Paris Barclay Makes Emmy History With ‘Dahmer’ Directing Nomination
12.07.2023 - 15:57
/ deadline.com
Paris Barclay made some television history this morning.
Scoring a nomination Wednesday for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the seasoned director now occupies a rarified perch.
Two-time Emmy winner Barclay is the first Black director to sweep the narrative table and be nominated in the Drama, Comedy and now Limited or Anthology Series or TV Movie categories.
“I’m mostly just incredibly grateful,” said Barclay to Deadline of today’s nomination for the show’s “Silenced” episode.
Grateful to the terrific writers I’ve been fortunate to work with on Emmy episodes – David Milch, Aaron Sorkin, Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan, and now I can add David McMillan and Janet Mock to the list.
But I’m also grateful I’ve been able to help tell stories that really matter, that really make a difference. This episode of Dahmer literally put the victim first, and when the victim was a gay, deaf, Black man, it’s not an everyday thing. I was proud to help newcomer Rodney Burford give a performance that matched Evan Peters’ intensity, and to portray his world in a way that people could really empathize with. It’s one of the episodes I’m proudest of in my career, and to be recognized is fantastic, but really secondary to getting to say “Tony Hughes mattered.”
The past DGA president previously was nominated for ABC’s NYPD Blue in 1998 and 1999, NBC’s The West Wing in 2002, and Fox’s Glee in 2010, 2013 and 2014. Now nominated for a total of nine times, including today, CAA-repped Barclay won the directing Emmy for the Steven Bochco-produced NYPD Blue in 1998 and 1999.
Clearly based on the life and crimes of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, the Ryan Murphy produced and Evan