Though the Criterion Collection may be taking their beloved closet on the road to celebrate their 40th anniversary, only the lucky few have been able to step foot in the actual hallowed space. Now, renaissance man Bill Hader can say he’s done so twice. The actor, writer, and director behind the hit HBO series “Barry” first entered the Criterion Closet in 2011. Dressed for the occasion with an orange shirt sporting the Kaibyō from the poster for the 1977 Japanese horror film “House,” Hader drew selections such as Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord” and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s grotesque “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” which he referred to at the time as “a great date movie.”
Referencing this pick in his latest video, Hader displayed “Salò” once again and said, “It is not a good date movie. Just want to clear that up.”
After making a few jokes at the expense of Edward Yang’s family drama “Yi Yi,” Hader turned semi-serious as he discussed his favorite film, Akira Kurasawa’s “Ikiru,” and how he was surprised by his girlfriend, Ali Wong, with a special screening of it for one of his birthdays.
“It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me,” Hader said, “but it was for this movie. It was funny cause all my friends showed up and didn’t know what we were watching and then they were like, ‘Oh, it’s a two-and-a-half-hour movie about a guy dying of cancer,’ and I was like, ‘Ayyy, that’s my bag.’”
Hader went on to grab Stanley Kubrick’s “Barry Lyndon,” a Criterion issue Hader describes as a “film school” in its own right. He also made sure to shout out Alfonso Cuarón’s autobiographical “Roma” before turning his attention to Albert Brooks’ first foray into filmmaking, “Real Life.” Hader explained how he was turned onto the movie by Ben Stiller, whom he’d met at a mutual friend’s Thanksgiving when he was only 17. He also pulled out John Ford’s Wyatt Earp entry, “My Darling Clementine,” a film that holds particular resonance for him as the middle name of one of his daughters is Clementine.
“I love the ending, the actual shooting of the O.K. Corral,” said Hader, “because there’s no music and is very kind of stark and feels very real. This is my favorite John Ford movie.”
In taking home the Fellini box set, Hader acknowledged the filmmaker’s influence on his own directorial efforts with “Barry,” as well the influence of supplemental material from Criterion. For his last pick, Hader chose the 2018 historical drama from Paweł Pawlikowski, “Cold War.”
“I saw this three times in theaters,” Hader said. “I thought it was so fantastic.”
Watch Hader’s full Criterion Closet video below.
