After the global success of Breaking Bad, it came as no surprise that Better Call Saul would prove just as entertaining. While it would have been easy for the show and its main character to be dwarfed by the series that preceded it, Bob Odenkirk succeeded in making it entirely his own, with a stunning performance as Saul Goodman, the attorney for chemist-turned-meth dealer Walter White. The show made Odenkirk a household name, endearing him to audiences around the world and catapulted him into a level of stardom reserved to a select few.
Though the prequel series came to an end last month and fans bid farewell to Saul, it seems they’ll be seeing plenty more of Odenkirk in later months. After the critical and box office success of 2021’s Nobody, a thriller directed by Ilya Naishuller that saw Odenkirk star as a hitman, the actor not only got a taste for the action movie bug, but realised it’s one he wants to see more of in his future.
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival, the actor told Deadline, “I was very surprised by Nobody. I had initiated that project because I had a feeling that the character I was developing in Better Call Saul was the kind of character you see in an action film. He has earnest desires and he was willing to sacrifice himself…I still train multiple times a week and if I get my way you’re going to see me doing more action.”
According to Naishuller, Odenkirk trained for the role for two years, allowing the director to shoot action sequences in long takes without cutting, or require the work of a stuntman. As Naishuller told IndieWire, it made for “a wonderful, wonderful place to be at for a director.”
Explaining why he feels a certain fondness for the action movie genre, Odenkirk expressed that it was one he was brought up watching. “I found the action sequences a great deal of fun, and close to doing sketch comedy…I love the early Jackie Chan films, which had humour in them. I’d like to get that in, in the future,” he said.
At 59-years-old, Odenkirk might not be the first name that springs to mind when thinking of the action movie protagonist. As audiences, we’ve been trained to consider only younger faces with the kind of ripped physiques and shredded torsos you’d expect of a Marvel superhero. Consider the likes of Chris Hemsworth and Ryan Gosling. But after Keanu Reeves has stunned audiences with his role in John Wick, it seems there is something to be said for the older action star. As Odenkirk explained, audiences enjoy watching veteran actors in action roles. “
“It’s almost like people like to see older people lose their shit. Why does that seem to make sense to everyone? It’s funny,” said Odenkirk.
Speaking to audiences via video link from LA following a screening of his latest flick, Worlds Apart, Odenkirk encouraged creatives and viewers alike to take more risks. “You have to jump off the ledge. You read a script, you re-write it, you get everyone together, but at some point you’ve got to jump and make the thing and you get what you get. I never want to lose touch with that.”
