Stephen Root Says This Barry Season 4 Tattoo Helped His Performance [Exclusive]
This post contains spoilers for "Barry" season 4, episode 6.
In "Barry," a show full of twisted, complicated relationships, Barry and his mentor, Fuches, have one of the most complicated of them all. Their deeply fractured bond was momentarily repaired early this season, but Barry ultimately betrayed his manipulative old friend the second he realized he may be able to carve out a new life with Sally. With Fuches viciously beaten after Barry's prison break but having earned the respect of the criminal population, last night's episode revealed that after a multi-year time jump, Fuches has fully embraced a persona known as The Raven, a mythical gang leader who was forged from the fire of that betrayal. Initially a fictitious specter meant to throw the authorities off the scent, The Raven has now become real. And after spending years in prison building up his power base, Fuches is all tatted up and ready for revenge.
When I spoke with actor Stephen Root about Fuches' transformation into The Raven and asked whether he had any input into the character's wide array of tattoos, it turns out the performer chose one specific tattoo that helped him get into character — even though he couldn't even see it during his scenes.
"Corey [Castellano], our fantastic make-up artist, created all of [the tattoos]," Root explained. "But he created a multitude of things, and I got to do a couple of things that maybe I wanted that he had overlooked. He had a small one and said, 'I don't think we're going to use this.' I said, 'What is it?' He said, 'It's a bullseye.' I said, 'Oh, no. We're using that. We're putting that bullseye right on my neck to basically signify my whole life. There's a red dot on the back of my head my whole life. We're putting that right there.' It made a difference just — even though I couldn't see it, it made a difference that was there."
The Raven and the bullseye
One of the key themes of Bill Hader and Alec Berg's hilarious, twisted crime drama seems to be that no matter how much a person tries to transform, they can never truly escape their nature. Hank and Cristobal tried to flee from their former lives and retire to Santa Fe, only to be quickly pulled back in (with fatal consequences). Barry and Sally upended their lives, moved to the middle of nowhere, and adopted new personas to get away from the chaos in their wake, but Sally learned that a fresh start won't erase the memory of what she's done. Meanwhile, in one of the show's most searing moments of commentary, Barry seeks moral justification for killing again by listening to religious podcasts, cycling through until he finally finds one that aligns with his distorted viewpoint and tells him exactly what he wants to hear.
Fuches had his chance to get out of this life of crime in season 3, when he found himself living on a farm with a woman who cared about him. That bullseye on the back of his head miraculously vanished, giving him a true chance at a peaceful life. But like the other characters, there's something in his nature that won't let him simply walk away — an itch he must scratch, regardless of what ripple effects it might cause. Now he's the Raven and the bullseye is back, put there at his own direction. What will happen when he and Barry finally come face to face again, after all these years and all of their history? I have no idea, but I can't wait to find out.
"Barry" airs Sunday nights on HBO.