Breaking Bad: Gliding Over All, Season 5 Episode 8

Breaking Bad: Gliding Over All, Season 5 Episode 8

Taking a closer look at Gliding Over All: Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 8

In a recent interview with Vulture, actress Laura Fraser who plays Lydia Rodarte-Quayle revealed how she got cast on Breaking Bad and her approach to playing a character with nervous energy. What’s most interesting is that she still has never met creator and executive producer Vince Gilligan. All of her auditions were taped; she never met anyone. After receiving notes from the casting director, she was offered the role on the third attempt. On conveying nervousness, Fraser explains “When I play Lydia, I was consciously trying to breathe from my upper body. No diaphragm breathing at all. Just chest breathing … I watched people like Jodie Foster and Tilda Swinton, roles where they’re kind of cornered and frightened, but they have a sort of dark, strong energy at the same time. On ‘Gliding Over All”, Lydia has every reason to feel cornered and frightened. Walt needs the names of the legacy payment recipients, but if she gives up the names there is no reason for Walt to keep her alive. “There’s this heightened sense of urgency as I go back for filming with each episode” says Fraser, “because I’m like, Am I gonna die this time?”

Breaking Bad: Say My Name, Season 5 Episode 7

Breaking Bad: Say My Name, Season 5 Episode 7

Taking a closer look at Say My Name: Breaking Bad Season 5 Episode 7

As intricate and well thought-out as Breaking Bad is, some of the strongest characters such as Mike Ehrmantraut and Gus Fring were created as a result of bad luck. According to creator Vince Gilligan, the actor that played Tuco (Raymond Cruz) was no longer available because he became a regular on the TV show ‘The Closer’. Consequently, they came up with Gus Fring who is everything Tuco was not: “button-down and business-like.” The introduction of Mike was also out of happenstance. Originally, at the end of Season 2 after Jane’s overdose, it was supposed to be Saul Goodman that comes to clean up the house but the actor (Bob Odenkirk) was unavailable, thus the creation of Mike, the all-purpose go-to-guy. Gilligan was a huge fan of the tv show Wiseguys staring Jonathan Banks and when he discovered who was up for the part, Banks got the role. There weren’t necessarily any long-range plans for Gus and Mike but the producers responded to the actor’s performances and included the characters into the show’s evolving narrative.