Higher Name Saul Star Rhea Seehorn on Reuniting with Vince Gilligan – The Hollywood Reporter

Two-time Emmy nominee Rhea Seehorn clearly has a knack for bringing out the dramatic facet of famend comedians.

For six seasons on the Breaking Unhealthy prequel/sequel, Higher Name Saul, Seehorn and Bob Odenkirk elevated one another en path to changing into two of the best dramatic actors on tv, and that’s fairly a feat contemplating Odenkirk was already a distinguished determine on the planet of comedy. The identical goes for Seehorn who was principally recognized for her sitcom work previous to becoming a member of Vince Gillgan and Peter Gould’s spinoff in regards to the rise and fall of Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman and Kim Wexler.

And now, in Colin West’s quietly formidable drama Linoleum, Seehorn is supporting one more career-long comic in Jim Gaffigan, as he delivers a superlative dramatic flip as TV science man, Cam Edwin. Seehorn, in her first launched work since Saul concluded in August 2022, performs Erin Edwin, who’s on the verge of divorcing her husband Cam till a rocket crashes into their yard a la Wayfarer 515 and adjustments all the things.

Seehorn is effectively conscious of the sample that’s emerged involving her and time-honored comedic performers, however she isn’t all that stunned by Gaffigan and Odenkirk’s dramatic chops.

“Lots of people suppose {that a} comic is simply going to be a cutup who makes jokes the entire time, and whereas Jim is sort of humorous and dry-witted, as is Bob, they’re each actually mental and deep thinkers in the case of breaking down scenes and doing scene work,” Seehorn tells The Hollywood Reporter.

5 weeks after Saul ended, Seehorn and Gilligan introduced they have been reuniting for a brand new sequence on Apple TV+, because the streamer ordered two seasons and outbid at the least a half-dozen different networks and platforms within the course of. Little is understood about their new drama, besides that it veers away from the antihero, a staple of Gilligan’s work the final 15 years.

As anticipated, Seehorn was beside herself when Gilligan first knowledgeable her throughout the remaining days of Saul that he’d conceived a sequence together with her in thoughts because the lead.

“I actually cried. I simply began bawling,” Seehorn remembers with amusing. “He mentioned that there’s this factor that’s been brewing and stewing in his head for some time. There have been these completely different parts of the story, nevertheless it wasn’t fairly working. After which it began to work, which is how he defined it. I’m sweating saying it as a result of it’s a flattery and a praise that’s virtually laborious to just accept.”

Beneath, throughout a current dialog with THR, Seehorn additionally discusses the numerous problem of her Higher Name Saul scene with Aaron Paul within the sequence’ penultimate episode, “Waterworks.”

Properly, congrats on a extremely beautiful movie. It’s going to be troublesome to speak about it with out giving something away.

It’s positively laborious to speak about previous to anybody seeing it, however you positively need to discuss it after you see it.

As you realize, I see the world by Higher Name Saul-colored glasses, so the place did Linoleum fall on that timeline? 

(Laughs.) That’s humorous. Linoleum was between season 5 and season six. 

Between Jim Gaffigan and Bob Odenkirk, you appear to be the individual to name when a comic needs to do drama. I presume this wasn’t misplaced on you? 

It was not. Individuals have been asking, “Are you solely going to work with celebrated comedic actors?” That might truly be a effective place to have; I’ll take that place. Jim and Bob are fairly completely different, however there are additionally some similarities, comparable to their intense work ethics. Lots of people suppose {that a} comic is simply going to be a cutup who makes jokes the entire time, and whereas Jim is sort of humorous and dry-witted, as is Bob, they’re each actually mental and deep thinkers in the case of breaking down scenes and doing scene work. Jim additionally has this Jack Lemmon high quality to him, and he’s actually in a position to sit in these scenes and encourage such empathy and pathos with what his character goes by. 

So what pulled you within the route of Erin Edwin? 

Colin West despatched me the script by my reps, and the script has issues in it that allow you to know a few of the twists and magical realism stuff a lot earlier than should you have been watching the film. So I discovered all of that very attention-grabbing and playful. I actually favored the dialogue and the completely different characters. I cherished this unconditional love story that’s on the middle, nevertheless it was extra Colin’s letter about what impressed him to do that movie. It was going by his grandfather’s dementia and passing.

So, after chatting with Colin West on the cellphone, that’s after I went from tremendous to “I’ve to do that.” And I cherished speaking to him about Erin, notably the lady’s plight of being assigned the position of the sensible, pragmatic individual, whereas another person will get to be the dreamer. And I believe the frustration of that resonates with lots of people. We additionally talked in regards to the love and the burden that goes into being assigned a caretaker position, which I believe additionally resonates with lots of people. 

