Bob Odenkirk has become a big name over at AMC thanks to playing shady lawyer Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad, along with the soon-to-air series Better Call Saul. Despite the fact that Odenkirk has a good grip on the Saul Goodman character, it doesn’t come from watching his own work. Recently, Odenkirk spoke out to say he literally has no interest in watching the things he has starred in.
"I really don’t want to know what’s coming later and I don’t look back at what came before… I think it’s a perfectly good way to approach acting to not know what the f— is going on."
To prove his point, the actor recalled a time when he was on the set of Breaking Bad and totally got called out by series lead Bryan Cranston about his watching habits. According to THR, the two men were shooting a scene where Odenkirk’s character was supposed to have disdain for a character and instead had the wrong attitude when referring to that character. Incredulously, Cranston said:
“That guy’s not your friend, don’t say it like that. You don’t watch the show, do you?”
Obviously, Odenkirk didn’t hang his head in shame while admitting he hadn’t watched Breaking Bad. The man clearly has the same philosophy with Better Call Saul, which he hasn’t “seen a frame” of. And while I have trouble seeing how he’s managed to avoid some of his more popular and critically acclaimed works (here he is at the Nebraska premiere), I can see how it would be tough to devote most of your waking hours to a TV series and then want to watch the show in your spare time.
Oppositely, Breaking Bad is one of the most groundbreaking and influential cable dramas of the decade. It capably grew its audience over time thanks to the wonders of streaming, AMC’s many marathons and Netflix. By the end of its run, the show nabbed 10.3 million total viewers. All of its success paved the way for Better Call Saul to become a reality. I don’t think anyone would think less of Odenkirk for watching the excellent TV program. I’m just not sure he has any interest in watching Saul Goodman’s life play out.
Luckily, he has hordes of fans who do. Better Call Saul creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have been busy promoting the AMC series over the last couple of months, and we’ve gotten everything from interview footage to an official song. Now, we just have to wait a little longer to catch new episodes in February of 2015.
