Albuquerque to install statue of meth dealing, multiple murdering local hero, Walter White
Statues of Breaking Bad's Walter White and Jesse Pinkman will be unveiled later this month
The city of Albuquerque, New Mexico has been immortalized in popular culture as a city overrun by murderous drug lords and neo-Nazis—a mecca for meth production and distribution—thanks to the success of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Apparently unconcerned by this image, Albuquerque has decided to lean entirely into its reputation as a horrible, dangerous place to visit and put up bronze statues of Breaking Bad’s main characters, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
Per IGN, the two statues “were originally commissioned from sculptor Trevor Grove in 2019 by [Breaking Bad] creator Vince Gilligan.” After presumably spending a few years wondering where to put two big bronze representations of an evil Bryan Cranston and tragic Aaron Paul in his house, Gilligan decided to donate the statues to the city of Albuquerque, where they’ll be unveiled later this month.
While we haven’t seen what the statues actually look like yet, we hope the Jesse sculptor accurately captures the emotion of his character being frozen in a state of eternal torment thanks to him being placed in the presence of his life-ruining former chemistry teacher.
In a press release quoted by IGN, Gilligan says he wanted to give something back to the city that’s served as the setting for Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and El Camino.” To that end, Gilligan and Sony Pictures Television are offering these sculptures of horrible TV men as a thank you gift. “It makes me happy to picture them gracing The Duke City for decades to come, attracting busloads of tourists,” Gilligan says.
Those willing to push down their fear that a rival drug lord will blow up the statues during their public unveiling can attend a ceremony being held on July 29th at the Albuquerque Convention Center. The city’s mayor, Vince Gilligan, and Breaking Bad executive producer/Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould will be joined by the flesh and blood Cranston and Paul for the ceremony. “Special guests” are promised, too, so, who knows, maybe Jesse Plemons will show up to unveil a tribute to his skin-crawlingly terrifying white supremacist character, too.
[via Boing Boing]
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