Jonathan Banks of \'Breaking Bad\' Discusses Sunday\'s Episode

August 27, 2012, 11:46 am

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Warning: this post contains spoilers about Sunday's episode of “Breaking Bad.”

From the moment he first appeared on AMC's “Breaking Bad,” Mike Ehrmantraut, the laconic drug-ring henchman played by Jonathan Banks, was someone you did not want to mess with. As the perpetually calm enforcer of the meth kingpin Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), and then as cleanup man after Fring's demise, Mike spoke softly but carried a big gun. He took care of those who were loyal to him and loved his granddaughter, but he'd sneak up on you in your own home and try to kill you if you got in the way of his plans.

Alas, Mike never quite saw eye to eye with Walter White (Bryan Cranston), and on Sunday's episode their disagreements came to a fatal conclusion. (Last warning for spoilers!) After a heated argument, Walt shot Mike, who got out of his car, propped himself up near a placid riverbed and expired in his own tranquil, Mike-like way.

Mr. Banks, who has appeared on “Breaking Bad” since its second-season finale, and who has also acted on shows like “Modern Family” and “Wiseguy” and in films like “48 Hrs.,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Airplane,” spoke in an interview on Monday morning. These are excerpts from that conversation.

It hurts to lose you.

You know what? It hurts to be lost.

Tell me about how the news was broken to you, what was going to transpire with Mike in the episode we saw on Sunday night?

It's been at least 9, 10 months since Vince [Gilligan, the "Breaking Bad" creator] told me. With such ease, that he said: “You're going to die.” But listen, Vince is the best. We're all on borr owed time. Especially if you're one of the bad guys. I always expected to be killed. Financially, it would have been nice to have waited a few more shows, but there you go.

I know you refer to Mike as one of the bad guys, but within the world of bad guys, he had his own code and he lived by it. Is there a certain injustice there?

No, because of what Mike's done. Mike is wise enough or smart enough to know that what he does is a loss of his own soul in the first place. He lost his soul a long time ago, and he knows it. Those lines about, will you ever be forgiven for what you've done? The answer's no. I don't think he thinks that.

The scene that becomes the final confrontation between Mike and Walt, how was that worked out and how was that shot?

I'm at the mercy â€" and, for the most part, what a wonderful mercy it is â€" of the writers' pens. And that was chosen, that site by the river, and I got to tell you, at the end of the day, because there was a lot going on that day, we were running out of light. Because it's not a feature, you don't have the luxury of, “Oh, yeah, we'll come back in the morning.” I don't know that features have that luxury anymore either. That was a hard day.

I was going to say, just about Mike, I hope I've brought some of myself to him. Vince gave me this wonderful gift of this character and in the end, jeez, I'm thinking, it's hard not to do Mike anymore because I loved Mike. [laughs]

I'm judging you based on only a few minutes of conversation, but already you seem more animated and lively.

Oh absolutely. There's a sadness, a morose quality that you can't get over. You can't do those things and not be affected. Death becomes the easy part.

The day that he died, was that literally your last day of filming?

No, I had to go back, and that was very hard, to then go back and keep shooting. It wasn't much longer, and I can't remember exactly how many days. But it was a few. It was hard in this whole arc. As much as I loved what I was given, it was hard knowing that it was going to end. This is the first conversation I've had with anybody about this. [laughs] As soon as I say something once, I just despise saying it a second time, I really do.

So that's how you're like Mike in real life.

I guess.

Even the way that we saw Mike die â€" that Michael Corleone-style keeling over â€" was that a choice that you made for yourself?

I don't remember, but I think that's me. That's me just slumping over. But what a wonderful shot that Michael Slovis [a director and cinematographer for "Breaking Bad"] decided, to go up on that hill and you see my back from a distance. How cool was that? It was perfect, as far as I'm concerned.

You've had a long career and other great roles, and then “Breaking Bad” gives you a new opportunity to connect with people and sink your teeth into a good character. When something like that com es along, do you think to yourself, “Hey, I've been here all along â€" why are people only just being reminded of what I've done?”

I'm going to speak to you directly. Here's the difference in our ages. I've been alive so long that it doesn't surprise me at all. All the wonderful actors out there that languish, as trite as it may sound, you say to somebody: “You go into this business, you better not go in for the money. And you certainly better not go in it for the fame. You better love it because you love the art.” So at 65 years old, do I feel like, oh, jeez, I wish this, that, dada dada? If I do feel that, it is certainly less than it used to be. And the balm of being able to do “Breaking Bad” and play Mike cures a lot of those feelings. It's a long-winded way of saying, I've been around long enough that I know it ain't fair.

There's no bitterness about it. I get it. Bryan [Cranston] is a perfect example â€" he did “Malcolm in the Middle,” and t hen all of a sudden you give this wonderful actor a chance to do something that is so nuanced and a hyper nerve ending â€" he's great.

It seems like “Breaking Bad” has given you new opportunities, too. Did the “Modern Family” role happen because of that?

Jeff Greenberg, the casting director over there, and I go back a thousand years. He's a dear friend. We go back to Gordon Hunt's acting class together in the mid-70s. And then Christopher Lloyd, the writer, knew me from “Fired Up.” And then Ed O'Neill and I have known each other forever. And we look alike.

One thing I only just recently learned about you is that some of your earliest acting was onstage, in musical theater. Has any of that carried over into the roles you've played in films and on TV?

Offhand, no. I totally fell into it. I was a stage manager for the musical “Hair,” and one thing led to another and I ended up re-staging it in different places â€" re-staging the national tour as a director, and I was quite young when I did that. I had a dreadful, sorrowful production of “Grease” in Australia. There was the New York production, the London production and then the Melbourne production. And boy, did the Australians have their own '50s, and did I ever learn that, quickly. I was torched.

But you charted a path for yourself, in spite of that.

Again, I'm going to sound so sappy, but what a good career. What a lucky career. C'mon. I'm a lucky guy.