‘The Bear’ star Ebon Moss-Bachrach: “It would be nice to see Richie get a hug”

In season one of The Bear, we were thrown right into a hectic Chicago kitchen simmering with miscommunication, flailing masculinity and unprocessed grief. When superstar chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) returns home to run his dead brother’s sandwich shop, he has to contend with stubborn coworkers, an abysmal balance sheet and the shop’s equally abysmal approach to hygiene.

Carmy also has to find a way of working with Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), his late brother’s best mate, who serves as the shop’s formidable but somewhat aimless manager. According to Moss-Bachrach, who previously shone as douchey musician Desi Harperin in Lena Dunham’s Girls and is a Marvel and Star Wars alum, season two (which airs in the UK later this month) will involve “spending more time with these characters outside of the restaurant and in their own personal worlds”.

“I admire Richie’s ability to just let it rip”

It begins where season two left off. After deciding to shut down grubby sarnie parlour The Beef, Carmy and the crew are planning to relaunch their business as a more refined restaurant called The Bear. “It’s more about creation, whereas I think the first season was about survival,” Moss-Bachrach says over Zoom. “And I think predicated on that is some introspection and soul-searching because people need to figure out what it is that they’re creating. Like, what do they want to make now that they’ve been given an opportunity to make something?”

For rough and ready Richie, this means figuring out his role at The Bear alongside self-styled gastronome Carmy and ambitious sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri). During the course of this thoughtful and revealing interview – which, appropriately enough, is briefly interrupted by the arrival of Moss-Bachrach’s lunch – he talks about the show’s choreographed approach to chaos and Richie’s (possibly) evolving relationship with Carmy.

So, is Richie all-in with the new restaurant?

“I think he’s all in because I don’t know where else he would go. But he lost, you know, and this isn’t what he wanted to happen. He’s trying to figure out how to stay, and reluctantly, but he knows he needs to be there.”

In the first episode, we see him worrying about being dropped by his friends…

“I mean, one of the questions I get [asked] most about the first season is: ‘What does Richie actually do at the restaurant?’ And I understand why people ask that, because it is quite vague. But I think he is, in many ways, the heart and soul of it. And he’s also the liaison to the community – he’s of that area, and he knows every customer’s name. If there’s problems with the guys out front, he’s willing to come out – maybe with a gun, maybe without a gun – and do whatever it takes. In the second season, I think he’s trying to figure out, what is ‘whatever it takes’? And what can he do there [at the restaurant]?”

What aspect of him do you find most appealing?

“I’m someone who’s fairly self-critical. And I centre myself a lot. So I really admire Richie’s sort of blithe ability to just let it rip. He says everything as he feels it and as it comes – I’d like a little bit more of that in my life.”

How does his relationship with Carmy develop in the new season?

“For Richie, I think Carmy is a real curiosity and kind of an oddity. He’s of the neighbourhood and Mikey’s brother, but he’s very closed off. He doesn’t share. He’s not as fully expressive as Richie is and Michael was. Richie has great love for him but zero understanding of him. And hopefully through the second season, they start to have a little bit more of a common language.”

The Bear makes you feel as though you’re right there in that hectic kitchen. What are those scenes like to shoot?

“You know, to achieve that chaos and anarchy, it takes a lot of organisation and focus. You really need to understand where the camera’s going. And there’s this thing where it’s like, I have to be shouting [as Richie], but I really have to be listening [as an actor] at the same time. So it’s really anathema to the way that it appears on screen. It’s very choreographed and everyone’s in sync with each other.”

Because the first season was such a huge word-of-mouth hit, does that change the vibe second time around?

“It does change the vibe; it’s impossible to turn that down all the way. But it’s not helpful on set to think about the people on the outside, ever, really. We just try to focus and tell the story. The job of making something is already very hard, and you’re up against time, so you sort of don’t have time to sit there and be like, ‘Well, what will this demographic think about this?’ You know, we’re just trying to get through the day.”

“A lot of people in the restaurant industry felt like they were finally being seen”

Why do you think this show has struck such a chord?

“A lot of people in the restaurant industry felt like, ‘Here’s the show that’s finally seeing us.’ But for me, I think it resonates because [when season one came out during summer 2022] we [had experienced] such isolated, stunted, thwarted lives at home for such a long time through the pandemic. So, to see a show with people on top of each other, literally spitting on each other and bleeding on each other…. I think it had been way too long.

I’m just gonna run away for one second, I’ll be right back… I’m so sorry, my lunch came early!”

Well, actually, that’s a great cue for the next question… does shooting this show make you hungrier, or is a big meal the last thing you fancy after being on set?

“Yeah, the last thing I want to do at the end of shooting is have a big meal. And personally, when I watch the first season, it doesn’t make me particularly hungry. A lot of it is not my idea of, you know, a great meal – like, it’s dirty and gross in there. The second season induces a lot more hunger for me. I think the food in the second season is pretty spectacular.”

Because the restaurant is becoming spectacular?

“Yeah, and at least a lot cleaner. Like, let’s just start there!”

In episode three, Richie tries to bond with his daughter by telling her he likes Taylor Swift. Is he actually a Swiftie?

“I think he’s a Taylor Swift fan because his daughter’s a Taylor Swift fan.”

What music do you think Richie is into?

“[Music is] definitely something I ask myself with every character: ‘Do they listen to music, and what music do they listen to?’ That’s the work you have to do as an actor – you have to fill in all the stuff that’s not on the page and create a vivid inner life for the character… Richie and I share a love of ’90s hip-hop. He came of age in the ’90s and you can see it in his fashion, too. He’s in his track pants and his Adidas high tops. So I think he’s a big Run-DMC and Public Enemy fan. Those were the golden years for him.”

Finally, Richie is very much a work in progress as a person, so how would you like to see him develop in season three?

“I’d love to see him get to a place where he can finally take his wedding ring off. To me, it’s so sad that this relationship is clearly done but he’s still, you know, keeping the flame going. I think it would be nice to see some romance in Richie’s life. But it would also be nice just to see him get a hug.”

‘The Bear’ season two will be available to stream on Disney+ from July 19

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