Bob Odenkirk has made a career out of transformation.
His early breakthrough came in the sketch series “Mr. Show,” where he portrayed everyone from a blustering Dixiecrat senator to clueless TV producers. Years later, Odenkirk introduced the fast-talking lawyer Saul Goodman on “Breaking Bad,” a character who might have stayed a comic side note but instead became the complicated center of the spinoff “Better Call Saul.”
More recently, Odenkirk has taken another turn: a reluctant action star, starting with the bruising thriller “Nobody,” and now with a new film that got its U.S. premiere in Austin at South by Southwest. He’s leaned into a different kind of performance, one that still carries his comic instincts but adds a lot more fists, bullets and broken bones.
His latest film is called “Normal.” In it, Odenkirk plays a temporary small-town sheriff who discovers that a town that seems almost too perfect is hiding a deadly secret. Listen to the interview in the player above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: You said you’re really legitimately excited about this film!
Bob Odenkirk: I love this movie. Well, a couple of things about “Normal” — Derek Kolstad wrote a great script.
It’s an action film, which he is the master of, but also it has suspense and comedy in it, which made it stand out from the other stories that he pitched to me. And I don’t even feel like I’ve seen a good suspense movie in a while, where there’s something funny going on and the guy’s trying to sort it out.
And then it’s very funny, too. And Ben Wheatley is a wonderful director who was the perfect person for the job, because he brings a lot of humor to the violence. He kind of pushes it over the top quite a few times, and you can only laugh.
It just happens in the course of the mess that’s made; people fall over and blow up. It’s fun.
There’s nothing more Western than a log line that includes the words “small-town sheriff,” right? How did you feel about this neo-Western? What does the genre mean to you?
What does the genre mean to me? Lone man, small-town guy against the world.
One of my favorite styles of film is a Spaghetti Western with Clint Eastwood. And there is some comparison here to that.
This lone guy, Ulysses, played by myself, comes to this small town, current day, and the town is half boarded up, but the other half is doing pretty damn well. Something’s going on. There’s something that’s not right about “Normal.”
And he kind of doesn’t want to see it, right? So he’s kind of emotionally shut down and removed, which has some similarities to a lot of Western heroes.
And then it’s a showdown, and then he has to involve the town, which, if you know the Clint Eastwood film “High Plains Drifter,” there’s some comparison there, and I know there are comparisons to “High Noon” and “Bad Day at Black Rock.”
After decades of playing characters who talked their way out of trouble, I wonder, is it satisfying, or maybe something else, to …
To punch your way out of trouble? It’s great. I love it. Yeah, it’s really cathartic.
But I need a lot of catharsis. I love comedy and I love fake violence, and the truth is, when I trained for “Nobody,” which I trained for two years – the whole time thinking they’ll never make this movie –
But at least you’re getting in shape.
But at least I’m getting in shape, and I don’t really care. They’re giving me free gym time, free exercise lessons. I learned so much, so I was happy to just get that out of this.
And then we got to make the movie, and in making the movie I discovered how much fun it is to do screen fighting.
Yeah.
Also I act — let’s not forget. My films in action are not wall-to-wall action like some action stars. My character sort of has to earn or deserve his retribution. And also, I think that I need to get you on my side, or have you understand and like the character so that you stay with me.
There are action stars who are just fun to watch, and you’re just going to want to watch them fight from the get-go to the end, and that’s why you’re here. In my case, it’s more of a, you know, tell me why I’m with this guy and the rage that he’s going to unleash.
Why do I think that’s a good thing, or potentially a good thing? The humor in my fights is not a smart-alecky Bob Odenkirk sensibility. It’s the earnest drama of fighting that fight. And then the laughs come elsewhere, in other ways.
You’ve tied that in really well in how your comedy led you to be an open and willing player in this action sense.
You see, I made an ass of myself for 30 years. I was naked in Radio City Music Hall for Comic Relief VIII, for a comedy scene. Totally naked.
Well, is it that vulnerability that helps you find the dramatic parts too? Or where did you dig down to find that?
Absolutely. David Carr – do you know who David Carr was? Great journalist for The New York Times. He went by the moniker “The Carpetbagger” in The New York Times for years. He did a lot of reporting on entertainment.
But he interviewed me for “Better Call Saul,” and he had watched me do a particularly challenging scene, one that was about interior feelings, and it was kind of unpleasant and challenging. And he goes, “I don’t know how you do what you do.” And I said, “I know how I do it. I have poor emotional boundaries.”
And it’s sort of like – that’s true, and I know that. And I can access things that probably shouldn’t be so easy to access. You should be holding those in a little better.
But, hey man, I make money out of it. That’s what we’re all about, right? Find your fault and turn it into cold, hard cash.
You’ve been here in Austin to promote this for South by Southwest. What’s that been like?
We got to show it on film yesterday. Oh, it’s great.
Listen, I’ve been to South By a number of times, and I’ve been here other times for interviews and things like that. It’s a great festival and a great town. And if you want to eat all the barbecue you can eat, I think you need two weeks. You would, right?
I don’t think I could even do it back to back. It sits with you. I have to take some time in between some barbecues.
Can I tell you, I came down and, like everybody, I went right for the barbecue – and I ate a lot. I didn’t eat too much, but I ate a lot, and I think it put me to sleep, and it was awesome. You should sleep well when your stomach’s full, but –
A turkey dinner coma, yeah!
Yeah, do they put a little THC in the barbecue sauce? That’s what I got. I got the CBD, THC, CBN barbecue sauce.
If you found the reporting above valuable, please consider making a donation to support it here. Your gift helps pay for everything you find on texasstandard.org and KUT.org. Thanks for donating today.
