Team Coco Podcast #74: Breaking Bad Creator Vince Gilligan
TVBreaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan dropped by the Team Coco Podcast to talk with host Aaron Bleyaert to discuss the challenges of crafting this first half of the show’s final season, in addition to insight into what makes Breaking Bad such a unique television experience.
Note: There are mild SPOILERS in this podcast if you aren’t completely caught up on the show (up to this past Sunday’s new episode, “Buyout”)
Some brief excerpts:
-Gilligan’s mother, Gail Gilligan, played the neighbor that Walt sends in to turn off the stove, as a means of luring out any suspected threats in the season four finale, “Face Off.”
-Gilligan credits the visceral thrill and excitement behind writing characters like Walt and Jesse to the catharsis involved in writing characters who embody a way of life you’ll never live yourself.
-He often misses the simpler days of the show, when the series had more darkly comedic elements, a “Laurel and Hardy” aspect to the show, before it became as serious as it ultimately did.
-Gilligan credits his seven years working on The X Files and on its short-lived spinoff series, The Lone Gunman, with preparing him for the task of running his own show, particularly crediting The X Files creator Chris Carter for mentoring him.
-He’d love to direct a movie someday, although he acknowledges just how good TV has been to him, since it’s easier to get his vision from his head to the screen.
-Gilligan is trying to mount a Breaking Bad edition of Mythbusters.
For the rest of the big revelations, you’ll have to check out the podcast by following the link below. Gilligan reveals which character wasn’t meant to survive Season One, as well as which actor was so good at his villainous role that he was kept alive much longer than he was ever supposed to be.
Again, if you’re not caught up with Breaking Bad all the way up to this past Sunday’s “Buyout,” skip this podcast and come back once you have, as SPOILERS ABOUND.
