Giancarlo Esposito on Okja – and returning to Gus Fring in Better Call Saul Giancarlo Esposito is best known for his portrayal of Gus Fring, the careful crime lord of Breaking Bad, who hides in plain […]

Giancarlo Esposito is best known for his portrayal of Gus Fring, the careful crime lord of Breaking Bad, who hides in plain sight as manager of a fast-food restaurant. Here he talks about returning to the character in Better Call Saul, and Okja, Bong Joon-ho’s new ‘fairytale’ film from Netflix

The concept for Netflix’s latest original film Okja sounds fantastical, even when described by one of the central actors.

It is “a love story about a young girl called Mija, whose best friend is a pig, brilliantly animated with very real eyes”, according to Giancarlo Esposito. “A pig that looks a bit like a hippopotamus…”

“It’s a fairytale on some level”, he adds.

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“Okja is her pet and her best friend. It’s taken away from her as part of a ‘super-pig contest’, and she travels to New York to try to recover this very personal friendship and relationship.”

Esposito plays Frank Dawson, the behind-the-scenes face of the evil Mirando corporation, who snatch Okja away for spurious reasons.

“It’s also a film about corporate greed, a film about causes,” he says.

“The ALF [Animal Liberation Front] in our movie is an animal rights group that wants to prevent harm to animals, who sometimes use violence of their own to achieve their goal.”

A visionary director

Big themes for a “fairytale” film perhaps, but subjects that won’t surprise Bong Joon-ho fans in the slightest.

The South Korean director has been making esoteric gems for years, from his 2006 breakout monster movie The Host to his 2013 English-language debut Snowpiercer.

“I really am in support of Netflix for having supported Bong Joon-ho,” says Esposito.

“This particular movie was turned down by every studio. It was a very big vision, and a lot of different elements went into making it.

“I think it may have scared some of the studios away.”

Esposito believes Joon-ho was attempting a truly multicultural film.

“It was Korean, it was American, it was an homage to anime,” he says. “It had so many different pieces of our human condition rolled into one.

“Netflix is taking really new and visionary chances on directors – some proven, some not – and this particular film has been a real boon, not only to the audience, but to the director who made it.”

The Cannes controversy: ‘it opened the conversation’

The film made waves just a few weeks ago, when its inclusion on the programme of the Cannes film festival ruffled the feathers of traditionalists in the film industry.

Okja was booed at its screening on the Riviera. It didn’t help that it was reportedly screened for seven minutes in an incorrect ratio, but when jeers rang out at the sight of the Netflix logo, something seemed amiss.

It brought to light questions about the status of Netflix-backed films alongside more traditional cinema releases. But Esposito can see the positives in its negative reaction.

“What I think is wonderful about how Okja was booed was that it opened the conversation for us to think differently about how we see film,” he argues.

“People want to see what they want, when they want, how they want it.”

“To have that kind of filmic quality on your television set I think is the new delivery method for film.”

Esposito thinks that ever-improving technology has been the big factor in the rise of streaming services and the rise of big-budget TV dramas.

“Many people have very big screens, so it’s equivalent to being in a mini-movie theatre,” he says. “We have to understand that technology’s changed, so the delivery methods must change as well.”

Playing a younger Gus Fring in Better Call Saul

Esposito has high praise for Netflix.

Not surprising, considering the the streaming service has provided him with a lot of work, from appearances in Baz Luhrman’s ill-fated The Get Down, to the narrator of recent race-relations comedy Dear White People.

“I set the bar high and have high expectations for what I do.”

But his portrayal of Gus Fring in first Breaking Bad and now its spin-off Better Call Saul is something that has been “thought-provoking, to say the least.”

“I hadn’t really desired to come back,” he says. “But I was assured by Vince Gilligan that ‘the character you created will maintain the integrity with which you created it.’

“I said ‘that’s great, but you created it’.

“Vince said ‘no no no, you did!’

“I said ‘OK. You wrote it, I breathed life in to it. But how can we now make it different? What will we be discovering?'”

Esposito worked tirelessly to develop the character from what viewers had seen in Breaking Bad, creating “the mental space and character of a younger guy” to allow the audience to see him grow.

“It took a lot of thought, and I’m happy I put the thought into it.

“I wanted to make him obviously younger; I changed my hairstyle and really worked on where Gus’ head would be when we meet him.”

The character has taken on something of a cult following, a slightly peripheral figure but one who often provokes more watercooler debate than the main attractions of Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul.

“It’s exciting to know the fans love it,” says Esposito. “I set the bar high and have high expectations for what I do.”

“When you’re working with a great team of writers and producers as we are on Better Call Saul, and an incredible ensemble of actors, then you allow yourself to be present in the moment.

“But it’s exciting that the fans really notice the work I do and appreciate it, and see the freshness with which I’ve come back to play this guy.”

Okja will be available to stream on Netflix from June 28. Better Call Saul season 3 is available to watch on Netflix too.

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