Spoilers below.
If Carmen Berzatto ultimately decides to leave the restaurant from which FX’s hit dramedy The Bear draws its name, fans are certain to riot—but Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto will have done her job well. As the older sister to Jeremy Allen White’s emotionally stunted chef Carmy, Natalie has spent her entire life looking out for her mother and brothers, gamely putting up with their “bullshit,” as actress Abby Elliott puts it. But at the beginning of the newest season of The Bear, she’s a new mother and an operations manager at a struggling restaurant—and, frankly, too exhausted not to be forthright.
“I think because she’s exhausted, because she’s a new mom, she’s able to really express a little more to Carmy what she’s feeling,” Elliott says. “So she’s telling Carmy, ‘If you’re not in love with [the restaurant business] anymore, that’s okay.’ And that may not have been something that she could have said before.”
The scene Elliott is referencing takes place in episode 2, and is one of several moments that underscore season 4’s focus on emotional release after the pressure-cooker pace of season 3. “Catharsis: I feel like that is exactly what this season is,” Elliott says. As an actress, she found it increasingly difficult to separate herself from what Natalie was undergoing on-camera. “I really, really feel all of her feelings, which is a new thing for me on TV shows. I go through the emotions of Natalie now and feel like I am living in it.”
But, of course, Natalie’s role isn’t simply as The Bear’s budget-minded brain or its emotional engine. Elliott’s comedic background—she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2012, and has starred in several sitcoms since—goes a long way toward legitimizing the FX series’ status as a bona fide comedy. A standout scene arrives during a much-hyped wedding showdown in episode 7, during which actress Brie Larson makes a guest-star appearance as Natalie’s frenemy, Francie Fak. Elliott’s inflections around phrases like, “Francie Fucking Fak!” and “You were drunk as shit!” make an otherwise overwhelming shouting match a treat to watch.
“Tonally, you really have to ground it and sell it,” Elliott says. “It really is about playing everything super-grounded and real, trying to feel those feelings, to get to a place of, ‘I’m fighting with her because I’m genuinely heartbroken by what she did.’ And then trusting that it will be edited and directed in a way that feels [both funny and dramatic].”
Below, Elliott discusses working with White on strengthening Carmy and Natalie’s bond; how Vanderpump Rules inspired her showdown with Larson; and what that crucial finale scene means for Natalie’s future in The Bear.
Let’s talk about that pivotal scene in episode 2, when Natalie tells Carmy it’s okay for him not to love restaurant work anymore. In part thanks to Sugar, he soon realizes he can—perhaps even should—leave The Bear behind. How did you and Jeremy perfect that scene?
When we read [the scripts], it makes so much sense to us. And with Jeremy, our relationship has naturally evolved on-camera, and I feel closer to him now off-camera.
I genuinely didn’t know how [the scene in episode 2] was going to come out in the moment. I didn’t know how emotional it would feel, and that’s how [show creator] Chris Storer approaches everything: It’s all really fresh and not overly rehearsed. And every time I’m [filming a scene] on the phone, there is an actor also on the [other side of the] phone. Jeremy was really on the phone with me, and Carmy’s apology…it felt so different this time than the times that he’s apologized in the past.
Now that Carmy and Natalie are in this emotional place together and she says this thing, it almost feels like a seed she’s planting. It brings him to a different place. And then we see her come into the restaurant with the baby, and his face lights up. The way it’s shot is so light; the directorial choices were so beautiful in that moment. Everything’s coming to light, literally and figuratively.
Natalie has spent so much of her life looking out for her brothers, her mother, and the people around her. They depend on her. Do you feel as though, in season 4, she’s realizing more and more that she can depend on them, too?
Absolutely. I think, now more than ever, she needs support. She’s a new mom, and she still has this very complicated relationship with [her mother] Donna. Them coming together and connecting in the labor episode [last season]? That wasn’t really this reconciliation. She’s still like, “Fuck this” when her mom calls her.
