Summary

FUBAR’s eight-episode second season is now streaming on Netflix.

In an interview with Collider’s Joe Schmidt, Monica Barbaro discusses Season 2’s evolving character dynamics and action sequences.

Barbaro also discusses the lessons in commitment and training working with Arnold Schwarzenegger and previously Tom Cruise have taught her.

Netflix’s action-comedy series created by Nick Santora, FUBAR, has released its eight-episode second season as of June 12. Returning to the series for a continued central role is Monica Barbaro, who portrays Emma Brunner, a CIA operative who has been undercover for years, unknowing that her estranged father Luke (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a fellow agent. In season 2, Emma faces new challenges both in her career and personal life. Joining Barbaro and Schwarzenegger in the cast for this season is Carrie-Anne Moss as Greta, a former East German spy and Luke’s ex-lover, as well as Gabriel Luna as Boro Polonia and Scott Thompson as Dr. Pfeffer. Additional cast for the series include Milan Carter as Barry, Fortune Feimster as Roo, Travis Van Winkle as Aldon, Fabiana Udenio as Tally, Jay Baruchel as Carter, Barbara Eve Harris as Dot, Aparna Brielle as Tina, and Andy Buckley as Donnie. In an interview with Collider’s Joe Schmidt ahead of season 2, Barbaro discusses what it is about working on FUBAR that makes it fun for an actor. She also dives into the evolving character dynamics in the series and what action sequences Barbaro found particularly enjoyable to perform for Season 2. Outside FUBAR, Barbaro also discusses her Oscar-nominated work on A Complete Unknown, and the experiences of working with two of the industry’s biggest names in action – Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick.
‘FUBAR’s Secret Sauce

“As an actor, it’s like candy to get to play someone who’s sort of in the spy world…”

COLLIDER: This is such a fun show. So, you know, now that we’re in season 2, I wanted to ask you, because you’ve done a lot in your career, so I want to say, what sets FUBAR apart from the other movies and stuff that you’ve done before? What’s the secret sauce that makes this show just work so well? MONICA BARBARO: I think one of the fun things about this show, for me at least, is that I get to play Emma Brunner, who also gets to kind of play other characters. We had a lot of fun in season 1 with some disguises and accents, and this season we go to cool locations. I get to dance, be underwater, fight. It’s just a lot of fun. As an actor, it’s like candy to get to play someone who’s sort of in the spy world, because you get to play like seven characters in one. That’s pretty awesome. And this season in particular, because the core is the ensemble, and all the funny character dynamics, and the miscommunications, and the love triangles. I guess in your case, you have way too many suitors this time. I feel bad for Emma. BARBARO: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Two wasn’t enough, so they added another potential suitor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She had her hands full. The British accent? Come on. That’s just not fair.
Character Dynamics Evolving in Season 2

“It’s a lot of fun, and it was a lot of fun for us.”

Image via Netflix

So I wanted to ask you, what was your favorite dynamic to see, maybe not with your character, but of the other characters as they’re all kind of hunkered down in this house? BARBARO: Well, I think anyone who survived a household full of their loved ones in COVID, I think those people will really understand the beginning of this season, because everyone’s kind of losing their minds. Not only is the big lie kind of revealed, and they all have to finally be honest with each other about a bunch of stuff, but no one asked for this. And a lot of them maybe didn’t know each other that well before, and so it’s just like this forced deep intimacy in a way that I think is just like really entertaining in the way that Nick [Santoro] put it together for this season. It’s a lot of fun, and it was a lot of fun for us. Like Andy and Jay were making us all just absolutely die laughing. It was a great time. Your other cast members talked about Andy and Jay particularly. BARBARO: Yeah, they’re special. They have a really funny arc this season. BARBARO: Yeah, they do. Well deserved too. They could have a spin-off that I would watch for sure. A spin-off on a fishing boat in Alaska, or Noah’s Greenway, Norway, I forget where. BARBARO: It’s just out there.
Monica Barbaro Shares Lessons Learned With Action-Packed Co-Stars

From Timothée Chalamet to Tom Cruise to a puppet version of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barbaro learns a lot from her scene partners.

