The Better Call Saul alum mines a different kind of misery in this AMC comedy-drama.
Bob Odenkirkis about to be an agent of chaos once again.
What kind of trouble?
Bob Odenkirk on ‘Lucky Hank’.Sergei Bachlakov/AMC
Oh,and according to the trailer, he also may square off with a goose.
BOB ODENKIRK:Definitely.Saulwas tough.Saulwas so deeply emotional, so often.
There really was so much turmoil, and that was hard.
Mireille Enos as Lily and Bob Odenkirk as Hank in ‘Lucky Hank’.Sergei Bachlakov/AMC
I mean, that just wears you down.
So I really wanted something lighter.
I was workingon a projectwithDavid Cross[with whom he created and starred onMr.
Oscar Nunez as Dean Rose in ‘Lucky Hank’.Sergei Bachlakov/AMC
Show] and my brother, Bill [Odenkirk, anotherMr.
Showwriter], that was pretty much pure comedy.
That didn’t go.
But that is for sure something I was looking for.
Tonally this is fundamentally different.
He loves his daughter, but there’s tension there.
And he’s funny.
He makes jokes and he knows he’s making jokes.
So much ofSaulwas funny, but you were laughing at him, you know?
This guy, he’s more my age.
And everything you’re saying is what I thought.
And I thought, “I’ll do this show.”
How and when didLucky Hankenter your orbit?
I read this script beforemy heart attack.
And it was written as a half-hour…. Because you want to hit harder andrun."
We always reference Alexander Payne films.
That’s so scientific of you.
I’m one of those few people who thinks it’s okay to take a stab at analyze comedy.
I know a lot of comics who hate the notion of taking comedy apart.
And I just think it’s possible for you to do it.
It’s fun to do it!
If you were to make a word cloud to describeLucky Hank, what words populate it?
That’s the only way I prove my value."
Or: “I got my article published inThe Atlantic.”
“Well, mine’s going to be published inThe New Yorker.”
From outside their world, it looks like silliness, but it’s not silly to them.
What was the element ofLucky Hankthat most appealed to you?
That was the fundamentally different thing.
How do we make their relationship more dimensional and real?
And people always wondered, “Did they sleep together?
I don’t know.
Are they roommates?”
And maybe that’s really all they shared.
And that’s just sad.
[Laughs]
That’s really, really sad.
I think it might be true.
Jimmy and Kim, it was always like, “What is this relationship?”
And the thing that got me was I related to this guy more.
And I related to his feelings of love and frustration.
Everything about his relationship with his wife felt real to me and dimensional to me.
And you’ve said thatHank’s misanthropic-yet-amicable nature also spoke to you.
I don’t particularly go through life that way, but I have a lot of friends who do.
And for him, he’s joking all the time.
And we talked about this at one point, me and Paul Lieberstein.
[Laughs] I like that he’s genuinely clever, genuinely funny.
Because it’s an emotional response to life.
So he’s not making the joke always because it’s a great one.
He’s making a joke because he can’t help himself.
In your opinion, what is his major malfunction?
Or is it a series of minor malfunctions?
This is my analysis.
We all have chapters in our life.
Got a good review inThe New York Times; it’s forgotten.
And he didn’t see it coming.
Inside him, he’s suddenly gaining awareness of, “The Earth is shifting under me.
The new chapter has begun, whether I noticed it or not.
My daughter doesn’t need me.
So I can’t resent him anymore.
No one will care that I resent him anymore.
It doesn’t mean anything that I resent him.
He’s gone.”
And what impressed you when you two first read together?
We didn’t read together.
The casting of this thing went so fast.
She was very interested.
But she was in New Jersey, I was in New York.
I said, “Can we meet?
No reading has to be done, I’m here.
Let’s have lunch.”
We met in Greenwich Village and we talked, and she wasfunny, and she was laughing and smiling.
How come I’ve never seen it?"
[Laughs] And she goes, “They don’t let me play this side of my personality.
I’m always getting chased.
I’m always in trouble.
I’m always worried and scared.”
And you see her in this, you see that smile, you see that warmth that she has.
And that’s genuine to her.
I’m not kidding!
I just watched the eighth episode.
The episode I’m totally serious it is almost an identical journey, as with Rhea and Kim.
And she’s f—ing amazing.
It’s f—ing top-notch.
We have an amazing cast I mean, how did I get so lucky?
WhenSaulended, I was like, “We’ll never be in a show this good again.
We all know that.
Or one where we love each other so much.”
But I’m telling you, absolutely I struck gold twice.
You played Saul over two shows for a dozen years.
Did moving on to this show so quickly make it easier?
I didn’t think we would do it as quickly as we did.
I would have preferred a break.
We want it, but we want it right away.
We need it for our schedule.
We think it’s right for us."
And I think we’re exactly in the right place [AMC] with this show.
Honestly,Saulbeat the s— out of me.
[Laughs] The first year was so f—ing hard, man.
I was like a basket case.
I mean, the sheer number of lines I had.
He’s got to recognize it and he’s got to change, too.
The only thing that’s hard is that he’s pretty shut down.
I just related to him more and his intellectual approach to life.
I mean, Saul was hard because Saul was so much younger than me.
How old was that character at the end of that?
He turned 50 when he was on the run.
This guy was easier to play.
The hardest part is hitting the tone right on this show.
“Well, because a guy with a gun is chasing him.”
And this show is more like real life.
They’re not a shared understood source of tension, like a drug cartel.
So it’s a challenging one to figure out.
What can viewers expect from that pairing?
It’s really great, the degree to which Dean Rose and Hank have a friendliness, a tension.
They bother each other, but they tolerate each other and there’s even warmth there.
And the complexity of that relationship is great to play.
Oscar Nunez issogood at making a dimensional person come to life.
There’s just warmth in there, humanity in there.
[Laughs] It just felt very real and that’s what attracted me to the show.
Oh, there you go!
I get to use that: “Hey, you brought in Oscar!”
I’d getTony Daltonto come in.
That’s the right answer.
A comedy would be perfect for Tony.
I’m surprised he hasn’t been scooped up for one yet.
I’m with you.
What would he be?
Well, it’s all English professors, right?
He would be from the University of Mexico City.
