the actor for a long time Larry Hankinwho has appeared in a variety of roles over the course of his career, one of his favorite characters would be Old Joe from Too bad. Hankin was first introduced as Old Joe, the owner of the Albuquerque junkyard, in the show’s third season, where he helped Walt (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse (Aaron Paul) destroy their RV. The character returns in the fifth and final season selling the two a giant magnet along with the truck and the equipment needed to transport it. Hankin reprized the role for the third and final time in the Netflix follow-up film, El Camino: A breaking bad moviewhen Old Joe discovers the titular LoJack car and advises Jesse to flee.
Despite the character’s limited appearances, Old Joe is one of the most likable supporting characters in the series Too bad world. Hankin himself also loved playing Joe, as he revealed in a new interview with Cracked.
“I loved playing Old Joe,” said Hankin. “I was dealing with my Uncle Murray. He was one of those guys. He didn’t own a junkyard, but he was an oil burner and he wore overcoats and everything was greasy and stuff.”
The problem with the role, Hankin explains, was that he had problems remembering his lines. After a certain point, this started to bother Cranston, though the episode’s director, Michael Sloves, was able to help Hankin get past it to complete the scene.
“The second was where I sold the magnets to them. I was explaining the magnets to them at the junkyard, and it just kept coming up in lines,” Hankin recalled. “I’m dyslexic, so it’s not easy for me to memorize scripts. For auditions it was OK, but when I had a lot of lines it was hard. In this case, I just forgot it. The director said, ‘Cut ! ’ And Bryan Cranston leaned over and whispered, ‘Get down your lines. Then I came up to my lines again, and the principal said, “Cut!” and Brian went, “What’s wrong with you? Remember your lines.” But that doesn’t help — it just makes it worse.
Hankin continued. “I didn’t want to go through this third time, so I came out and asked to speak to the director. I said, ‘Brian’s been giving me a hard time. ‘” The director said, “Two things, Larry: First, all the actors go up in their lines, it happens. Second thing, we’re losing light, so, Brian, let’s finish this scene. ‘I’m back, and I haven’t forgotten my lines again. The director scared the power in me.'”
Why wasn’t old Joe in the best shape to call Saul?
Hankin didn’t take it personally that Cranston was a little underwhelmed, given the latter’s serious approach to acting. As for Hankin, he never strives to win Emmy Awards or star in hit movies, and is always happy to be able to pay the rent. Cranston was very dedicated to acting, and vice versa, and Hankin understands that. With that said, Hankin also seems to wonder if it was these issues that prevented Old Joe from appearing specifically in the prequel series. Better Call Saul After he had trouble with his lines again El Camino a barrier.
“Now, if someone wanted me for a part and it was easy enough, I’d do it — like when they called me back to do it.” El CaminoHankin explained. It was a small part, but I queued again and after a couple of takes, Vince Gilligan called a 10-minute break for me to get rid of the streaks. Come to think of it, maybe that’s why they never asked me to be Better Call Saul. “
