The Bear’s not-so-secret sauce: Hiro Murai.
Written by Mason Campbell
If you’ve been paying attention to television (or more accurately, streaming services) in the past several years, you may have noticed that we’re at a bit of an inflection point for the industry. Nearly a decade out from the finales of shows that more or less defined the medium such as Breaking Bad or Mad Men, and with even our recent titans such as Succession or Stranger Things wrapping up, the future of the medium is as uncertain as it’s ever been. Especially in wake of the recent WGA and SAG strikes, not to mention the politics and questionable business decisions of the entire streaming market, TV audiences have been looking for the next great show to carry us forward for the years to come. And it seems they may finally have found it with FX’s The Bear – a chaotic little miracle of a show with a stellar ensemble cast and some of the best character writing in recent memory. If you’ve watched an award show, read an entertainment magazine, or even logged onto film Twitter in the past year, The Bear has been impossible to miss, and deservingly so. However, as much of a fan of the show as I am, I don’t think The Bear itself is the most interesting piece of this to talk about. Nor are the show’s boldly original creator, Christopher Storer, or its undeniable star, Jeremy Allen White. No, the most interesting thing about The Bear is what it signifies for the career of its executive producer, Hiro Murai.
I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing Hiro Murai’s name off the top of your head; like most director/producer types, he often stays behind the scenes and cares far more about promoting his work than his own image. I would however blame you for not knowing any of Murai’s work across the past decade. From his groundbreaking music videos for the likes of Flying Lotus, Earl Sweatshirt, Childish Gambino, and far more, eventually culminating in the universally acclaimed “This is America” video, it was clear that Murai had a technical precision and a creative vision that separated him from the crowd. But it wasn’t until his involvement with Donald Glover’s 2016 pilot for Atlanta that Murai really started making waves in the industry. Alongside his role as executive producer, Murai directed the pilot, and would later go on to direct a total of 26 of the show’s 41 episodes. If you haven’t seen an episode of Atlanta, it only takes one to realize the show’s immediately recognizable visual identity. The stylized lighting, the off-center compositions, the minimal but laser-precise camera movements – it all works together to create a cohesive vision of a world in which something is subtly but noticeably off. Nothing in Atlanta is quite as it should be, and we feel that directly through the filmmaking of the show. It doesn’t even necessarily matter if the episode is actually directed by Murai himself – he set the tone so effectively with the pilot, and the show’s various creators respect his vision so much that the show consistently adopted this unique visual aesthetic and surreal tone for the entirety of its run. It’s become as core to the show as its hip-hop needledrops and internet references; you only need to see a few seconds of Atlanta to know that you’re watching Atlanta.
However, as popular and as truly exceptional as Atlanta was, it never reached the widespread acclaim it deserved and that The Bear would receive years later. And yet, it was enough to propel Murai into the television landscape – he lent his directing talents to other great shows such as Legion or Snowfall, and worked as an executive producer and director on both HBO’s Station Eleven and Prime Video’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith. His work on Atlanta partially inspired comedian Bill Hader to take the chance and direct the pilot of his own show, Barry, which Murai would also step in to direct 4 episodes of. In just a few short years, Murai made the transition from the world of music videos to television, not just crafting one great show, but also lending his talent to some of the other best shows of his time. The fact that The Bear now stands as one of the best-received shows of its era is not an accident, but a continuation of what Murai has been doing for almost a decade now: bringing together an incredibly talented team, working with truly original writing, and creating a show with such a unique visual identity, you’ll never mistake it for anything else. Through the changing tides of the television industry in the years to come, we’d be smart to cling to the work of Hiro Murai, as he’s consistently been on the cutting edge of what this medium could be. He deserves to be recognized as one of the absolute best in the game, and while that recognition should have come a few years earlier, it’s never too late to give him his flowers.
