really happened. But he changes his mind and Fuches delivers the killing blow –

With a really big gun too. [laughing] That was a really big gun.

It was. That felt like it was almost out of a comic book, the shot of you with the gun.

It was a wonderful, enormous gold-plated gun. [laughing]

That leads to something Bill Hader's done a few times this season — a long take, this time a wide shot of all the different guys on Hank's and Fuches' sides shooting each other, blowing each other up with grenades. Eventually it leads to Fuches bringing John to safety. Describe the experience of filming that take — I bet there was a lot of choreography involved.

A lot of choreography. I was very impressed with the way Wade [Allen], our stunt lead, choreographed it, especially that grenade blast because all those guys were on wires, or folks were holding the other guys. First of all, that grenade had to be tossed perfectly, and it was on the first take right in between those guys, it blows up. The people off camera ripped those guys out like they're being blown out by the grenade. It was so beautifully staged by Wade. That's one of the best sequences.

Yes, it took a long time and that's okay. It's great. [Wade] got exactly what he wanted. Bill got exactly what he wanted. And I like the fact that not everybody was just dead. There were people suffering, [Fuches'] guys were suffering. He still left them behind, but they were suffering. [laughing] So I thought that was gorgeous.

To go back to your long-take thing, it reminded me of some of the long takes that the Coen brothers would do in their movies. They would not come in. They'd let this camera sit there and let action actually happens like it happens in real life. And I think Bill would probably tell you that he was influenced by the Coens, and certainly other great directors as well. But I'm glad that he utilized it. Hiro Murai directed us in the second [season], and he used some of those techniques as well, just letting the action sit and letting you absorb it as a viewer. I loved it. I was so happy to be a part of it.

One of the many things this show has done so well is subverting expectations. We see early on that Barry goes to a department store, settling up with all sorts of ridiculous weaponry. Then he arrives and everything's happened, and he doesn't know it. 

Wonderful. And he's just loaded down with armor. And guns. It was very funny.

As you said earlier, Fuches wants to get John, but isn't sure what's going to happen once he does. What does end up happening is that he hands John back, and he and Barry share a long look without speaking. What do you think is going on between the characters in that moment?

The unspoken, but always there, true love that Fuches has for Barry and has had since he was a kid. And Fuches probably wishes he'd had a kid. He had this kid and he got to take care of him. So in the end, I think I said somewhere else, Fuches will love Barry even if he's got a gun in his mouth and says, "I'm going to kill you." I think honestly and truly, Fuches loves Barry. And once [Fuches] found out [Barry] had a kid, even if it's way back in his mind, he said, "I'm not going to do anything to hurt that."

Once the time jump had occurred, I had begun to wonder, is the series going to end with John restarting the cycle? Seeing as Barry met Fuches when he was young.

Oh, that's a good observation. I like that. Yeah. That could have gone. I think that Fuches hands off John, and within five seconds, he's got a new guy that he's going to turn into a Barry. I don't think there's any doubt about it. I think he'll be a little better at it with his newfound confidence, but he'll go back to exactly what he wants to do. 

It feels both surprising and inevitable that Fuches survives. He's had so many near-death experiences in the series.

We talked about it, who was going to survive this thing. I was surprised that it was Fuches, I got to say. He could have easily gone. But again, the brilliance of this show is no one's safe, and I think it ended like it should have ended. I really do.

Fuches isn't part of the epilogue [in which an older John watches a movie fictionalizing the events of the series]. Do you think Fuches knows that movie exists, and if so, is he annoyed he's not a character? 

[laughing] Well, the second part of the question is probably correct. He's probably annoyed. I think he does know and I think he probably was annoyed that he wasn't in it. He said, "I know this is all bulls**t, but I should've been in it." I think that's funny. So yeah, I think he would've wanted to be in it.

Bill Hader's done such a remarkable job directing, both in the finale and throughout the series. As I was watching the finale, I remembered that you've worked with another notable sketch-comedy performer who shifted to directing: Jordan Peele with "Get Out". As an actor, have you found similarities in how Hader and Peele direct actors, even with such different material? 

Yeah, I think there's a lot of similarities. Jordan knew exactly what he wanted to do, even though this was his first movie, he'd been on camera, he'd been behind the camera so much. He knew exactly what he wanted to do. So did Bill. Bill came into town not wanting to be an actor, but wanting to be a director and starting as a PA to learn how to direct and to learn lenses.

I found them very similar in terms of being specific about what they wanted. When I was doing "Get Out," [Peele] had very, very specific notes about where he wanted me to look, as a blind character, that it really came off that well. And whatever he wanted to do, I was fine to do it. I really love to be directed. I love to give [a director] my gut and then, please direct me in the direction where you want to go. They both did that. And they were both collaborative in the sense that, "Is that where you were thinking of?" "Yeah, that's where I'm thinking. And maybe this or maybe that." But they're both incredibly collaborative, to the point of storyboarding everything, even if it was only in their head and maybe not on paper.

Of course. I appreciate you making time, especially as you're overseas. 

Of course, my pleasure. It's getting a little sad to end it up, but again, I think these people will be with me as we go forward in life. So I don't feel bad about that.

I know you hear this often, but it's a remarkable performance on your part. I have my fingers tightly crossed for one more Emmy nomination for you in the coming months.

Oh, thank you. I very much appreciate that.