The Chi's Barton Fitzpatrick On How Chicago Is Represented On Television - Exclusive
Barton Fitzpatrick's career is relatively young, but, in recent years, he's racked up an impressive string of roles. The fun twist for Fitzpatrick is that several of them have been for series set in Chicago, his native city where he still works and lives. "The Chi," for example, is one of the projects for which most people know Fitzpatrick, but he's also been in "Chicago Med," "Chicago P.D.," and "Empire," all of which are set in the Windy City. Most recently, Fitzpatrick has been guest-starring in Starz's "Power Book IV: Force," a spinoff series of "Power" also set in Chicago.
On "The Chi," Fitzpatrick portrayed Reggie, who was — spoiler! — ultimately shot at the end of the drama's 2nd season. Fans wouldn't learn until Season 3 that the shooting proved fatal, taking a beloved character off of the show's chessboard.
Fitzpatrick has been portraying his city well on the small screen, but one broader question remains: do these series accurately represent the city in which Fitzpatrick grew up, or do they merely portray a caricature of a location? Luckily for us at Nicki Swift, we were recently able to ask Fitzpatrick just that. In our exclusive interview with "Power Book's" Fitzpatrick, the actor revealed not only what it was like to work on "Force," but also why his "Force" character was written for him. Interestingly, he also told us whether he believes the entertainment industry does Chicago justice in its portrayal of the city.
Barton Fitzpatrick's costar immediately knew he was a Chicago native
Barton Fitzpatrick's love for his home city is admirable, and it shows in his work. However, how does Hollywood score when representing Chicago's image to the world? Thankfully, we got to ask Fitzpatrick, who is a near expert on representing the Windy City given how many Chicago-set series he's appeared in.
"I think casting me, they do," Fitzpatrick said when asked if series like "The Chi" represent the city accurately. "By casting actors such as myself and employing writers who are actually from the city, yeah, definitely. I think so." However, he's also aware that progress is essential in every aspect of the industry. "I think we could definitely do a better job always. There's always room for improvement in any aspect."
Funnily enough, Fitzpatrick revealed to us that fellow "Power Book IV: Force" actor Kris D. Lofton knew he was from Chicago the second he saw him. "He saw my work on 'The Chi,' and he reached out, like, 'You have to be from Chicago. Your portrayal is too authentic,'" Fitzpatrick recalled. "And that's literally how our relationship started." There's a reason for this, too. "Chicago is the most gorgeous place in the world, in my opinion," he continued. "So I owe everything to Chicago. I pay homage to Chicago, whatever I do." Ultimately, Fitzpatrick had one point to make about Chicago's representation on TV: "I'm impressed, and I'm proud of the stories that I've seen."
You can catch Barton Fitzpatrick in "Power Book IV: Force" every Sunday on Starz.