Giancarlo Esposito Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ

I understand that you have a problem with two of my employees it is true that they killed one of your Associates it is possible they acted rationally but on the other hand there was provocation the man was selling on the territory I didn't want Tony Soprano with a little puppy I wanted a guy who was shrewd smart non-arrogant but was three steps ahead of everyone else who could blend who seemed to be one person but was another [Music] the Mandalorian the structure you are trapped in will be raised in short order and your storied lives will come to an unceremonious end what do you propose reasonable negotiation you have something I want one of my favorite lines because you can use it in life you see someone you emulate you see someone who's really in their own skin I always observe older people who have nothing to prove that living their life they're comfortable in their own skin and that's what I want Mafia is a very complicated guy and I love playing him for a number of reasons one is he's he's smart and he wants to affect change within this particular Galaxy and he's unable to he thinks he can get it from outside it's such a mythological story when you everything you need is inside you but he feels like that child grogu who he's after has some DNA that's going to change things for him possibly would change things for the world as well so I play him in the first two seasons as if maybe he is trying to write all the wrongs of the universe and the Galaxy and the world that he is in by being in charge but he knows everything and no one knows how so he has a particularly strong network of Intel which is great but what does he really want you don't really know except for the child I think the part of My Success is to play villainous characters with a human touch who are very astute and very aware of themselves and the world around them [Music] the darksaber was a wonderful thing to wield there's only a few of us actors who've had the opportunity to wield such an iconic piece of equipment sword so for me there were there were many that I had to work with a wonderful stunt actor who was in the suit um doing the stunt work for Mando uh and and I just the whole story behind my my my first big saber fight uh was that the stunt guy came out and he was 20 years younger and a really small guy and I looked over at John I said John he went Shrugged and I got in the corner um and and I started to work on this fight because I knew I'd have to do every single frame before it looked believable for you know a guy at my age fighting Mando we had a bunch of different swords sometimes the hilt sometimes a long one sometimes one that was lit around the end so they could sort of CGI it in and sometimes uh it was full weight sometimes not full weight I chose the ones that had a full weight because I felt like when you wielded it you had to see it how it hit something um it was very very important to me to have it be really believable so I had practiced at home because I also have a cape to figure out the logistics of it with a broomstick and eventually when I got with the dark saber it was I was just very enthusiastic about being able to to practice with it in the moment on the set and to have um such a great time playing this character with a piece of of History that's so very iconic [Music] Breaking Bad that was inspired by a stage direction of Vince Gilligan road called hiding in plain sight and when I read that stage Direction in the script that they asked me to do I was fascinated I was invited out to a guest spot at the end of season three of Breaking Bad and I said yes I was very excited when I read that stage Direction because I started to think about who do I see from my window who lives next door in the apartment next to across the hall what do they really do hey hey Gene hey harry like you know you record your conversation to the elevator but what do they really do who are they really and I got obsessed with that idea Lucy you must remember to have the salt and pepper show this way foreign Diet Coke please and five minutes of your time so I did it one guest spot I got off the plane they were calling to say what I do another and I said yes to continue the investigation I did another guest spot and they offered me a contract and I said let's wait because it was the end of the season let's see what you're thinking about for next season and they call next season and repeated their offer and I said I'd love to speak to the Creator because I wanted to do something different I felt like okay they've had their villain of the week and now they want a formidable villain to play opposite of uh Walter White uh Brian Cranston uh who he is brilliant in that show but I didn't want to sign on unless I was going to do something that was atypical and so I had to figure out what that was so I I say now to to many people when I lecture colleges universities I'll sell my children ask for what you want and so that was a perfect example of me asking myself what I wanted and so I asked to speak to Vince Gilligan we had a long conversation uh and we were on the same page and and things took off after that you have failed now is Left To Me to deal with him if you try to interfere this becomes a much simpler manner I will kill your wife I will kill your son I will kill your I enjoyed learning from the process of Masters At Work Vince is a wonderful director but I was there I think when he first started directing uh on Breaking Bad he had done a show prior to that where I believe he directed but to be able to direct your own vision is to take matters in your own hand and really feel and see the whole story so I was with him at a time where he directed a television show and at a time where he extended that direction of shot to shot television to filmic Visionary movie every week and so I felt honored to be there one episode that really stands out for me well there are a number of them but one in