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Bill Hader
You should be making plans to watch Barry on HBO this Sunday night, not just because it’s both a surprising and sly dark comedy, but because Bill Hader is super great in the series. It helps that in addition to starring in Barry, Hader also serves as a co-creator, executive producer, director, and writer along with Alec Berg. And it’s not just his acting skills, which continue to be better than the general public expects them to be, and much more vast than just SNL‘s Stefon, that will impress viewers. Because the real star of Barry is in fact Bill Hader’s face muscle.
Barry is about a war vet who is hired to do contract work killing bad guys, in between battling depression and a general dissatisfaction with life. That is, until he follows a mark into an acting class and is immediately hooked. And so the accomplished hitman becomes an aspiring actor.
So much of Hader’s performance here is effectively channeled through blank stares and minimal facial expressions, and so when he flexes that facial muscle, viewers become aware that something’s going on inside (his face, and his mind). Not sure what I’m talking about? Just look at this:
I don’t even know what muscle this is exactly, some part of the jaw situation, perhaps? We probably all have them, but a person has to be the owner of a slender enough face for this muscle to even make its presence known. And wow there is something so sexy about its appearance. In general, yes, but especially in Barry.
Because here’s the deal with Hader’s face muscle: it helps inform the character. Is Barry clenching his jaw? Is he nervously swallowing hard? Is it simply a facial tick? What is known is that the muscle is only called into action when Barry is stewing, when he’s staying steely and serious. And yet, it’s smoldering without being remotely ostentatious.
When that guy’s flexing, the character is nonverbally letting us know that while Barry is staying composed on the outside, the nerves are in there and he’s suppressing them. It adds a danger to the character and to the moment. Will he snap? What’s he thinking about? What’s his next move here? Barry knows how to remain steady, but his stares aren’t quite as blank as he might want others to believe. And if his eyes or mouth aren’t going to show what he’s thinking then his damn cheek muscle will.
Hader’s cheek muscle makes several appearances in the first episode alone, so much that you’ll pick up on its presence and be intrigued enough to keep an eye out for it. And while Barry follows his dreams, we’ll all be following his face — or at least that flexing muscle.
