As the executive producer, co-creator, writer, director and star of “Barry,” Bill Hader wears a lot of hats. One hat he doesn’t wear, however, is motorcycle driver. So, during a pivotal chase scene where Barry drives a motorcycle across the freeway, he stuck a helmet on a stunt-double and dressed him up to look like
“I have a knack for putting masks or helmets on stuntman and making them look like me,” Hader told Variety. “I never sat on a motorcycle this entire sequence.”
On Variety’s “Making a Scene,” presented by HBO, Hader went into great detail about the creation of this action sequence. Joined by locations manager Jonathan Jansen, cinematographer Carl Herse, stunt coordinator Wade Allen and first AD Gavin Kleintop the crew broke down the creation of this motocross calamity in the sixth episode of “Barry” Season 3 and explains what makes a “Barry” action scene different from everything you’ve seen before.
According to Herse, the moment was a mere eight-word sentence in the original script: “There will be a great lane-splitting sequence.” Despite the vague descriptor, Hader’s vision was specific. The director took inspiration from living in Los Angeles and encountering motorcyclists in traffic who veer through the cars, and built the idea for the scene around that concept.
Shot on two highways near the city of Los Angeles (the 710 freeway in Alhambra and the 710 freeway in Pasadena) Jansen said Hader initially envisioned the scene as taking place on the stretch of freeway between downtown Los Angeles and the 405. But clearly, that wasn’t going to work and the crew had to troubleshoot ulterior streets. With months to get the shooting permits signed, sealed and delivered Jansen turned to Caltrans to finish “bucket list” item for Hader and eventually landed on shooting in a little more north of LA.
Hader wasn’t hellbent on keeping everything in the confines of Los Angeles proper, as long as it felt like the city and maintained the cleverly cultivated “Barry” aesthetic. It was important to every member of the crew that “Barry” felt different from the action scenes found in typical Hollywood productions. No music is ever used, and the stunts are kept to a minimal to give the scenes a weight. According to Herse, one of the primary goals of the motorcycle scene was to tell it from a single perspective, in order to ground it in what Barry is experiencing.