‘Better Call Saul’: Vince Gilligan on Writing and Directing Its Final Episode

[This story contains spoilers for “Waterworks,” the Aug. 8 episode of Better Call Saul.]

stellar race You better call Saul. The directors are drawing to a close, with Vince Gilligan behind the camera one last time to direct this week’s final episode, following series veterans Thomas Schnauze, Michelle MacLaren and Michael Morris. Only one episode remained, and it was written and directed by longtime co-creator Gilligan. Saul Executive Producer Peter Gould.

no wonder this week Saul was a pivotal episode, jumping through time and geography, introducing Kim Wexler’s life as a brunette in Florida and bringing it all to a series finale with a shocking confession and shocking discovery starring Carol Burnett.

Gilligan is a very busy man, but he called in for a quick chat that only covered a few key details from the episode, including the final scene, Kim’s bus accident at the airport, and what it meant for him to take that final step as a director. and writer The world he created breaking Bad About 15 years ago.

I watched the last scene of the episode several times to realize that in addition to activating the LifeAlert bracelet, maybe Jin would also press a button, basically turning around. Sure, Marion seems to be pushing, but what was her approach? Bringing a little blur in those final seconds?

We deviated a little from the script. The script I wrote basically had in mind that he had traveled a greater distance and was farther away from her, but then we were on set and I realized he was smaller than what I was drawing. When I was writing this. There is not much space for backup tasks. So I said, “Does it work as written?” Carol and Bob were very helpful: “How about we try this? What if we try this? So we reconciled a little bit at the end.

To me, he definitely hits the button, but he could have stopped. For me, the uncertainty or the question… well, the first question that comes to mind, I think when you look at it, why did he let her push the button? But the deeper question, it seems to me, is how did it get this far in the first place? How had he gone so completely from a good person to a bad person to threaten this sweet lady in the first place? How the hell can you be mean to Carol Burnett? How can anyone do this?

And for me, I think at that moment the clouds parted and he realized, “What am I doing? How did I get here?” And he’s going to let her go. If the heat hadn’t increased up there and the madness hadn’t subsided, it might have stopped, but maybe at this point a little Jimmy would come back. Wait. It should be considered. Obviously, we haven’t seen episode 13 yet. I mean, I have. I’m sitting. He’s such a horrible person in this episode that it’s like a breath of fresh air, like an ocean breeze here at the end, when he’s not killing one. good old lady, when instead he decides, “Hey, leave me alone. Find some of my humanity again, because I’ve gone completely crazy these last few episodes.”

When I spoke with Michelle McLaren, she spoke very enthusiastically about the fear she felt working with Carol Burnett. How was her experience with Carol?

I was lucky. My wife Holly and I met Carol and her husband Brian. [Miller] for many years. We met mainly because I discovered, to my delight, that he was a fan of hers. breaking BadAnd I couldn’t believe it. Who in my generation didn’t grow up watching Carol Burnett? And it’s been an absolute pleasure meeting you over the years. But then I had to write and direct, no luck! I understand what Michelle means when she says that.

It was just a friend of the crew, it was Carol. Her presence was like a wonderful gift. It was a very difficult season to film for many reasons, some of which were out of our control, many of which were out of our control, but the crew was exhausted. Then, out of nowhere, one day Carol Burnett shows up in Episode 10 and makes everyone happy. Her presence made everyone happy. Every now and then, a few times a week, someone would ask him to do the Tarzan scream and everyone would get their phones and he would drink water to get ready, he would do the Tarzan scream and everyone would drink. be happy It was an absolute pleasure and honor to work with him. I have had many successes in my career. Many important events happened to me, but this was one of the most important moments that you can count on the fingers of one hand.

This is a show that has always deliberately lacked a clear moral hero. It is about uncertainty and ambiguity, even among the people we must support. When did you realize in the process of making the final season of the main series that you needed a sympathetic character like Marion, and when did you realize that you wanted both and could have Carol?

You do everything and start. Preparing these episodes was baby steps in the writers’ room. In this final season, the writers’ room was virtual, but just plain tough. You walk down one path, then go back the way you were going and take another path.

