How CODA Director Sian Heder Ended Up On Barry Season 4
Throughout the course of its stellar four-season run, HBO's "Barry" has featured a number of cameo appearances. Most of these took the form of fictional guest characters, from Vanessa Bayer as a vapid TV executive in season 3 to the third episode of the current season, which featured both filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro as a crime lord (not coincidentally named "Toro") and co-creator Bill Hader's old Saturday Night Live cast member Fred Armisen as a doomed assassin.
Less common within the show (but just as welcome) are the cameo appearances from Hollywood figures playing themselves, such as Jon Hamm's portrayal of himself in a fantasy sequence from season 1. The latest episode of "Barry" happened to include another filmmaker playing themselves: director Sian Heder, whose 2021 film "CODA" won several Academy Awards (including Best Picture).
While most of the cameos in "Barry" act as visual gags, Heder's part in season 4 episode 4's "It Takes a Psycho" is more than just a pleasantly unexpected appearance by the director. Rather, it serves to underline one of the major satiric themes of the show, as well as comments on the journey of Sally Reed (Sarah Goldberg), elements that star/co-writer/director Hader used to help convince Heder to appear in the episode.
Hader is here to praise 'CODA,' not to bury it
When Bill Hader first approached Sian Heder with the idea of her playing herself in the episode, in which Heder is seen helming a vapid, big-budget studio sci-fi/superhero film, Heder was hesitant to join in. That's likely due to the Academy Award shenanigans "CODA" went through during its run: as with virtually every Oscar-nominated movie these days, "CODA" became subject to much criticism and scrutiny during its awards season campaign, with the attendant vitriolic backlash that film fans and filmmakers alike have come to expect. The movie's award wins have been reevaluated several times over, and likely will be for decades to come; such is the nature of the beast.
Still, it's easy to understand why Heder was worried, something that Hader sought to smooth over quickly. Speaking to The Wrap, Hader detailed the filmmaker's concerns:
"Initially, I think Sian was a little skeptical about it because I think — understandably — she was like, 'Oh, is this making fun of 'CODA'?' and just wanting to be respectful because that's a great movie."
On the page, Sally's exclaim to Heder in one scene that "'CODA' is a masterpiece" could potentially be read as sarcastic, but in the context of the episode and Sally's character, one can tell that it's very much meant to be an earnest sentiment.
The bitter joke of a successful Hollywood career, as portrayed by 'Barry'
As it turned out, there's a very good reason why it had to be someone like Heder and "CODA" to fill the role in the "Barry" episode. In it, the fictionalized version of Heder is currently directing a movie called "Mega Girls," a thinly-veiled parody of the type of creatively compromised IP-driven slop that has become normal blockbuster fare. Thus, Heder's journey from an Academy Award-winning heartfelt film to a soulless cash grab is more pronounced and makes the joke even funnier as she grits her teeth and attempts to maintain some integrity while helming what looks to be a bad movie.
It's this aspect, concurrent with the slow downward slide of Sally Reed's career (herself falling from a successful showrunner and actress to becoming the acting coach to one of the "Mega Girls"), that completely sold Heder on the cameo. As Bill Hader further explained:
"She finally said yes after we sent her a bunch of different versions of the scene that Duffy Boudreau and I wrote to see what she was most comfortable with because she's playing herself. I think [she accepted] once she saw what it was — that it was more of a joke of her taking a big Hollywood job. I don't think that's being cruel or anything, that's just the truth. That just happens."
In real life, Heder is currently wrapping things up on her actual next film, an adaptation of Judy Heumann's memoir entitled "Being Heumann." While that movie seems to be another character-based work and not a sell-out blockbuster, who knows what's in store for Heder's career in a Hollywood landscape that seems to continually chase algorithm-approved mediocrity. If indeed Heder really does end up directing "Eternals 3" or something, it only makes the satire of her "Barry" appearance sweeter.