One studying of Linoleum is that it’s by no means too late to succeed in your full potential, and when one seems again on the final eight years of your profession, it looks like you’ve already carried out that after which some. 

Properly, thanks. 

So have you ever in actual fact met the ambitions that you simply had for your self at a younger age? 

That’s fairly the dreamy query. Have I achieved what I believed I might obtain? I simply needed to inform one of the best tales with one of the best individuals within the enterprise, and whereas that could be a lofty objective, I’m doing it. So I’m conscious of that. Attending to do what I really like for a residing isn’t misplaced on me. It’s by no means misplaced on me when a gate goes up at a studio as a result of I’ve a go and I’m there to do my job for the day. What a present that’s. While you begin speaking to me in regards to the high quality of scripts, of writing, and those who I’ve gotten to work with in my profession, I’m blown away and humbled by it. I’m a greater actor due to all of those individuals.

One other message of the film is that it’s necessary to be a dreamer and to maintain going for issues, nevertheless it’s additionally crucial to take a second to appreciate that you’ve got carried out one thing incredible already. And that could be the undertaking you’re on presently, nevertheless it additionally could be that you simply created a loving household. Or it could be that you’re a good individual, or it’s simply doing one of the best you may to place one foot in entrance of the opposite on laborious days. Being human may be laborious generally, and I really like the message of the movie that doing one thing incredible may be simply being right here and sitting with your individual ideas.

Talking of dreamy questions, I’ve one other one that’s impressed by certainly one of Linoleum’s strongest scenes in a automobile. Persons are usually requested in regards to the recommendation they might give their youthful selves, however I’m extra curious in regards to the inverse. What reminder might your youthful self give you as we speak? 

That it’s okay to take dangers and fail. The world and my profession shouldn’t be going to cease if I fail. I used to suppose that every one I used to be doing was making a large number, and the stakes weren’t that prime. So that you generally is a bit wilder together with your selections, and that was one of many joys of Higher Name Saul. I obtained put able the place there was such a security internet that I might attempt issues that have been dangerous. You wouldn’t suppose it’s dangerous, however it is vitally dangerous to play a personality like Kim Wexler who’s so enigmatic and laborious to pin down. I selected to not telegraph what she was pondering and never reply all of the questions, and simply not burden myself with ensuring she’s likable or palatable. These are dangerous issues as a girl on this enterprise.

And so I’m thrilled that I’m getting again on that path. An enormous present that that present gave me was trusting myself, and that’s what I’m speaking about after I say take dangers. I trusted myself extra after I was youthful than I do now, and a part of that’s as we develop up, we begin to second guess ourselves. It’s unusual as a result of I ought to have been second guessing my youthful self. (Laughs.) There’s positively some conduct and a few issues that I did that I’m like, “What have been you pondering?” However, yeah, I might inform myself to belief myself extra, and I’m trusting myself extra today.

So have you ever visited the brand new model of your outdated writers’ room but?

(Laughs.) I’ve.

Vince Gilligan has been penning this mysterious new present for a variety of years now, and I first keep in mind listening to about it when Higher Name Saul season 5 premiered in February 2020. So when did he first gauge your curiosity? 

We have been wrapping up Saul and I obtained to say goodbye to some individuals in individual, however I wanted to name another individuals, like a author or a director who had already moved on. And so I used to be mainly letting that group of writers, producers and administrators know that wherever they went, I’ll be there. “Simply inform me what time to be there.” Attending to do the standard of labor that every one these individuals have been doing was simply an expertise like none different, and I simply mentioned, “I suppose it goes with out saying, however I don’t need it to go with out saying. I needed to allow you to guys know that it will be my biggest pleasure to proceed to work with you guys wherever you go and in no matter capability it’s in.”

And after I mentioned that to Vince, he mentioned, “Properly, I truly wrote one thing for you should you’re .” (Seehorn mimics Gilligan’s Southern drawl.) After which I actually cried. I simply began bawling. (Laughs.) He mentioned that there’s this factor that’s been brewing and stewing in his head for some time. There have been these completely different parts of the story, nevertheless it wasn’t fairly working. So that you’d should ask him, however he mentioned in some unspecified time in the future alongside the best way of doing Higher Name Saul, he was watching me, attending to know me, attending to understand how I work and realized that he ought to write it for me. After which it began to work, which is how he defined it. I’m sweating saying it as a result of it’s a flattery and a praise that’s virtually laborious to just accept.

