The Better Call Saul Panel at Vulture Fest Taught Us These 10 Great Things
This weekend Vulture Festival is underway in New York City with some great panels, screenings, podcasts and discussions with media people of all kinds including plenty of comedy stars. We checked out a bunch of Vulture Fest events including an excellent panel discussion with the creators and principal cast of Better Call Saul. While technically not a comedy, BCS has some of the funniest moments on television pop up between and during some pretty intense drama.
Saturday morning fans packed out a 500 seat studio to watch Better Call Saul‘s co-creator Peter Gould talk about the series with Saul/Jimmy himself– Bob Odenkirk (who participated via telephone), as well as Michael McKean and Rhea Seehorn who play Jimmy/Saul’s brother and girlfriend. New York Magazine television critic Matt Zoller Seitz moderated the discussion and selected clips to share with the room.
1. Show creators started joking about a Saul Goodman spinoff almost immediately after introducing the Saul character on Breaking Bad. Creator Peter Gould said that anytime a storyline idea would be discarded from Breaking Bad because it didn’t fit, the writers would say “Let’s save that for the Saul Goodman show.” Later when conversations about a spinoff became real, the creators had many concerns about what kind of show it should be, initially considering straight comedy, and also worrying about whether the character had enough depth to hold a series. The quote “My real name’s McGill. The Jew thing I just do for the homeboys. They all want a pipe-hitting member of the tribe, so to speak…” from Season Two of Breaking Bad made the writers ask “what problem does becoming Saul Goodman solve?”
2. Once the creators brought Jimmy’s brother Chuck, the depth of the show began to take shape, and adding a fascinating woman into his life put to bed any concerns about whether Saul could hold a show.
3. Bob Odenkirk, who comes from a sketch comedy background, didn’t get intimidated about centering the series, until they put the billboards up. “As long as they write it, I can do it,” he told the audience, adding “It’s a wonderful challenge to have and a great fit after all the years I’ve spent in sketch comedy, to get to do this.” But once they put the billboards up, he realized that everyone was going to try the show out, because they all loved Breaking Bad.
4. Wardrobe is hyper-realistic; the level of attention to detail is impressive. Rhea Seehorn shared a detail about her wardrobe, which includes details probably not seen by most viewers. “Kim is an outsider too,” she said comparing the character to Jimmy. “Both loners, both outsiders, both need the right suit to wear to fit in.” Kim wants to fit in, she said, but can’t really afford to match the expensive suits of the partners at her firm. So her suits are purposely mismatched- separates that aren’t exactly the right color, because she’s shopping at Marshall’s and Nordstrom Rack. There’s another secret unseen authentic detail in Jimmy’s wardrobe. One of his horsebit loafers is actually being held together with a paperclip. Yes, it’s a metaphor.
5. Remember that guy who used to get himself booked as a yo-yo expert on local morning shows, but then show up and be unable to do a single trick? He booked himself as Kenny Strasser but that’s really Mark Proksch who also plays “Pryce” on Better Call Saul. You know, the guy who hires Mike as his bodyguard while he conducts illicit transactions and buys a flashy Hummer Mike won’t be seen in.
6. Michael McKean says despite Chuck’s poor bedside manner, his actions are all supportable. Understanding Chuck’s motivations, and even liking Chuck is essential to playing the character. “You have to find a way to love the character you are playing even if people from the outside, see someone else.” McKean said that Chuck associates Jimmy with the destruction of his own life. The more Jimmy enters his world, the more it falls apart. He also pointed to the scene where he witnesses his mother’s death as integral to Chuck’s motivations. “I made my mother proud, Jimmy made my mother laugh.”
7. Jonathan Banks, who plays Mike, is America’s greatest badass, and he’s a sweetheart. Michael McKean called Jonathan Banks America’s greatest badass (and we agree). In fact, he said someday in the distant future when Jonathan Banks and Lee Marvin meet in heaven, it will be Lee Marvin who blinks. A few Jonathan Banks facts, he’s not online (his daughter runs his social media), and when it comes to talking to fans, he is approachable and sweet. According to Rhea Seehorn, fans tend to assume Odenkirk and Banks are like their characters, and will run over to Odenkirk with a lot of energy, and being very cautious around Banks when the reality is the opposite, that Bob is a bit shy with fans, while Jonathan is more comfortable.
8. The castmembers will get together and rehearse scenes off campus, on their own. Because the scenes can be long, with up to ten pages of dialogue. When the cast shows up on set, they’ve often already run the lines together.
9. Chuck’s illness is a real thing, but “we don’t really know to what degree.” Michael McKean was only able to confirm that Chuck isn’t faking his illness, but not much more than that, because he just doesn’t know. But the panel agreed that the illness is a real thing.
10. It’s all to be continued. Is this a moral descent? Good question, Gould said. Kim and Chuck will face tough choices as the show moves forward he said, but stopped short of giving any answers. “Maybe there will be redemption. A lot is to be continued.”
