Why Paris Barclay Turned Down Directing ‘Dahmer’ Silent Episode, Then Changed His Mind: ‘It’s About Love’

variety.com:

McKinley Franklin editor When Ryan Murphy approached Paris Barclay about directing “Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” the Emmy-winning director shot down his offer. “I said no,” says Barclay.

He changed his mind, however, when he learned more about Episode 6, titled “Silenced.” Barclay, who previously won two Emmys for directing “NYPD Blue” and garnered nominations for “Glee” and “The West Wing,” ended up receiving his latest Emmy mention for his work on the episode. “[Murphy] started telling me the story of Tony Hughes,” he reveals. “I’d never heard of this young man, and I thought, ‘That may be a story I can get behind that’s worth telling.’” The sixth episode spotlights Hughes, a Black, deaf victim of Jeffrey Dahmer played by actor Rodney Burford.

Barclay’s hesitancy about helming any part of the Dahmer-centric project dissolved upon learning more about the man he defines as “a beautiful person that had big dreams.” The director also made a personal connection, seeing parallels between his own beginnings in the industry with Hughes’ aspirations. “He had all these dreams, just like me when I came to New York City,” says Barclay. “I was thinking I would make it big, and Tony was that guy — Tony was me.” The episode flashes back to Hughes’ birth and early years, including a scene in which his mother learns that he was deaf. “I was Team Tony from that moment on, because I’ve been there when he was born,” he says. “They discovered that he would never hear, which was already heartbreaking.

To see him grow up and triumph over that put me even more on his side.” As Hughes was deaf, sound — or lack thereof — was an important element in the episode.