particular is box cutter I come from the theater and so to me um you know Harold Pinter there was a thing called a Pinter pause where you leave space sometimes that space is an interminable amount of time but it allows you to refocus and it gets your attention and so I thought of this when creating Gus so for me my contribution was I realized I can't mess with the words they were good how do I slow the timing down how do I slow my timing down so I can hear more so I can be contemplative so I can allow space to affect me and so when someone would say something to me I wouldn't answer right away I would really hear them study them and it it unnerves people I mean I realize if I don't answer I just look at you what's going on in your head maybe did I say something wrong am I stupid oh my God is he going to kill me what what's happening with him right now does he have a pulse and so I use that in combination with my breeding practice of yoga to allow me to just drop down and it was a wonderful experience for me because it helped me to realize that the best actors don't do anything you don't have to do anything you got to think it but in thinking it you want people to see it so you have to think it and project it and it'll be there wonderful experience in my career and changed my life [Music] the boys the boys Stan Edgar is a company man and what makes a good villain is he's working for somebody else you know I mean yeah we think what makes a good bill is he wants to take over the world and I have some of those in my you know Star Wars MAF Gideon life but when you have a guy who is a company man it's scary and so Stan Edgar frightened me a little bit because he has no fear he has no fear of homelander you're in a world where you have superheroes with human emotions who could kill you in a heartbeat and he's like the the head of the company who has created this compound V so he has business venture I don't think I see the point Stan the point is that you are under a misconception that we are a superhero company we are not what we are really is a pharmaceutical company and you are not our most valuable asset that would be our confidential formula for compound V which you man child that you are released into the wild bam you get the idea of big business big politics a big government how it affects the world I love this show the way it happened was uh completely in a way an accident I ran into Eric Kripke who also was the writer of another show I did years ago with John Favreau and so I ran into him in the studio in in Canada when I was doing another show uh and uh he looked at me and took that step back and went scratched his head and went looked me up and down afterwards Hi how are you what are you doing what are you doing and I said Eric I know what you're thinking and he said to me well if you know what I'm thinking would you and I said of course I would I love working with you I said you're not gonna be able to make a deal when that day comes text me because they're gonna be talking to my people and I'm not giving up and he said you know I said text me and that day came they tried to make a deal Gonna Make a Deal Eric texted me I said Eric you know come on that's you did exactly what I told you to and I was in eventually probably soon the world will recognize you for the pitiful disappointment you are you are not worthy of my respect you are not a God you are simply bad product you know they say that daughters need the validation of their fathers and that Sons need to be mothered and so what did we miss in our in our lives uh what do we miss growing up from that relationship that needed that we needed to be validated by so Stan Edgar realizes that Homeland is just a big kid and that he never got the validation that he needed from his father and so it becomes very very tricky he understands that so he needs to to to be validated by another man who says yeah you're powerful and good and all that in return for that Stan also feels like he's holding on to his power he's able to control this Loose Cannon where no one else can you are not a God you are simply bad product strong I say that to myself all the time my ego gets out of line I'm just bad product Better Call Saul [Music] look at me from now on you are mine big decision for me to make I felt like I was going to the same dance and I hope I didn't stress anyone out and at uh Buena Vista Productions or events uh but I felt like uh it was a heart I didn't I didn't want to go back in my brain as like I can't mess with that guy guy is done man he's history you know what I mean he's iconic I I don't wanna I don't wanna mess with him anymore that I I was sitting there with beds and I I I went okay what's the name of the show this is like a Better Call Saul who started Bob Odenkirk boom Rob's genius but I went that's your place you are part of an ensemble and you're here to do if you choose to do very much what you did in Breaking Bad but then I went no don't choose that choose to surpass that so what are your obstacles I mean all this was in my decision process what what can you do differently how can you create a different ghost it is before the time period of Breaking Bad okay so he's more volatile he's less controlled he all these things went into the basket and I said yes adding more product will threaten the reliability of the entire operation mask did daniladio approve this I approve this and so my work had to be even more subtle than in Breaking Bad and so that became a challenge to to figure out how to grow to be the edge in Better Call Saul and to figure out how to lend to these two shows being bookends I contest that if you watch Breaking Bad first and then Better Call Saul that's great but if you're able to watch them backwards Better Call Saul first and then Breaking Bad you'll be illuminated in a different way I felt season six of Breaking Bad I had a chance as subtle as it is to reverse all of what I thought I would be locked into you got a chance to see a different Gus because I