Bob Odenkirk on Becoming an Unlikely Action Hero in His 60s

Bob Odenkirk does not read as an action star. He knows this. You know this. And yet, here he is, three films deep into an unlikely second act as a guy who takes and delivers beatings on screen with the kind of bruised conviction that most traditional action leads can’t touch. With Normal, directed by Ben Wheatley (Kill List), Odenkirk has cemented himself as one of the most interesting figures working in the genre today, precisely because, well, he was never supposed to be here.

When I asked what’s kept him coming back to this space, Odenkirk didn’t cite any grand ambition or late-career reinvention narrative. He talked about fun. “I found action to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” he said. “All the prep work was very hard, it took a lot of determination, but on set, inventing the fights, making choices in the fights and even just shooting them is really a hoot.” He traced the revelation back to the bus fight in Nobody – the first major action sequence he ever shot. “That’s when I discovered this was really a joy to do.”

But it wasn’t just the adrenaline. As Odenkirk got deeper into the world of action filmmaking, something else happened: he developed a genuine respect for the people who make it work. “This is a world of people who take their job very seriously,” he said. “They take their career and their mission very seriously to present action to people.” That admiration became its own motivation. “I’ve gotten to know these people and I’ve gotten to want their respect and to deliver for them for all that they’ve devoted to this area of show business. So making more than one movie, if I was allowed to, was a goal.”

It’s an interesting inversion. Most actors talk about wanting to prove something to audiences or critics. Odenkirk wants to prove something to the stunt team.

Of course, Odenkirk is no ordinary leading man. He’s a true multi-hyphenate (writer, director, producer, performer) with decades of experience across comedy, drama, and everything in between (cough, Saul Goodman, cough). On Normal, he carries a story-by credit, and when pressed on what he actually contributed, he was characteristically self-aware about where his strengths lie and where they don’t.

“Most of what I contributed in my mind is in the first 35 minutes, which is more of a suspense film,” he said. “It has more time, takes its time developing character and is in some ways like Better Call Saul.” He paused. “That’s where I feel more confident.” Throughout the rest of the production, he said, his role was more observational: commenting on dialogue, flagging story cues, asking whether the audience would track what was happening. “I never hesitate to critique and comment on dialogue,” he said. “But as far as helping out and being meaningfully part of it, I contributed more in that first act. You’re in a kind of Lake Wobegon-type world, a small town, which I know from the town I grew up in.”

What makes Odenkirk compelling in action isn’t his athleticism or his physicality. It’s his frailty. His palpable bruising. His characters get worn down. They bleed. They stumble. And built into every fight sequence is a sketch comedian’s understanding of rhythm and escalation. As his collaborators have noted, an action sequence runs about the same length as a comedy sketch: it has a three-act structure, a build, and, at least in Odenkirk’s films, an infusion of humanity that keeps the violence from feeling hollow.

That convergence of skills is something Odenkirk acknowledges, even as he’s careful not to overstate it. “I’ve been able to bring all these different efforts to a point here with these action films,” he said. “But you should be thankful I’m not directing or writing. While I can help with the writing, I can make observations about character and dialogue. I haven’t studied what builds a good action film the way [screenwriter] Derek [Kolstad] has spent his life studying it. I spent my life studying sketch comedy, and I can do that for you.”

There’s something disarming about that honesty. A guy three movies into an action run telling you he still defers to the experts. “I very often really do step back and say, tell me what you want me to do, show me what you want me to be and how to be, and I’ll do that for you,” he said. “Because Ben Wheatley, Derek Kolstad, they know how to build an action sequence and an action movie.”

It’s that willingness to keep evolving that makes this phase of Odenkirk’s career feel less like a detour and more like a continuation. Much like Saul Goodman – or maybe more accurately, Slippin’ Jimmy – he’s once again reshaping himself in real time, finding new angles on a persona that never quite settles. Whether Normal lands or not almost feels beside the point. What’s more interesting is where he goes next, and what version of himself shows up when he gets there.

Normal lands in theaters April 17, 2026.

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