The Polite, Twisted Genius of Vince Gilligan
By Michael Boyle ‘18
NOTE: The following article contains spoilers from Breaking Bad. If you haven’t watched Breaking Bad yet, I recommend you free up the next 62 hours of your schedule and click here.
In 2008, America was introduced to Walter White, a mild mannered, high school science teacher who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Five years later, 10.3 million people tuned in to watch Walter White, a murderous drug kingpin, meet his demise. Last week, on January 26, a group of USC students crowded inside the Bing Theater to get the chance to see the man who made the monster.
The comparisons between Walter White and his creator, Vince Gilligan, are almost too easy. I’m certainly not the first to note that in creating Breaking Bad, Gilligan made a substance about as addictive as that made by White. As the Bing Theater speaker system blasted Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” (the last song from Breaking Bad’s series finale), those of us in the audience were quite ready to get our fix.
Mr. Gilligan finally made his way onstage, and one couldn’t help but think of season one Walter. Gilligan is friendly, amicable, and charming. He’s the sort of man who’s constantly correcting himself when he mixes up the titles of his TV shows, the type of man who apologizes for cussing, and the type of man to tell fables with a slight Southern twang. In short, the type of man who would never sell meth.
Which is, Gilligan told us, exactly where the idea for the show came from. One day, Vince was hanging out with a friend, and both were lamenting the fact that they were low on cash. His friend added jokingly that perhaps the two should start a meth lab. The idea began to fester in Gilligan’s brain, not as a legitimate business opportunity, but as a dramatically juicy endeavor.
By this point, it was clear to all of us that first season Walter White shared some genes with Gilligan himself. Surely though, we said to ourselves, this kindhearted man couldn’t possibly have anything in common with Walt from the later seasons. That is, until Gilligan started talking about how often he tries to kill people.
Not real people, mind you. But Vince certainly revealed his dark side when he laughingly told us that he had wanted to kill Jane in a far more brutal manner at the end of season 2 until his writers’ room convinced him to back down. Additionally, he told us, he had planned to kill Hank off in the first season, but the writers’ strike got in the way, and Jesse was only saved because he liked Aaron Paul so much.
In the end, the key difference between Gilligan and White is ego. Even after all his success, Vince is nothing but humble. He told us repeatedly that he has no idea why America liked his show so much and that he doubts he’ll ever be able to create something that good again. He’s also quick to spread the credit around to other writers, directors, producers, and in one case even a focus puller. In short, although Vince Gilligan created one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time, the kind of show that has became an indelible part of American popular culture at large, you’ll never catch the humble man saying something like this:
Though honestly, could you really blame him if he did?
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