Bob Odenkirk talks 'Nobody 2', family themes, and training like an action star

Khaleej Times

8 hours ago

Bob Odenkirk may have stumbled into action-hero territory by surprise in Nobody (2021), but the Emmy-winning actor has since proven he's more than up for the bruises. In Nobody 2, Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell tries to hit pause on the chaos with a family vacation — only for trouble to find him on day one. Directed by Timo Tjahjanto, the sequel raises the stakes with bigger fights, darker villains, and even a duck boat brawl that leans into Jackie Chan–style comedy.
But as Odenkirk says, what makes Nobody resonate isn't just the bone-crunching action — it's the family story at its heart. In this candid conversation, he talks about expanding Connie Nielsen's role as Becca, welcoming new cast members like Sharon Stone, John Ortiz, and Colin Hanks, and why he never really stopped training for Hutch. He also reflects on how his own life — including past break-ins and family struggles — shaped the DNA of the franchise. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation:
We know this is a great action movie, but there's a lot of family themes in there as well. Why was that important for you to make sure that we saw that side of Hutch's story too?
Well, I thought a lot about why people liked Nobody (Part 1); the action was great, Ilya Naishuller shot it and Greg Rementer oversaw the choreography. That was awesome. But I think that what really connected with people was that they related to the tensions of being a dad, a family man, and having a long-term relationship, which can be difficult. So it was super important to me to reconnect with that family and make them feel real, make them feel like they love each other, but they struggle with the way life wears you down. For me, it's in the DNA of Nobody, and if you don't get that right, it doesn't matter how good the action is.
Speaking about your family, Connie is back as your wife and she takes on more of a supportive role in this feature. Can you talk about how her role has expanded?
Yes, she has a more active role. She takes on some action. At the end of Nobody (Part 1), I said to her, "Would you be willing to do action in Nobody 2 if we get to do that?" And she was down for it big time. She trained for action in different films she's done, not to mention Gladiator, which is a great film. And she said, I'm ready to go anytime you want me to do that. To me, one of the themes of Nobody was the husband and wife who've lost touch with each other, the feelings of respect for each other, and how the other person is an active free agent who's made a choice to be in this relationship. I wanted in Nobody 2 for the wife to remind Hutch that she, too, is a person of power, choice, and ability. And she does that at the end of the film.
You've got some really amazing new cast members joining. Can you talk about those people?
John Ortiz is amazing. He's one of our great actors, and he's in this film and wonderful as Wyatt Martin. Colin Hanks, I love Colin. I did Fargo with Colin and we knew we had a bad guy sheriff, but I needed him to be a guy you didn't suspect when you first meet him. And he's just a joy to watch, playing a very, very bad person. Then we have Sharon Stone, who is our "big bad," and we needed a big personality and a big presence to play that part. Sharon ate it up.
Let's talk about Timo (director), his style and what that's lending to the film.
Well, Timo Tjahjanto is a fantastic director. He's made numerous films like The Night Comes For Us. One of them you can watch on streaming pretty easily. He does horror films and action films that are visually involving, surprising, and impressive. And I wanted this film to blow up bigger than Nobody, so I wanted those big visuals and those big sequences. And he was the man.
The thing that I'm most excited about is while it's true that Timo is an expert and brings the darkness, the bloodiness that he loves, that action film fans love, he also was up for the fun and the comedy of say the duck boat fight, which is more like a Jackie Chan film fight and isn't really in line with what Timo has done in the past. So he opened up his vision to include ours, bringing his vision to another level with Nobody 2.
Let's talk about your dedication to this role and your training. We've heard that you never stopped training after Nobody. Can you talk about that?
Yes. Nobody is a film that is almost a personal film to me. My family had two break-ins. And when I talked to Derek Kolstad about the movie, I talked about those break-ins and how much feeling I had left inside me of frustration and resentment that I wanted to act out on screen.
In Nobody 2, we go to Plummerville. In my mind, it's the Dells. But when I was a kid, I went on two vacations, one to the Illinois State Fair and one to the Wisconsin Dells. Sadly, the Wisconsin Dells is too damn nice and impressive for what we were looking for in Nobody 2. But it is reflective of a family vacation, where very often it's a little less relaxing than you wish it was.