Bob Odenkirk says Better Call Saul helped him sympathize with Bryan Cranston and James Gandolfini
Bob Odenkirk used his time on Hot Ones to talk about how new show Lucky Hank helped him sweat Saul Goodman out of his system
Bob Odenkirk, the latest celeb to step into Sean Evans’ spicy arena, opened his Hot Ones interview by disparaging the entire concept of Hot Ones. “I don’t particularly see the connection [between the interview and the hot sauces]… I think I’m perfectly capable of talking without having a part of my body injured,” he said. Still, he went on to express his admiration for the actors behind certain characters that do (often) use pain as a way to get people talking… through far grizzlier methods than a few “wings of death.”
In between a stoic tear or two, Odenkirk opened up about what it was like to live inside the mind of a character so driven by resentment for so long, and how his experience playing Saul Goodman on Better Call Saul helped him to better understand the struggles of actors like James Gandolfini and costar Bryan Cranston before him.
“I remember reading about Bryan [Cranston] playing Walter White and [James] Gandolfini playing Tony Soprano and the frustrations that they felt with the challenge of just staying in that guy’s head. And I would be like, ‘Oh come on, it’s acting. I mean, how hard can it be?’ And then I got to do Saul, and I was like ‘Oh, this is fucking hard,’” he said.