On “Better Call Saul,” Bob Odenkirk has walked a careful
line between wry comedy and soul-baring drama. Over five seasons, he has played
the unscrupulous lawyer Jimmy McGill on his downward path to becoming the venal
Saul Goodman, the character he introduced on “Breaking Bad.”
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The role is a professional plot twist that continues to
delight Odenkirk as well as his longtime fans who first got to know him as a
writer and performer of absurdist comedy sketches on “Saturday Night Live,” “The
Ben Stiller Show” and “Mr Show With Bob and David.”
Now the 58-year-old actor is looking to make another change
in his trajectory, one that’s equally, if not more, surprising: starring in the
action thriller “Nobody.”
The film, which Universal will release Friday in theaters
and April 16 on-demand, casts Odenkirk as Hutch Mansell, a seemingly
nondescript suburban husband and father who is shaken by a break-in at his
home, an incident that drives him to violent revenge and a reckoning with his
own past.
Amid flying fists, broken bones, car chases and explosions,
“Nobody” has the requisite level of humor you would expect to find in an action
movie. But the film, which is directed by Ilya Naishuller (“Hardcore Henry”)
and written by Derek Kolstad (“John Wick”), is not a comedy or a parody.
As Odenkirk explained in a video interview in February: “It
was intended as a genre movie — pure, unapologetic, unironic. Hopefully we take
it to such an extreme that it becomes nothing but a cinematic explosion of fury
and elemental rage.”
Beyond his sincere efforts to see if audiences will embrace
him in this role — one that required months of fitness training and fight
choreography — Odenkirk is also using “Nobody” as a constructive outlet to work
through his own real-life experiences as a break-in victim.
Speaking from his home in Los Angeles, Odenkirk talked about
the making of “Nobody” and how his comedic chops come in handy when it’s time
to plan a fight scene. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Q: Was it as enjoyable to play an action hero as we
all imagine it to be?
A: I wasn’t sure if it would be satisfying or just a weird
challenge that made no sense to me when I was finally allowed to execute it. I
wasn’t sure if I’d be there on set thinking, “This is way off-base — this is
not satisfying in any way.” It was really satisfying and really fun.
Q: Was it the next logical step for you after
“Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul”?
A: It’s not easy to figure out what connects this to
everything else in my career, and I’m not sure I can make it easy for you. When
I first approached it, my brain said, “Maybe I could do an action movie.” I’m
in good shape; I could maybe learn if I had time. And I think I have the
components for an action lead in this “Better Call Saul” character that I play.
He’s earnest. He’s indefatigable. He finds a way around everything. He’s always
shifting his approach to try to get over the latest wrinkle or issue in front
of him. The only thing he doesn’t do is fight.
Q: You were inspired to make this movie, in part, by
some very frightening personal experiences. Are you comfortable discussing
this?
A: [His voice softens.] I can only talk about it a little.
My family has had two break-ins here in LA, and the first one was particularly
traumatic. The residual feelings of frustration and anger are real and stayed
with me. They were something I thought I could build this character out of. I
know that violence doesn’t solve anything. But believe me, you have a desire to
hurt someone who hurts your family.
Q: In the movie, your character is shamed for not
trying to subdue his home invaders. Did a police officer actually say something
like that to you?
A: “That’s not what I would have done.” Yes — implying that
they would have done something violent or confrontational. My immediate thought
was, “Everybody be cool, get this person out of the house, we’re all OK.”
It’s not really true; we weren’t all OK. And the violation
that happened, the damage from that — honestly, there’s parts of it I can’t
talk about. I would just say it resonates through our lives. That sense of
being victimized by something you can do nothing about and in no way push back
against. It really stayed with me, and it still does. But I did enjoy acting
out my rage in this movie. It’s all phony baloney but super fun.
Q: When did you start taking concrete steps to get
this made as a movie?
A: It was after the second season of “Better Call Saul” (which
aired in 2016). My brother-in-law sent me a screengrab of a “Better Call Saul”
ad on a TV in China. I had already been to Europe twice and met a lot of fans
of “Better Call Saul” there. I thought, “I wonder if I could do a movie that
could play around the world.”
Q: Did you expect you might meet some resistance to
the idea?
A: Oh, I thought people would say no, right away. I went to
one of my managers and I told him my logic, and he said, “I think you might be
right.” He started asking around, and he got the same response. People were
like, that makes sense.
Q: Was your comedy career in any way a roadblock to
this goal?
A: If you know “Mr Show,” it’s really hard to make that
leap. But the fact is, most people don’t know it at all. They only know Saul
Goodman and Jimmy McGill.
Q: You played some memorably explosive
characters in your “Mr. Show” tenure, if that helps.
A: I can go from zero to 80 on the rage scale, and I did it
a lot for comedy’s sake. And it’s something my father did, only it wasn’t funny
when he did it. I would say I inherited it. But you’ve got to watch out when
you have that skill. Too often it’s misinterpreted.
Q: Were your comedy skills helpful as you and your
colleagues planned the action set pieces?
A: Let me tell you what I contributed to the bus fight (a
scene in which Odenkirk’s character faces off against a gang of roughnecks on a
public bus). We always wanted it to be big and brutal — to shake the audience
up and make them go, yeah, we’re doing it. I said, “He has to hurt himself.”
The first thing he does is miss and hit his head. I also said, “I want to get
thrown out of the bus and come back in.” By the way, there’s so many moments in
this that you could transpose to normal dad life by dialing down the intensity
level.
Q: Is it fair to say you’re taking some delight in
the bafflement of all this?
A: Part of me wants there to be two Bob Odenkirks. Just so I
can have a gravestone with two opposite sides. “He brought the pain,” on one
side. “My God, he was funny,” on the other. Has anyone ever done that? A grave
with two different things? One side says, “Beloved husband, cherished father.”
The other side says, “Despised ex-husband, resented father.”
Q: As we’re speaking, you’re about to start work on
the last season of “Better Call Saul.” Is the finality of it all starting to
dawn on you?
A: Not yet. I have so much to do, I can’t think like that. I
have to save that for somewhere down the line. There’s just too much work ahead
of me.
Q: We don’t know how it all ends for Saul Goodman,
but we know the road thus far has taken him to a low-profile gig at Cinnabon.
Have you made any unannounced stops to Cinnabon lately, just to see
what happens?
A: I have not, but I know what goes into a Cinnabon. My
trainer for the action movies would not be OK with me enjoying a Cinnabon. But
they are good. Enjoy your Cinnabons, folks, while you can. Someday they’re going
to want you to do an action movie and have you eat avocados and eggs for the
rest of your life.
