Breaking Bad’s Raymond Cruz Recalls Tuco’s ‘Heartfelt Personal Connection’ in ‘Better Call Saul’ Beyond the ‘Uber Violent Character’
Breaking Bad star Raymond Cruz went deeper with Tuco Salamanca in Better Call Saul and was able to show a more human side of a character who busted skulls when crossed.
As a drug kingpin in Breaking Bad, Tuco was all violence – turned up to 11. And while he certainly didn’t hesitate to take down a couple of scam artists with his abuela’s cane, he showed a more multi-dimensional side on Better Call Saul.
“The fact that you got to really get to know Tuco through Better Call Saul where you see his progression and where he ends up, the amazing writing of the series on the development of the character and how he goes down this road,” Cruz told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “Which you actually got a more heartfelt personal connection with him and seeing on how he treats his family and how he connects with his relatives and that there’s a lot more to him than just this uber-violent character.”
How did Raymond Cruz bring Tuco to life on ‘Breaking Bad’?
Cruz credits writer Vince Gilligan for Tuco’s depth of character and layered storyline in Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. The writing builds the character, but it is up to the actor to truly bring him to life, Cruz said.
“As an actor, when you have the freedom to do that, to work on it and to improvise, it’s all within the context of the character in the writing,” he shared. “We did that on the show. Because what you have on the page written and then what you see on screen, you got to make it walk and talk and breathe and feel.”
He credits strong writing for the success of ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’
He also talked about bringing a level of intelligence to the character. “If you lack that as an actor, it’s never going to be there. So, you’re working from your base. And then from there you layer the character, you figure out, how it walks and talks and allow the character to dictate how the character exists. So, this is all heavy, heavy acting stuff. But again, once again, I got to say, you have to have really great writing in order to do that. You have to have the support of the great writing of the character there. And then you have room to work as an actor.”
“That’s a tremendous gift from Vince Gilligan and the amazing writing. And then you as an actor, you have to translate this to performance. So, it has to be there in order for it to work. So just the fact that you’re given the opportunity.”
Tuco, Walter White and Jessie return again – for the Super Bowl
Cruz also dished about the opportunity to reunite with Breaking Bad costars, Bryan Cranston (Walter White) and Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman). The trio starred in PopCorner’s first-ever Super Bowl commercial and he teased that it will be nothing short of hilarious.
“PopCorners and Pepsi are giving us this opportunity in their first-ever Super Bowl commercial,” he exclaimed. “For PopCorners, to reinvestigate Breaking Bad, give the fans an opportunity to re-experience Breaking Bad and the only opportunity to re-experience Breaking Bad in a whole new context where we break into something good. We explore these chips and Walt, Tuco, and Jesse go into the business of making this amazing, amazing product and pitching it to the world.”
Cruz said filming the Super Bowl spot was like coming home again. “It was as if we had never left. It was a bit surreal to be able to step back into this world and have it be so familiar after such a long time. Breaking Bad has such a huge fan base. And there’s new generations of people just constantly discovering the show and they come up to you and they talk about how much they love the show, that it’s one of the best shows ever. So for PopCorners to give us this platform, it’s their first-ever Super Bowl commercial to be able to resurrect the Breaking Bad universe, to be able to bring these iconic characters back together is insane.”
