Bob Odenkirk has said that he understands why James Gandolfini wanted to end starring as Tony in The Sopranos, citing exhaustion from inhabiting a character’s emotions for so long.
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The Better Call Saul star, who reprises his role as Saul Goodman for the Breaking Bad spinoff’s sixth and final series this year, made the remarks in a new interview.
He told The New York Times that he’s ready to part ways his character, admitting that it’s “challenging” to let go of a role he’s portrayed over a decade.
“I always used to scoff and roll my eyes at actors who say, ‘It’s so hard.’ Really? It can’t be,” Odenkirk told the publication of taking on a dramatic role.
“[But] the truth is that you use your emotions, and you use your memories, you use your hurt feelings and losses, and you manipulate them, dig into them, dwell on them. A normal adult doesn’t walk around doing that, going, ‘What was the worst feeling of abandonment I’ve had in my life? Let me just gaze at that for the next week and a half, because that’s going to fuel me.’”
Odenkirk added: “It gave me great sympathy for someone like James Gandolfini, who talked about how he couldn’t wait to be done with that character, and I think Bryan [Cranston] said similar things: ‘I can’t wait to leave this guy behind.’ I finally related to that attitude.”
Despite his wishes to move on, Odenkirk said that Better Call Saul has “been the biggest thing” in his life.
“It’s emotional to say goodbye to it, and to all these people I’ve been working with for so many years,” he said. “I guess people who work on, you know, N.C.I.S. would say the same thing. But would they mean it?”
Last year, executive producer Thomas Schnauz revealed what’s to expect from the upcoming final season.
“There will be more physical and emotional violence in season six,” Schnauz told Den Of Geek. Whereas he said that he couldn’t promise that these levels would exceed those from previous seasons, whatever happens will “probably hit harder” on account of season six being the show’s last.
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