Bob Odenkirk Still Does His Own Stunts in 'Nobody 2' After His Heart Attack — But There's One Big Rule (Exclusive)

Yahoo

2 days ago

NEED TO KNOW
Bob Odenkirk speaks to PEOPLE exclusively in the video series My Life in Pictures
In his new action-comedy Nobody 2, sequel to the 2021 hit Nobody, the Emmy winner does his own fighting
Other stunts, he says, are off the table: 'They don't let me fly through the air'
Yes, Bob Odenkirk does his own stunts. Well, almost all of them.
'I do my own fighting. But they don't let me fly through the air," reveals the 62-year-old actor-producer in PEOPLE's My Life in Pictures video series, while discussing the sequel to his 2021 action-comedy Nobody.
The powers that be behind Nobody 2 (in theaters today) are 'not dumb,' he quips, when it comes to stunts like high falls or being attached to wires. 'I've had a heart attack,' says Odenkirk. 'I am 62.'
It was before that 2021 heart attack, a near-fatal incident on the set of his hit drama Better Call Saul, that Odenkirk decided to take on the action genre with Nobody's director Ilya Naishuller and writer Derek Kolstad.
'This is another strange journey from my career,' he says, looking at photos from decades in and out of the spotlight. 'I had this strange notion that I could do action. I was in pretty good shape.'
Saul Goodman, he adds, was 'a character who was never quitting, clever and had a real heart driving him. And I thought, 'All I gotta do is add the fighting to it, and I'm willing to train.' So I trained for years and I found some people who were foolish enough to back me at Universal Studios. And we made a 'big-little' film called Nobody.'
Its sequel, from director Timo Tjahjanto, reunites the Emmy winner with costars Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd, RZA and more. It adds Colin Hanks, John Ortiz and Sharon Stone to the action-packed world of Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell, a government assassin-turned-family man.
Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
'I love doing the stunts,' admits the comedy veteran. 'The stunts are the closest thing to sketch comedy of anything I've done because there's something about pulling it off. You do the stunt, you have the choreography, you change it, you modify it, you invent things, and then you go behind the camera and watch it. And when it works, everyone laughs.'
Odenkirk is aware that Mission: Impossible star Tom Cruise — one year older at 63 — 'does his own stunts,' he says. 'I know, I know. Tom, good for you.'
He adds, 'I'm probably not in as good a shape as good, ol' Tom Cruise.'
Nobody 2 is in theaters now.
Read the original article on People