How Jack Black Wound Up Almost Turning Down ‘High Fidelity’
If you’ve ever set foot inside a record store, you know people like Barry and Dick. Barry and Dick—or as Rob calls them, “the musical moron twins”—work for Rob in Championship Vinyl. Both have an encyclopedic knowledge of records and music in general. Dick is happy to introduce you to some music you haven’t heard before. Barry will just chastise you for not having the same taste as him. Both clearly know a lot more about music than you do.
In the world of High Fidelity, Barry is clearly the comic relief. As the over-the-top know-it-all, he always seems to be in direct conflict with either Rob or Dick, given just how borderline obnoxious he can be at times. Much of Rob is internalized, from his rage to his reflection. Dick is more meek and soft-spoken than Barry.
Barry is the ultimate smartass who has no qualms about telling you your music tastes suck, should he be offended by them. But the character of Barry has to also have enough redeeming qualities so you can believe that Rob would put up with his nonsense for as long as he has. There’s an endearing passion that brews in Barry. The endearing nature of this passion is so strong, in fact, that he can back up—or at least get away with—the music snobbery that looms on the surface. You know that there are redeemable qualities that lay underneath his brash demeanor.