realized end of season five into season six you had a gus who was more vulnerable because he there was a threat there Lalo Salamanca and I didn't want him to be a threat because Gus is formidable and because of what the events of at the end of Breaking Bad you know in a way I'm going into Saul thinking I'm Machiavelli so how do I allow myself the vulnerability to have a in my armor so one scene in Breaking Bad that you saw I don't know if this episode nine or ten where I'm on the elevator Johann directed it and he he noticed I'm standing there I'm totally still and my hands are by my side and all you see just tapped my finger he caught it I did this to see if anyone would catch it standing there completely calm stoic right but that one little tell and he said my god do you know you're doing that I said of course I do he said I have to get that I have to I have to get the camera down there I have to get that spread right that one little thing the work is sometimes in a way silent uh and and very very methodical uh and also uh it's very keen and so everything came together in those moments and in season six Gus's turn and six which you know if you haven't seen it if I don't want to have any spoilers but you really sort of see him come out of his shell after the threat is disposed of so you get a chance to see an arc that I think is um is is well worth it and well deserved to watch this season six of Better Call Saul do the right thing you're gonna pay now you're gonna pay on layaway yeah we know where that is how much we had 30 years you've been coming in here at least three times a day what are you it's a dollar fifty stop put some cheese in that man extra cheese is two dollars two dollars yeah two dollars hey you can forget that yeah bugging out was a journey and I I so enjoyed working with Spike Lee and with and do the right thing because it was the first time that he really had an opportunity to explore in a very deep level the differences between us culturally in a neighborhood setting and to me it was the perfect balance of who I am Italian and black and so to create bugging out I I really had an idea that bugging out meant well but he he he was back man who wanted to be in a way a revolutionary but he had no tools he didn't have the education to carry things out the right way so in his little way he wanted to to create some kind of change so Afrocentric you know completely and and energetic and ready to call you on your faults if you're Sal in the pizzeria so I had this idea that he was a loose cannon because he didn't have the Poise or the Charisma or the expertise to really think it all the way through and that allowed me to have someone who could be in a way slightly a pest but still someone who was pressing for equality on his own street-level way man ask Sal right hey hey how come get a person from the wall here you want Brothers on the wall get your own place you can do what you want to do you can put your brothers and uncles and nieces and nephews your stepfather stepmother whoever you want you see but this is my Pizzeria American Italians on a wall only well I think that I love the scene the pizzeria you know we're bugging out just you know he wants to get his pizza and he wants some extra cheese put some extra cheese on it and and Sal is like you know uh resistant and the attitude that Sal had with bugging out was because he was a pest but then when he looks up and he sees Sinatra and Perry Como and all these people when he he he's wondering why he's not represented there and what does that mean to him and it triggers something inside of him those are very volatile scenes in many ways because of what happened at the end of the movie uh between myself and and God bless him and rest his soul Danny Aiello the Jordan scene was an observation of what Spike was seeing in his neighborhood and what he was afraid of [Music] yo there's a song called who stole the soul he was afraid I think maybe I contest that he was seeing the soulfulness of his neighborhood go away because of gentrification so that scene to me was great fun with Martin Lawrence and uh all the the the wonderful actors in that scene John Savage to be able to say you don't belong here you're you know what are you doing on my block in my neighborhood on my side of the street I mean it's just such great dialogue spike is a genius in terms of how he wrote that but he also was a genius and how he translated what he was seeing and he was ahead of his time because you go out there now and it's completely gentrified and very very different than what it was when we Shot the movie right with that conversation with your father in this particular case I remember the conversation clearly because he was disappointed in the movie and and we knew he had done something that was going to make a difference or at least open people's eyes to um the issues that were presented but also have them be entertained but he didn't take to the movie because he thought that was John Carlo is too much cursing I said excuse me is it says it's too much cursing I said no no what's the point of the movie right so I think he missed the part of the point of the movie which had me realize I wanted to talk to him about living in this color skin because we had the same blood and I don't know if I ever really impressed upon him enough that my life was so different because I carried this skin my papa it thought the movie was visual but didn't understand the issues at hand and I was surprised because they related to his life as well as mine [Music] Godfather of heart uh to me uh it's a wonderful honor to play someone who has lived and it's also a a huge responsibility uh Adam Clayton Powell Jr who I portray in Godfather of Harlem really lived and really made incredible uh strides for African Americans uh during the 60s and Beyond he wrote the Powell Amendment which was essentially uh the Civil Rights Act and so he uh through his relationship with Linda Baines Johnson and JFK uh before him was able to