Nearly a decade since he left Saturday Night Live, Emmy-winning comedian Bill Hyder admits that if he had starred today in the mythical sketch show, the culture of cancellation and extreme political correctness would have restricted him too much.
"Looking back, a significant portion of everything I did on the show for eight seasons, I'm not convinced we were able to do today," Haider says in a zoom interview from his home in Malibu.
"I understand where people come from with their extreme sensibilities, probably in a broad view as a white straight man who once roamed the streets of New York under the illusion that we won the culture wars and progressed very well as a society. Then Trump was elected, and we all realized how innocent and stupid we were. Understand a joke, probably half of the country did not really think it was funny. In fact, it is still impossible to touch on sensitive issues such as racism or discrimination. And as a person who creates comedy, I accept the situation.
And practically it has definitely changed things in the field.
"The split basically separated the people who understand the complexity of the current climate, and understand in retrospect that they must treat humor differently, compared to those who adhere to their position that no one will tell them what to say and what not to say."
And while there are conflicting opinions, there are many more platforms that need comic content.
"That's the thing, we're flooded with tons of content, and it seems like every idea, no matter how absurd, is being seriously considered, and opportunities to produce unconventional series exist like never before. It's the good side of the industry, which really has many more doors opening to . And the level went up too, unashamed qualities of movies that could easily have been shown on the big screen, alongside a high-budget film from one of the big studios. Because in cinema the situation is quite static. But as long as it's in a movie theater - I have no problem with that, for me it's a beautiful experience. "I understand her. If my father had dubbed one of the characters in 'Star Wars,' I have no idea how I would have reacted."
Do you get to watch your sketches from the past?
"I owe 'Saturday Night Live' my career, no doubt, because I really had nothing significant before it, as if I had skipped compulsory school at Harvard University all at once. I was a beginning comedian when I was accepted, and in fact my real school of profession was in the program. I studied. How to play, how to work in dynamics with creators, writers, directors, and set and costume people. And it's all become the basis of what I've been doing ever since. I hate watching myself, so I try to do as little as possible.You always have in mind what you look like and what you're like as a particular character, and when you watch yourself it's never what you thought.I just see my idiotic face with my crooked jaw, and only in that "I focus, and it's really not fun. In those moments I understand why at school I was chosen as the clown of the class."
replay
Haider's comedic talent, which he refuses to admit when I ask him about it, has led him to become one of the most successful graduates of "Saturday Night Live" in the last decade.
He follows in the footsteps of stars who have stepped out of the show, from Adam Sandler to Tina Fey, who have developed the style that characterizes them through projects they have signed on to since embarking on an independent journey.
In 2018, the black comedy series "Barry" aired, created by Haider (43) with screenwriter-producer Alec Berg ("Seinfeld", "Calm Down").
In the series he directs, writes and stars in the lead role, as a former Marine, battle-hardened, whose skills as a sniper have made him a skilled and cool assassin.
He finds himself looking for a human connection as part of a random acting lesson on the outskirts of Los Angeles, which is delivered by a failed past actor named Gene Cosino, played by Henry Winkler ("Happy Days," "Family in Disorder").
Barry approaches the casino and also falls in love with a student in a class named Sally (Sarah Goldberg), who dreams of succeeding and becoming famous.
But his secret occupation as a mercenary killer begins to crack the false pretense: last season, Cousino discovered that Barry had murdered his girlfriend, a policewoman who surpassed his identity and deeds.
In the new season the dynamic between the two becomes dark, and Barry tries to atone for it in every way possible, realizing that he may have to silence his cousin forever in a similar way.
"Barry," whose third season aired on HOT, Cellcom TV and Yes, quickly became one of HBO's most acclaimed series, with 24 Emmy nominations to date, including twice for Best Comedy Series.
Haider himself has won twice in a row in the lead actor category in comedy.
Like many projects since March 2020, the new season also arrives with a considerable delay than planned and three years after the second season, due to the plague that changed the world.
"We were already after first reading the script for the season, and the filming date was set for March. We were ready, we even hugged before we even understood what social distance was. I mean, we felt there might be something around the corner, but not on such a scale. So we complained to the rejected team. The filming is at most until next month, a few weeks - and that's it, "Haider now recalls.
"The time that was suddenly available to us we started devoting to writing the fourth season. And as the closure continued, we went back to rewriting the third season, so it turned out we had a lot more time to rewrite things."
Have you planned in advance, when you first conceived the series, where will you be at this point?
"Absolutely not. We work from episode to episode, really living from scene to scene, trying to make our way. Thinking about what is right to do in terms of plot, what can be produced that has not yet happened and what the evolution of the characters looks like, to expand the canvas and see how far everything can grow. I like TV, but in my personal life I read books a lot more and watch movies, so watching another season and another season makes me lose patience. Available; then suddenly focus unnecessarily on all sorts of marginal and irrelevant characters.
"We come to filming with a ready-made script, and still make room for improvisations here and there, knowing where to give more comedy, compared to short scenes with a very clear and precise purpose, which are simply filmed as they are written on the page. "Without feeling like there are eight different cameras. Movies like 'Rosemary's Baby,' or 'The Cohen Brothers' 'Read and Burn,' greatly influence me in the work. And my personal favorites are 'Taxi Driver' and Akira Kurosawa's films."
So is there a distinct personal imprint of yours in the series?