Dan, the short answer is, I don’t remember exactly when we invented something! This is the pain of childbirth! But it felt good and interesting in terms of the story that the guy who seemed to be in a lot of trouble for Gene Takavitch isn’t so much trouble, but then the guy’s mother shows up, in a lot of ways. , a more interesting character and certainly a stronger character. It was fine.

So once we explore a character of a certain age, we say to ourselves, “Who should we cast in this role?” I was already friends with Carol and I said, “Should I ask Carol?” And they all just said, “Oh my God! Do you think we can do this? And luckily he said yes. Everyone was very excited after Carol Burnett came up with the idea.

This episode changes Kim’s team, starting with the ferry ride. Redo the emotional journey of the entire series in one go. Why was it important to do everything at once and how many times did you make poor Rhea Zehorn do it?

Well, I always wanted it to be a one-shot, and it really is a one-shot. This was a car rental bus currently in use in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you’re visiting the beautiful city of Duke and renting a car, it’s probably a good idea to take this bus. We walked in a big circle for half a mile or a mile. We did it twice. We did two shoots. I felt really guilty asking Rhea to do this twice, but I’m really nervous and I don’t want to take anything for granted.

We could have used the first shot because it looked brilliant from the start. I think we used a second take, but we had four cameras locked on this moving bus and I was stuck to the side between them, just three feet away. It just happened and it was fantastic, but it’s all the same, just two different angles.

Yeah, it’s a scene like that, as a director, you don’t want to break it into a bunch of little pieces and have a bad actor do it over and over again. You want to get it as one. And like I said, we had him as a unit and we had him on the first shoot, but I had to order another one.

As you and cinematographer Paul Donachie tackled Kim’s life in Florida, what contrast did you want to draw between Kim’s Florida nightmare and Gene’s Omaha nightmare, these two different black and white versions of purgatory?

This is interesting. We are limited because we have to be in Albuquerque all the time, even though Albuquerque seems to beat Omaha, Nebraska and Merritt Island, Florida and Berlin, Germany and many other places. Duplicates very well! In the case of Florida, we shot a house in the heart of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where our brilliant digital effects house, Rodeo, created beautiful matte digital paintings.

On the outside, we try to make it as warm as possible. Paul was kind of at a disadvantage because this whole thing, Omaha, Florida and Albuquerque in this episode, had to be all black and white. I love black and white. It’s cute. Be careful what you wish for. I have always wanted to shoot in black and white throughout my professional career. The latter was filmed in black and white at the New York University Film School. Be careful what you wish for, because in Florida you want color! But then again, I think in this case you’re not, because his life is intentionally harmless, so black and white Florida is probably the way to go.

Paul used some cool tricks to keep him warm. Some moments were very pronounced, reflections were a little warmer, things like that. It was a lot of fun playing around with all these different looking places.

Finally, I talked to Peter Gould about how, due to the pandemic, he’s been able to be a lot more approachable this season, especially in the writers’ room, than he originally wanted. With production still some way off, how important was it for you to be able to spend the extra time to say goodbye to this world you created?

It was great. It wasn’t necessary for anyone but me, but selfishly it’s a great, great show and I wanted to be a part of that, not just in the final season but in everything. If I could clone myself while I was at it The wayThe movie we made if I could clone myself and be there for the entire production. You better call Saul., I would do it. And again, not because it was necessary! Peter did just fine without me, as evidenced by the fact that the show kept getting better even after I left. What a relief for me! [laughs.]

I didn’t need to be with anyone but myself, but man! I had a lot of fun last season. I don’t know, it was important to me. It was fun. I didn’t feel compelled to do so. I just wanted to do it for fun and because I love the show. I’m a huge fan of the series and I’m very lucky to have directed three episodes in one season. I never did before. The most I’ve ever done on any television season is two episodes in a row. Drive three of them and write one? This was the first TV episode I’ve written since the last episode. breaking Bad. It was the first thing I didn’t write as shared credit with someone else.

There’s no need for that and I won’t call it bragging or anything. I just thought it was interesting only for me, but even that is misleading when I say that. Not me myself, because the writers screw up all these episodes en masse. It’s a very group episode. You’re never alone when writing one of these things or directing them, which makes it even better that it’s a collaborative effort.