Bob Odenkirk Said He Was In A ‘Financial Hole’ Before ‘Breaking Bad’ Role

Bob Odenkirk is an actor, writer, comedian, and director with a career that dates back to the late 80s. He was among the writing team for “Saturday Night Live” but left in 1991. After leaving SNL, the actor continued writing for television and produced “Mr Show” with Bob and David. The show ran from 1995 to 1998.

His more notable role is as Saul Goodman in Vince Gilligan’s “Breaking Bad.” The actor started with the show in the second season and stayed on it until the finale in season five. He is currently about to conclude a spin-off of the series called “Better Call Saul.”

Despite his current success in the industry, the actor was previously in quite the financial bid. In a recent interview, Odenkirk revealed that he faced major money troubles mid-2000s and was even advised to take a huge loan. Here are all the details.

Odenkirk recently appeared on the Sirius XM radio show and talked about his time before starring as Saul Goodman in “Breaking Bad.” The actor revealed that he was bankrupt and in a financial hole when he accepted the role.

When Howard Stern brought up the topic, he said, “Yes, I was, which was crazy.” The director also revealed that he handled some feature movies that didn’t do well at the box office, so he didn’t get paid much. This ultimately added to his bankruptcy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plg9jMo_Q1E

“What happened was I spent some time making some feature films. They weren’t great. I didn’t get paid a lot for them. I enjoyed directing them, mostly,” Odenkirk said. He also said that after the movies, he felt “visionless.”

While Odenkirk didn’t mention the actual movies, the actor is likely talking about “Let’s Go To Prison” from 2006 and “The Brothers Solomon” from 2007. The two films failed critically and commercially when they were released.

In the interview, Odenkirk mentioned his previous business manager’s response to his situation. “I somehow got in this financial hole and got this phone call one morning from my business manager saying, ‘You have to sign this loan to keep afloat.’ It was a weird call.” He revealed that the loan was $900,000 and he ended up not taking it.

The director got another business manager instead, who advised him to take as many movie roles as possible to “bring some money through.” Odenkirk took more acting and writing roles for movies and even started directing commercials. He said that instead of being his usual “picky self,” he decided to “act, direct” and “make stuff” even more.

He kept this up for years until he was offered a “Breaking Bad” role in 2008. “I get a phone call, ‘They’re gonna offer you a role on ‘Breaking Bad,’’” Odenkirk recalled. He said his new manager told him not to say no to the role, to which he replied, “And I was like, ‘Dude, I haven’t said “no” in a year and a half — but maybe you didn’t notice that.”

Despite the advice from his business manager, Odenkirk still did his own background work on the series. He insisted on knowing what the show was about before jumping on it, so he called Reid Harrison, a friend he once wrote with.

When he asked about the show, Harrison said, “Oh, that’s the best show on TV. You’ve gotta do that.” Odenkirk accepted the role while it was still fairly under the radar, and the rest, they say, is history. He noticeably changed the chemistry of the show and became a regular face.

The role had a great effect on his career. Odenkirk started appearing in more movie projects, including a lead role in the action-thriller “Nobody.” He also got his own spin-off series after “Breaking Bad” titled “Better Call Saul.”

Odenkirk’s first appearance on “Breaking Bad” was in episode eight of the second season. This was around when lead characters Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) hired him when the DEA arrested Badger (Matt Jones).

Odenkirk was eventually made a series regular in season three of the show and was with “Breaking Bad” till the finale in season five. The spin-off “Better Call Saul” was created by “Breaking bad” creator Vince Gilligan and is a prequel to Saul Goodman before his appearance in the main series.

In July, Odenkirk suffered a heart attack while filming the spin-off series but returned in September. The final season of “Better Call Saul” will be released on April 18 on AMC, and his new book, “Comedy Comedy Comedy Drama” will be published on Tuesday.