implement and and resist as LBJ said to him take out the pal amendment I have this thing passed but he wouldn't do it because the Powell amendment was the majority of the Civil Rights Act that we have today so to me I I would be haunted in my dreams if I didn't get that right it was the first the first what the first italian numbers Bank you're going to enter into the Congressional Record well how the hell do I know you promised the congregation one Italian a week hi this Jack can't you claim possum with my identity the civil rights legislation Adam you're invading now as much as I hate to admit it you hit a nerve with that sermon and some people put names in the suggestion box you don't have to name names well who'd they put in the suggestion box that's the problem no one named any Italians and so I read a lot of his record um I listened to him and the Cadence of his speech when I first saw him I thought this guy is white from Georgia he kind of talked like that really you know he was from New York you know lived Upstate and came to Manhattan preacher at Abyssinian Baptist Church you may know some of his history but for me the wonderful thing about him was not only that he was a genius lawyer but that he was also someone who enjoyed life and this took some of the pressure off me to always be as serious as I would want to be in in in my life and in my work I learned through the legacy of Adam Clayton Powell Jr that he was able to have fun he married Hazel Scott eventually loved jazz music he smoked he drank getting Sunday morning he was in the Pulpit giving the sermon of his life he was also a great orator and Statesman and when you think about an orator or a Statesman you wonder how they get their point across and people really are listening and really hear them because it's a god-given gift to move people from one place in their Consciousness to another and Adam Clayton Powell did that so for me to play him was my honor every season is a different year in the history of our movement and it really is a show that's about bumpy Ellsworth Johnson so brilliantly played by Boris Whitaker about his journey in affecting African-Americans in Harlem so Powell was a new Johnson didn't agree with his politics but knew that he was a helpful figure in Harlem the show is about bumpy it's about morality again about a guy who's selling heroin to his own people is also a slumlord in some ways but someone who cares about his people and will do all he can to protect him Bumpy Johnson was was not your typical gangster he was someone who tried to and succeeded in struggling against the Italians for their hold over Harlem and so the black market no pun intended is something that's really actively still going today and so that is a help to the people in certain neighborhoods because there's certain things they can't get or afford otherwise and so that intricate Market is explored not only in the world of drugs but also in the world of politics [Music] Kaleidoscope I'm very proud to be a part of this show I stepped in to this show after having done the final season of Better Call Saul and I had to move quickly to jump in and feel as if I was had enough time to apprise myself of all that was going on in this particular high story it's based on a heist that took place during Hurricane Sandy that really happened during a hurricane uh 70 billion dollars in unsecured bearer bonds were stolen in this city the moment we come in the temperature will start to rise and once it gets above 73 degrees life in prison got it yeah we can get by everything else but not that unless you've put in a back door did you tell them you put in a back door I put in a back door they sent me glue to read for the first time and I read it and I got yellow and I read that and then I started to realize that the structure with which they had planned to release it was not going to be the same I.E when I read scripts it's 101 102 they're all numbered up to eight this was orange green blue pink yellow white and it was all connected so for me I was hooked because it gave me a chance to show many different sides of myself that you haven't seen and to me that's an actor's dream I love this piece because again you can choose the order with which you watch it so you asked me how did I feel about that structure I was hesitant hadn't been done how are they going to know how people gonna know where they're at they're all colors and people still even today after the show has been released they talk about did you watch it in order well there is no order uh you know did you watch it in chronological order there's that word again there's no chronological order which gives you the opportunity to have your imagination run wild and your visual match up with that by trying to figure out the story it's a heist drama there's something left for you to do it's to figure it out and as you're watching you can't but help as being a human being is to want to figure it out like wait did you see that what just happened there that won't get reflected until episode yellow or blue or it won't link up to White which you should watch last I think the the whole idea and structure is brilliant and the ability for them to pull it off by all of the connections that are there when you're watching a second time and you see the connections you missed the first time no matter what order you watched it in you will be intrigued

Channel: GQ

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Keywords: better call saul, breaking bad, celebrity, do the right thing, film, films, giancarlo, giancarlo esposito, giancarlo esposito 2023, giancarlo esposito breaking bad, giancarlo esposito do the right thing, giancarlo esposito gq, giancarlo esposito iconic characters, giancarlo esposito interview, giancarlo esposito the boys, gq, gq iconic, gq magazine, iconic, iconic characters, kaleidoscope, mandalorian, the boys, the mandalorian

Id: CRBhL7ctydE

Length: 26min 16sec (1576 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 03 2023