‘Better Call Saul’ Season 6: Vince Gilligan Almost Appeared in Episode
Better Call Saul brought in co-creator Vince Gilligan to direct the second episode of season 6. Gilligan usually remains behind the camera, but he had to step in for one complicated scene in the episode “Carrot and Stick.” Surprisingly, it’s such a small background shot that you might not even notice.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Better Call Saul episode “Carrot and Stick.”]
Gilligan was a guest on the Better Call Saul Insider podcast on April 19, the day after “Carrot and Stick” aired. He explained why one scene in Better Call Saul Season 6 was so frustrating, he had to step in and do it himself.
Nacho Varga sees something in ‘Better Call Saul’ Season 6, but it wasn’t so simple
The Better Call Saul Season 6 episode “Carrot and Stick” picks up with Nacho Varga (Michael Mando) on the run and hiding in a motel. Rightfully paranoid at this point, Nacho keeps looking out the window to make sure no one is watching him. There is a boarded up building across from his motel room, but through the cracks in the board Nacho sees someone moving.
“We had a young man doing a great job,” Gilligan said on Better Call Saul Insider. “I’m watching from across the street. But the trouble was he couldn’t see. On action he had to move just a little bit to reveal himself just to see a little bit of light past his body. It was so damn tricky that we did it like 100 times. Do it again, do it again and I got so frustrated. Then I said, ‘I’m gonna do this myself g** dammit.”
Vince Gilligan learned how hard it was to get this simple shot
Gilligan brought some equipment with him to make it easier to synchronize his movement with the shot. Still, this Better Call Saul Season 6 scene took forever to get right.
“I took my little lollipop, little viewer,” Gilligan said. “It’s probably about 4×6” TV screen that you carry around as a director and it’s radio frequency. It’s basically wireless. You can see what the camera’s seeing. Basically, I’m holding this thing which this young PA did not have the benefit of doing. He couldn’t see what he was doing. I’m going to stand in place holding this TV set, moving my body so this is as close as I think I will ever get to doing a cameo on Better Call Saul.”
Vince Gilligan may be in this ‘Better Call Saul’ Season 6 shot
In the episode, you can see someone moving through the board in the window. Gilligan doesn’t know if Better Call Saul used his take or one of the PA’s.
“By the way, here’s the punchline,” Gilligan said. “I’m holding this thing, I have the benefit of this little screen the PA didn’t have, I’m moving around and I still can’t get it right. So then I have to eat crow in front of everybody. How come we’re doing 100 takes of you doing it too? You have this leg up this young fella didn’t have and you can’t get it right either. It was so weirdly difficult to make the movement just right, I can’t even remember which take we used but we did it in one run, so it wasn’t literally take one, take two, take three. But we probably did it 200 times and I’m not even sure we still get it right.”
