Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk refused to “bulk up like a superhero” for his new action movie, Nobody.
In the film, Odenkirk portrays a suburban family man who turns into a violent killing machine after his family are targeted in a home invasion.
Despite the script calling for the actor to take part in stunt work and elaborate fight choreography, he has revealed that he didn’t want to change his body for the role.
“I was totally against bulking up,” he told The Guardian. “I didn’t want to look like a superhero. I’ve had friends who do these superhero movies, and they do that kind of weight training, and it’s all about their biceps and all that s***. I said: ‘I want to do my own fighting, but I also want to look like a dad.’”
Odenkirk also added that he expected to be laughed out of the room when he told his manager that he wanted to star in an action film.
“But he did not laugh,” the actor said. “Then I expected him to get laughed at when he ran it up the flagpole here in Hollywood. But people responded like, ‘Yeah, that’d be cool.’”
In April, Odenkirk said that his involvement in Nobody was partially inspired by his own experiences of “traumatic” break-ins to his home.
“The first one was particularly traumatic,” he explained. “We weren’t all OK. And the violation that happened, the damage from that – honestly, there’s parts of it I can’t talk about. I would just say it resonates through our lives. That sense of being victimised by something you can do nothing about and in no way push back against. It really stayed with me, and it still does.”
Nobody, which also stars Connie Nielsen and Christopher Lloyd, is in cinemas from 9 June.