And so it’s really interesting because you have worked with two of the biggest action stars on the planet just recently. That is insane. So I just want to ask you, is there anything that you learned from Tom Cruise in Top Gun and from Arnold here, like that you kind of carry with you in your projects moving forward? BARBARO: Yeah, well, I mean they’re temperamentally like completely different people, and they approach the work really differently. But one common thread is for sure how hard they work. And also, I think particularly about how much time and commitment they give to training for anything that they do. Arnold was on the weekends with Carrie-Anne Moss doing dance rehearsals and he’s just as kind of like loose as he is about work. He also is really meticulous about the things that he has to like to show up and be prepared with. Like he talks about like doing reps. He’s that guy. And Tom obviously is so deeply committed to every stunt that he does and everything that he does on film. So I think it’s just like, I think the biggest lesson is always just to like get your reps in and train fully and really give anything that you’re doing, the hours that it deserves to make it really good. Awesome. So I want to say congratulations on your Oscar nomination for A Complete Unknown. BARBARO: Thank you.

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Related

“I Think Our Processes Were So Different”: Monica Barbaro on Working With Timothée Chalamet on ‘A Complete Unknown’

On Collider Ladies Night, Monica Barbaro revisits her journey from leaving dance for acting, to starring in ‘A Complete Unknown’ as Joan Baez.

I recently spoke with Todd Maitland, and he had such high praise for you and your work that you did. So you committed to a completely different skillset too and action. So it was really cool to hear how much you got into character for that. This is all preamble because I have to ask you, who’s a better scene partner? Timothée Chalamet or puppet Arnold Schwarzenegger? BARBARO: Or puppet Arnold Schwarzenegger… You didn’t share many scenes because it was little Emma, but… BARBARO: Well, at one point also, in Season 1, I am Puppet Arnold. Man, that’s a hard question. It shouldn’t be. We’re talking about a literal actor versus a puppet. But Bob Dylan has such a closed-off thing. I think in the Bob and Joan dynamic, he’s like, it’s hard to get in there. And the puppet was really so warm. But no, obviously Timothée Chalamet is one, is like one of the greatest actors. And I’m so lucky to have gotten to work with him. Sorry, puppet. If you’re watching this, maybe next season, you’ll surpass the Timothée skill.
The Action of ‘FUBAR’ Season 2 Levels Up

“We know how to take care of ourselves and take care of each other.”

Image via Netflix

What was your favorite big action set piece from the season that you got to do? BARBARO: Big action set piece this season. God, they are all kind of like muddled together in my brain because we shot them in a matter of…I was shooting A Complete Unknown, and this is kind of at the same time, so there was a lot of crossover. And then that meant that as soon as A Complete Unknown was done, they were like, okay, now we can bruise you up and like we’re doing all the stunts at once and the dance scene and like we’ll figure it out. So that was absolutely wild. And we were shooting like three episodes at once. So I’m like just such a jumbled, chaotic mix of stunt scenes in my mind right now. But they all were really great. We have the best stunt team in Canada, and they’re super funny, and they’re super great and they like, they add so much. One crazy cool day, I couldn’t believe we shot this out in like two, three hours, was this one fight scene we have in a barn. And everyone was so on it. We got this thing done so fast. And I think that was the first time I was like, “Oh, we’ve leveled up from Season 1 to Season 2,” to where we all just like know our characters. We know how to do these scenes. We know how to like take care of ourselves and take care of each other. And it’s literally every character in a fight in some part of the barn. And the way they shot that was like, I was just so impressed by everyone and the way they showed up to work that day. That was a lot of fun. FUBAR Season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.

FUBAR

Release Date

May 25, 2023

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Nick Santora

Directors

Phil Abraham, Stephen Surjik

Writers

Michael J. Gutierrez