Talk about going out with a bang.
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DEADLINE:Its been a couple of weeks sinceBarrycame to a close.
How are you feeling, now that the dust has settled?
BarryHBO MAX
HENRY WINKLER: Sad.
I took Bill out for breakfast for his birthday.
So, it is nice to see him, but Im sad.
Henry Winkler onBarryHBO
DEADLINE:Youve spent six or seven years working on this show.
What has it meant to you?
WINKLER:We started in 2016, and its been one of the most wonderful adventures of my life.
Had any details been teased earlier on in your time with the series?
WINKLER:We did the first season and we got great response.
They said, We will never repeat ourselves.
We will take care of you, I promise.
And then I learned not to expect anything.
Just go with the flow.
Because with those two men, they are so creative.
They are so individual that you dont think, oh, you know what?
Thats not the television these guys make.
Want to know how it ends?
I went, Sure!
Because who saw that coming?
DEADLINE:How do you feel about Gene at the end of the day?
And yet he ultimately goes down in part for Barrys crimes.
WINKLER:Do you think I should take that personally?
Bill says hes a friend, and I had to really question [that].
You didnt do anything.
Youd think Genes attorney would be able to make a claim of self-defense and get the story straightened out.
WINKLER:Apparently that line of defense did not work.
No one believed that it was self-defense.
But [it was] shocking.
There was never a lack of shock.
DEADLINE:What do you think was behind Genes decision to shoot Barry?
You felt an anger there, to be sure, more so than fear.
We dont believe you, and you are a liar, and you [killed Janice Moss].
My inability to speak, for a very verbal fellow, I think said it all.
So when Im in my house, all of a sudden, my vision is tunnel.
My vision is small.
My vision is, this man made my life untenable, and I didnt even think about the consequences.
I took care of this man.
I taught this man.
He was my son.
And that he would then do that to me was more than I could live with.
More than I could bear.
DEADLINE:What do you imagine Gene is up to in prison?
WINKLER:I think that he started a theater class in prison.
I believe they were putting on [Finians]Rainbow.
OrThe Music Manwould be the spring musical, I think.
What does that say about who we are as a people?
WINKLER:That is deeper than I am.
[But]…as a people, we have never left the eighth grade.
We are mature adults with an eighth grader running chaos in our mind and body.
Thats what I see.
Its like, I dont know, a bigger version of Go Fish.
WINKLER:I think you wont see any movement until 71 days.
DEADLINE:Why 71?
WINKLER:Because I think at that moment, force majeure can be called.
Your child is in school, you have a house.
Whatever your lifestyle is, is completely thrown into chaos by greed.
Theres enough to go around.
Every strike is important.
Every strike is for a better life, I think.
But this one is really important because the business is changing so fast.
Now, people bring up AI.
DEADLINE:This is the moment, to me, where it feels like the future has arrived.
WINKLER:The futurehasarrived.
Hes joined the world.
DEADLINE:What gives you hope in this turbulent moment?
DEADLINE:What does the cicada represent to you?
WINKLER:The lack of listening, the lack of respect.
I am overwhelmed by the lack.
You know, my image in the last while has been…there is a cataclysmic social event.
Everything you own is underwater.
Youre sitting on a roof; a boat is coming toward you.
Are you now going to ask the boat what their political affiliation is?
What their sexual preference is?
What the color of their skin is?
Or are you going to say, I really need your help?
We need each other, and wed better start just seeing each other.
DEADLINE:What are your goals as you look to the next stage of your career?
WINKLER:I want to work until I can no longer work.
I love my job.
View additional snippets from our interview with Winkler below.
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