"I'll give an example from the new season. We touch on all sorts of aspects of the entertainment world, and in the screenwriters' room, when the other writers ask for ideas, I bring from experience as a talent, whatever it looks like from my side. In the new season, for example, Sally gets her own series PR was inspired by my experience with interviewers over the years.I remember I promoted a 2014 drama film called 'The Twins', which deals with suicides, and when I talked about this charged topic with an interviewer, he suddenly interrupted me and said' we need to end the interview, but one last question "What do you think of Ben Affleck as Batman?" "And I did not understand what he wanted from me at that moment. It often happens in these delusional situations."
Is it hard as an actor to find a connection to the character of a killer?
"I really do not take Barry home with me, let's say it that way. Precisely because I write and direct the character I play, I know how to make the separation that it's a job, not life itself. And maybe it sounds bad, but I do not really deal with it He's a killer. Not a person who thinks about his actions, he reacts from the sleeve. For him it is natural to act violently, and it gets worse from season to season. He quickly approaches Sally and Cousin, but does not really understand what love is. He does not really know what an emotional connection is, "
Haider with Henry Winkler, Photo: PR
Do you see yourself releasing responsibility in the next project?
"Unfortunately, I set myself a precedent where I do everything. I'm pretty idiotic because it means I do all the work," he laughs, "and it's true that I lead the series, and always mention all the hats I wear, but there are a lot of great people working behind me. The scenes, thanks to which I come out smart, that save me from shame. The wisdom of the next project would be to bring those skilled people to the right again. And I really enjoy the process, and I do not say that in an attempt to sound modest. When you enter the editing room you keep thinking 'Why did I not shoot more? Why did I not try more things with the scene? Why was I not patient enough to take the necessary time?'. You make the same mistakes over and over again. "
Trial and error
Haider was born in Oklahoma in June 1978, and he attests to himself that he was always a kind of outsider and a weird chicken in school.
He admired the "Monty Python" gang, and in general was a fan of British comedies.
Although as a teenager he used to shoot amateur videos with friends, film studies were not on the horizon as he did not have good enough grades to be accepted to a good university, beyond a local college.
"I loved growing up in Oklahoma, but there was not much to do there as a teenager, beyond watching movies. After all, sports never spoke to me, nor did drugs," Haider says with a smile.
"My dad worked as a truck driver and in his spare time played in the standup, and my mom was a dance teacher. I have two sisters younger than me, a pretty typical family, who still live there. Although I did not excel in school I had a sense of security at a young age because I knew it was not me Stupid or do not understand the material in class, but simply because I had no interest in studies.And after a short time in college I decided to move to Los Angeles
Les and try my luck there.
I started as a production assistant in all kinds of productions. "
Among the credits of the young producer Haider, you will find work on the sets of the disaster film "Peripheral Injury" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, "Spider-Man" with Toby Maguire from 2002 and some cable reality shows.
At the same time, he began taking acting and improvisational classes, where he befriended actor Nick Opperman ("Gardens and Landscape Department") and his wife Megan Mulali, who then starred in the hit sitcom "Will and Grace" and told Haider that she intended to recommend him to Saturday Night Live creator Lauren Michaels.
In an audition he received with his help, he impressed with imitations of Al Pacino, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and original characters, and was accepted to the show in the 31st season, which aired in the fall of 2005, with two other newcomers, Kristen Wiig and Andy Samberg.
Along with success on the show, he also began starring in comedy films such as "The Date That Stuck Me", "Take It Like a Man" and "Men in Black 3", and even joined as a writer and producer on the wild animated series "South Park", with which he won his first Emmy in 2009, in the category of the best animated series.
After deciding to retire from "Saturday Night Live" in the spring of 2013, he starred in films such as "Walking Disaster" alongside Amy Schumer, "It's 2", the sequel to the horror hit, and also dubbed in a variety of films such as "The Voice in the Head", "Finding Dory" and " Toy Story 4 ".
In recent years, most of his work has been around "Barry."
Around the rise of the series, four years ago, Haider was already in the midst of divorce proceedings from his wife since 2006, TV director Maggie Curry, who directed episodes of series such as "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "Kimmy Schmidt."
The two have three daughters in common: Hannah (12), Harper (9) and Hailey (7).
Since then he has had a relationship of less than a year with Rachel Bilson ("The OC", "Exposure to the South"), and from the end of 2020 his name is associated with that of Anna Kendrick, who starred in films such as "Twilight", "Pitch Perfect" and "Hanging in the Air" "Alongside George Clooney, a role for which she was nominated for an Oscar in the supporting actress category.
The two starred together in the Christmas movie "Noel," which aired on streaming service Disney Plus two and a half years ago.
"I enjoy what I do and work with HBO. I also hosted one of the episodes of 'Calm Down' with Larry David last season, and I never know what's going to be the next thing for me," he explains.
"Early on after I moved to LA I realized that things take time to brew, that it's not really a plan that you retire forward. When I was new in town I would talk about what things I was going to do and plan ahead, but I realized very quickly that was not the case, and that the right thing was coming to you."
Unlike Barry, you did not land in a city straight for acting studies.
"True. I never learned acting properly, and ironically, all the preparation work for the series revealed to me elements of the profession I did not know. I also learn things from watching my daughters play with each other and pretend, because it's not really different, it's just changing something. "In you and connect to a certain emotion in favor of a certain scenario. It's something that comes naturally. For better or worse, for me as an actor it is to be present at a given moment and act on the spot, instinctively. Sometimes I'm wrong and sometimes right."
dcaspi@goldenglobes.org
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