Better Call Saul: Jimmy's Resentful Actions Took A Major Toll On Bob Odenkirk

Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) of "Better Call Saul" – the spinoff series to "Breaking Bad" that shows us the origin of shady lawyer Saul Goodman — is undeniably a likable character despite his swindling ways. As fans very well know, Jimmy can't keep himself from scheming up some sort of con, whether it's faking his identity to get arrogant businessmen to pay a bar tab or using the social world of the elderly to get what he wants. Beyond all of that, there's Jimmy's treatment of Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian), on who he takes out much of his anger toward his brother Chuck (Michael McKean). In the final season, Jimmy and Kim (Rhea Seehorn) do everything in their power to tarnish Howard's reputation — and it ultimately leads to Howard's shocking death.

"Better Call Saul" is full of heavy content, with Jimmy especially caught up in a lot of emotional intensity. But did playing Jimmy take any kind of toll on Odenkirk? According to the actor, very much so; he recently told host Sean Evans during an appearance on "Hot Ones" that he found it extremely draining to have to embody such a resentful man. Odenkirk said, "I don't like it. Very upsetting, very unnerving to play a guy [who is resentful]."

In fact, the experience of playing Jimmy even affected his outlook on life.

During the "Hot Ones" interview, Bob Odenkirk discussed the fact that playing messed-up characters is a part of the deal as an actor because those are the types of characters who are most interesting. However, that doesn't mean that playing them isn't going to take a toll on the actor — which isn't something he fully realized before taking on "Better Call Saul" despite what he had heard from other performers.

Odenkirk said, "I remember reading about Bryan [Cranston] playing Walter White and I remember reading about [James] Gandolfini playing Tony Soprano and the frustrations that they felt with the challenge of just staying in that guy's head. And I would be like, well come on, it's acting, I mean how hard could that be? And then I got to do 'Saul' and I was like, 'Oh, this is f***ing hard.'" The actor went on to explain that it's so difficult because you have be in the character's head for about 12 hours a day, for months at a time. Further, even though it isn't real, you still have to tap into the character's emotions.

Odenkirk then revealed how playing Jimmy has impacted his real-life world view. He said, "You know that they say don't hold on to resentments ... It's true. I mean, don't. F*** it. Compartmentalize, let go of that s*** because it's just killing you ... It's gonna hurt you more than it hurts anyone you resent."