Aaron Paul reveals he fought to keep one El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie scene in order to give a peek inside his character’s heart. The 2019 Netflix film serves as both a sequel and an epilogue to Vince Gilligan’s beloved crime thriller series as Jesse Pinkman has escaped captivity thanks to his former partner-turned-enemy Walter White freeing him from the ruthless drug lords that held him. Though out from under their thumb, Jesse’s life is far from being settle as he must race against time to escape both his former captors and law enforcement in New Mexico in the hopes of finding peace.
Paul return to lead the cast of El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie alongside fellow series vets Krysten Ritter, Jesse Plemons, Charles Baker, Matt Jones, Bryan Cranston, Jonathan Banks and Robert Forster in one of his final on-screen appearances. Written, directed and produced by Gilligan, the film received largely positive reviews from critics and audiences alike for its satisfying conclusion to Jesse’s story, direction and Paul’s career-best performance, though some also felt it to be an inessential addition to the franchise. Though intended as Jesse’s farewell, Paul is gearing up to come back to the fold for Better Call Saul season 6 alongside Cranston and the star is opening up about his tenure.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Aaron Paul looked back on his time with the Breaking Bad franchise and his upcoming return with Better Call Saul season 6. The actor reflected on his character’s epilogue, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, revealing he fought hard to keep one scene in the film for its better dive into Jesse’s humanity. See what Paul shared below:
“When we were shooting El Camino, there was a night shoot that was right before he blew up [Kandy Welding Co.]. And there’s a scene where he’s waiting for the girls to leave, and then he sees a beetle and picks it up and looks at it. It was a throwback to Breaking Bad’s ‘Peekaboo.’ And the first AD came up to me and was like, ‘We’re gonna scrap that little scene. We’re gonna head to this other shot. We’re running out of time.’ And I just begged them to keep that in there because I just loved that moment so much. I was like, ‘Look, let’s just set up the camera. We’ll do one take. Let’s just do it.’ And so we did and it made it in. I just love those little moments that peek inside Jesse’s heart.”
The Breaking Bad episode Paul is referring to is season 2’s episode 6, “Peekaboo,” in which Jesse is tasked by Walt with tracking down the couple who ripped off Skinny Pete and getting payback. The episode follows Jesse as he finds the meth-addicted couple and their neglected son and agrees to wait for the husband to break open a stolen ATM to pay him back for the drugs they have already used, utilizing the time to keep the son distracted from his terrible parents. The Breaking Bad episode ended with Jesse receiving money after the wife kills the husband out of frustration and gets high with his drugs and taking the kid outside and calling the police in the hopes of putting him in a better home.
“Peekaboo” was widely acclaimed by critics and is largely hailed as one of the best Breaking Bad episodes and saw Aaron Paul earn his first of his five Emmy nominations for the series, for which he would win three. Paul’s desire to keep the beetle scene in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie shows not only his creative strength to understand how to display a character’s humanity, but also his love of Jesse and passion for further diving into his heart. While audiences await Jesse’s return in Better Call Saul season 6, they can revisit El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie streaming on Netflix now.