Has the foreknowledge of a brand new present helped cushion the lack of Kim and the whole Higher Name Saul enterprise out of your life?

Sure, it completely helps cushion it. Vince additionally likes to work with the identical crews, writers and administrators, so it should afford me the flexibility to see these those who I personally love a lot. So there’s that, after which there’s texting most of my castmates weekly and insisting that they keep pals with me. (Laughs.)

I used to be stunned to listen to that you simply’ll be capturing the brand new present in Albuquerque. I do know Vince is extremely loyal, however a part of me thought that he’d need to keep away from any visible reminders of the Breaking Unhealthy universe. Did that selection shock you as effectively? 

Did he announce that he’s going to return there?

Properly, Bob and Banks kinda spilled the beans in your current SAG-AFTRA solid interview. 

Nice. Thanks, [Bob and Banks]! So far as I do know, it has not been nailed down the place we’re filming, however I’m by no means stunned. Vince may be very loyal and likes the household of those who he has labored with and prefers to rent the identical individuals again and again. So I might see a number of the explanation why he would need it to be Albuquerque, however I can let you know that it doesn’t have something to do with Breaking Unhealthy or Higher Name Saul. 

Oh, in fact!

However there positively are followers that aren’t going to imagine it’s not a Kim Wexler spinoff until it actually airs. (Laughs.) Nevertheless it’s not [a Kim Wexler spinoff].

Saying goodbye is tough.

Yeah, it’s.

You needed to shoot your scene with Aaron Paul in Higher Name Saul 612 a lot earlier in manufacturing attributable to his availability. [Writer’s Note: It was shot between 602 and 603.] Was it troublesome to leap forward in Kim’s arc, post-breakup, earlier than you’d even shot the precise breakup scene in 609?

Sure, the scene mentioned that she’s holding these divorce papers and is barely holding it collectively. And after I obtained the scene, I referred to as [co-creator] Peter [Gould] and mentioned, “I don’t usually beg you to inform me stuff that my character doesn’t have to know but or something that’s coming down the pike, however I’ve to know sufficient to do my job right here.” And he mentioned, “I do know, I do know,” and he apologized profusely. He was like, “This isn’t how I needed you to should jigsaw this chapter of their relationship,” however he knowledgeable me. So, Peter and Vince, who directed 612, did an important job of giving me sufficient specifics in regards to the scene that occurs proper earlier than [the Kim and Jesse scene]. That was of the utmost concern to me as a result of the inside of [Saul Goodman’s office], when she’s there to get him to signal the divorce papers, had not been filmed but. I didn’t have that script both, so figuring out about that scene was crucial to me.

I wanted to know the second, and any actor will let you know that you want to perceive the second earlier than the second we’re watching. Generally, that’s fabricated in your head. There’s a number of completely different language for it, given circumstances or no matter, however you want to know the place you have been coming from, psychologically and bodily. In order that they informed me what that scene was and that made it potential to play the scene with Aaron, which was thrilling. I knew that [Paul and Bryan Cranston] have been coming again, however I didn’t know I might have a scene with both of them. In order that was thrilling.

Lastly, how far do you hope to take directing? I nonetheless marvel over the Crossroads Motel quarter shot together with your directing credit score in Higher Name Saul 604.

I might positively prefer to direct once more. I had a extremely nice time doing it, and I’ve additionally directed two shorts and two episodes of Cooper’s Bar. And we’re doing a season two of Cooper’s Bar that I’ll direct on, so I positively need to direct once more. Whether or not or not I might need to direct myself in one thing once more, I’m unsure. I used to be in a position to take one hat off and put one other one on once we did 604, nevertheless it wasn’t like I selected that. Lots of people have been like, “Wow, you actually needed to direct your self lots as a result of 604 is a really Kim-heavy episode,” nevertheless it wasn’t that. It was merely calendar slots and all the opposite administrators and when lots of our executive-producing writers might depart the writers’ room with a view to direct the episodes they have been presupposed to direct. It was simply luck of the draw that that’s the episode I obtained. So I positively need to preserve directing, however I positively prioritize my performing now. That’s the place I search for work first, and it takes a variety of my RAM area to carry out. (Laughs.)

Rhea Seehorn, congratulations on doing one thing incredible, and please give my finest to Kim. Hopefully, she’s staying far-off from Miracle Whip.

(Laughs.) These have been some difficult scenes! Thanks.

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Linoleum is now taking part in in choose theaters. This interview was edited for size and readability.