Exclusive interview with American actor Bob Odenkirk Renad Ghanem Saudi Gazette
Bob Odenkirk the American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer will be starring in the American drama television series ‘Better Call Saul' that will be airing in February in OSN. In an exclusive interview with Saudi Gazette meet Bob as Saul Goodman (Jimmy McGill) the criminal lawyer who is familiar to Albuquerque residents thanks to his over-the-top late-night television commercials, where his catchphrase is Better call Saul! And claims “I fight for YOU, Albuquerque!” SG: Did you accept this role right away, or did you have to think about it? Bob: Honestly, the hardest part was my family. My kids are teenagers and my wife has a business, so I knew they couldn't join me. Vince was insistent that the show be shot in Albuquerque. So that was the hardest part, leaving my family. I actually said no to the offer, at first. And then my son told me that I was going to disappoint a lot of people.
SG: Is there someone in the legal world that helped shape this character for you? Bob: I haven't been in too many scrapes with the law. There's a cleverness that a lawyer needs to possess, a slipperiness that is useful when pursuing the law. If you get anywhere close to it in your daily day-to-day, you can smell it right away. You understand what it's about. You say: I see! This is all about maneuvering and manipulating words. That's what the law is—it's a negotiation. What we think of as hard and fast rules of human behavior are really malleable and easily manipulated.
SG: Will you contribute any of your work as a writer? Bob: Nothing. I'm a better actor when I'm presented with a character—to be that person and figure them out. Our writers go through a lot of hell, and I don't want to know how they come up with the things they do. These guys put themselves through the mill as writers. If Better Call Saul is about something, it's about transformation. Again. And for Vince, that's not an easy thing. He doesn't transform or alter a character for fun or because it would serve the story. He is always asking: Who is this person? Why are they doing what they're doing? And what then does that tell me about what's really going on? Real people don't change easily SG: Do you still want to write and act after this? Bob: I'm not going to stop doing what I do. When I have free time, I work. It's just who I am. It's kind of a mid-western work ethic. But this show is certainly a high point. You can't get a richer role than this. I was telling someone that if Robert De Niro watches this, he's going to yell at his agent. It's that well written. I did not do anything to deserve this. I've won the lottery. A lot of show business people are always positioning themselves to get to the next thing. There's no next thing. It doesn't get better that Saul Goodman. You don't get better writing, or a more thoughtfully explored human being. It's all downhill from here
SG: What do fans say when they approach you? Bob: They say nice things. But I always have to ask what they know me from, because I've done a lot of different things, many of which have a hardcore audience. Whether it's Mr. Show or Fargo—mostly it's Breaking Bad. Usually, I'm just carrying on with my day—and it's a joke—but I think: You love my work from what? Washing the dishes? Shopping? Parking? Which of the three things that I do most in my life do you like?
SG: How do you keep a straight face in some of these outlandish scenes? Bob: We laugh a lot. You can't help but smile and laugh. Especially on Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston is a funny guy. He's always joking around. We're all tickled that we get to do this crazy stuff. There was another scene in Breaking Bad, with Jesse (Aaron Paul), when he's got a gun…I almost came out of the scene because of how good he was. I wanted to clap. That was the only challenge. How do you not just watch these amazing performances?
SG: Are these any plans for a Saul Goodman action figure? Bob: There's a Saul Goodman bobble head—it looks great. I suppose for an action figure, the mouth would have to move. Fast. You could have a little remote, and the mouth moves: fast, faster & fastest!
SG: Was it strange to be back in Albuquerque without your Breaking Bad cast? Bob: I'm best when I'm in the moment, so I don't think about what isn't there. I don't think about the bigger picture, at all. My job is the immediate. It felt natural to be in Albuquerque, shooting this wonderful stuff. And there were people from Breaking Bad. Mike was there. Jonathan Banks. That was enough carryover. And creatively, we had the team, and a lot of crew. I would say it felt comfortable. And because of how I look at it as an actor, it's a vacation from all those other duties. And you do a better job when you can turn all that stuff off. You just think about this show, and this story and this moment. That's your job.
SG: Do you relate to Saul in any way? Bob: I relate to Jimmy McGill a lot more than I related to Saul Goodman. Saul was this persona. He was duplicitous, and on the face of it, he almost would tell you. And I know people like this because I'm in show business. I've met people who basically told me that they're going to lie to me. It's a game. It's a business. And I think the persona of Saul is like that. He was playing a game. But real people, when you get behind that persona, you can find that they aren't trying to play a game. And that's the case with Saul. He's really trying to sort out his life and his feelings, his hopes and his dreams. And that's the person we meet in this show. Not Saul, but Jimmy McGill. He's not living with the world directly and he's suffering for it. SG: Were you surprised by these new origins? Bob: I think I was aware that Saul had sides to him that people weren't seeing. In Breaking Bad, I played a scene where I told Walter White to quit. And that was not in Saul's interest to get him to do that. So that speaks to a deeper character. I knew there was a real guy behind the persona—someone who might be thinking about the better interests of the moment. Saul also does that in Breaking Bad with Jesse and Andrea and Brock. The skills that Jimmy McGill has, which becomes Saul Goodman, are still there. He is a guy who schemes. He just does it naturally. That's part of who he is. It's not a put-on.
SG: The show takes place six years before Breaking Bad. Can you talk about any of the things this involves? Bob: Well, I wear a hairpiece. I believe in some scenes my face has some CGI work. This timeline thing is more than you think. It doesn't just go back—it slides all around.
SG: Do you have any input yourself as a writer? Bob: No, and I don't want any. I'm a better actor when I'm figuring out my character from cues in the script. I don't even read the outlines for upcoming episodes. I want to know what the character knows at that moment. I love the clarity of mind.