I think she knows she needs support now. And Pete is a huge part of that. He’s the antithesis of how she grew up, and you see her being grateful for him. In the wedding episode, she’s reassuring him that she wasn’t in love with Francie; it’s always been Pete. I love those moments with him, and I love the moments in bed where Nat and him are being affectionate. I think they’re so important for Nat’s character, to see her not just being walked on and giving too much of herself to Carmy and the restaurant.
Since you mentioned her, I have to ask about Francie Fak. What was it like working with Brie Larson to finally bring this character—and her feud with Natalie—on-camera?
Chris Storer and I have been having conversations about this since season 2, when the concept of Francie first gets introduced. We were like, “Who is she?”
We talked about Stassi [Schroeder] from Vanderpump Rules. And we were like, “I think she’s kind of like Stassi.” Then, I think it was between seasons 2 and 3, I was at the L.A. Natural History Museum, and I saw Stassi. I was like, “Oh my God.” I was so embarrassed because my kid was having a tantrum and her kid was so well-behaved, and [Storer] was like, “This is perfect. This is so Natalie and Francie.”
Another thing that Chris and I talked about: I was watching a reality show with all these women at this wedding in those Hill House nap dresses. And I was like, “It’d be so funny if [Francie and Natalie] are going at each other in these Little-Bo-Peep pastel dresses.” So we tried to do that with the wardrobe in episode 7; she’s wearing a headband and I’m wearing a headband. Everything’s very cute, and then we’re going into this dark drunken backstory. It was my favorite thing to shoot.
That episode felt so much like My Best Friend’s Wedding and The Wedding Singer and all of those kind of ’90s/2000s movies that you watch and you’re like, “Oh, I wish I was at that wedding.” There was a scene in My Best Friend’s Wedding, which takes place in Chicago, and [Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz] are in the bathroom at Wrigley Field. Cameron’s wearing a little headband and she’s in pastel, and she goes off on Julia’s character. I kept watching that scene before [filming episode 7] to really get me into it.
So much goes down at weddings. It’s such a perfect backdrop for drama and comedy.
And then when Brie stepped in, it made it all the more perfect. We really hit it off. I think we’re pretty similar, and she’s so funny. I love her. We were simpatico from the start, which was so much fun to play.
And even though we do, sort of, find out [the source of Natalie and Francie’s feud], it’s still a little unclear!
Let’s get into the last scene of the finale. Nat learns that Carmy was, in fact, at [their brother] Mikey’s funeral…and also that he’s planning to leave The Bear. She barely says anything; she goes directly to hug him. What is going through her mind in that moment?
When I was in the scene and when I performed it, I just felt heartbreak for Carmy. I felt heartbreak that he couldn’t bring himself in to Mikey’s funeral, that he was there and he couldn’t get himself to go in.
But then I think Sugar’s overcome with pride for how far he’s come. In that moment, she wants him to be okay. That hug is a hug of support: I got you. I’m going to lift you up and get you to where you want to be.
If Carmy does indeed leave The Bear, Natalie will be the only Berzatto still involved in this restaurant that once belonged—in various forms—to her father and her brothers. If there is a season 5 of The Bear, what do you want next for Natalie?
If we were to have that opportunity, I’d love to see her continue supporting Carmy—to have this relationship with him that is now in a good place, a loving place on both sides.
I think that she’s so capable. She has this healthy work-life balance where… Yes, she’s ambitious, but she’s not going to [drive herself to the brink] over this restaurant. This was never really her dream. She’s here for her brother, to support him, and then she fell in love with it and loves the Bear family.
She has her home life, which is very satisfying to her, but she also knows how to operate the restaurant. She knows what she’s doing. I’d like to see her continue down that path.
For entertainment purposes, I would love to see her with Donna. I’d love to see Donna coming over to babysit. And then having something happen. [Laughs.]
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
