Bill Hader names the greatest musical ever made: “You can’t get better”
Bill Hader might not be the first person that comes to mind when we think of musical theatre, but if there’s one thing that the actor knows well, it’s cinema, and he knows a thing or two about movie musicals.
After beginning his career as a PA on various films, he broke into the limelight with a role on Saturday Night Live, soon becoming one of the show’s most popular players, and since then, he has worked on South Park, appeared in movies like Superbad, Tropic Thunder, and It Chapter Two, and created and starred in the hit black comedy Barry.
Having wanted to become a filmmaker from an early age, he spent much of his younger years consuming films, desperate to absorb everything he could, and perhaps it would then rub off on him, because evidently, it worked, with Hader’s deep appreciation for cinema and performance informing an incredibly successful career. One movie that particularly captivated him was a musical about the trials and tribulations of being an artist, and it remains one of his favourites.
“You can’t get better than All That Jazz,” he told Collider, referring to Bob Fosse’s classic 1979 musical, which took inspiration from his own struggles as an artist, with his substance abuse and ill health causing serious complications for him as he worked on the film Lenny while also trying to bring Chicago to the stage.
So, with Roy Scheider as Joe Gideon, a Fosse-esque character with many unredeemable qualities, All That Jazz tells a tale of artistic and personal struggle, which sees death become a not-so-distant threat. Full of incredible costumes, gorgeous set design and cinematography that feels slightly surreal but utterly immersive and seductive, the movie won four Academy Awards, predominantly for its visual style, while it narrowly lost ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’.
Elucidating on his reason for loving the movie, Hader added, “I mean, also what it just says about being a theatre person and how complicated the guy is, and it’s like he’s being pretty rough on himself, you know? And for good reason, by the way.”
Joe Gideon is incredibly self-destructive, and it’s interesting to see such a flawed character be presented by a filmmaker who admits there’s a strong autobiographical element to the role, struggling to balance a hectic schedule and finding the only way to cope is by dosing himself up with drugs and alcohol, entering an endless spiral of chaos that is ultimately unsustainable.
Hader, like many, adores this brutal look at showbiz, which is certainly not an industry for the faint of heart. In fact, Hader has had his fair share of struggles, admitting that his own anxiety has significantly affected his performances. It’s a tricky industry to navigate, whether you’re a filmmaker, a comedian, or an actor, and All That Jazz peels back the curtain on the darker side of show business, although Fosse does so with an incredibly artful hand.
The film remains one of his finest works, alongside 1972’s Cabaret, which won Fosse ‘Best Director’ at the Oscars. His movies are proof that musicals can be much more eloquent than is often the case, with All That Jazz standing as a smoky, smouldering encapsulation of an artist on the brink.
