'Better Call Saul' stars Jonathan Banks and Giancarlo Esposito break bad a second timeĀ (Los Angeles Times)
Q: Vince Gilligan, who created both Breaking BadĀ and Saul, said that with Walter White he wanted to take a Mr. Chips character and turn him into Scarface. Do you see Saul being a chance to watch the rot creep into Gus and Mike, or is it already there?
Banks: Mike grew up on a block that was not a good block ā a hardcore, hardscrabble environment. There was a lot of danger from the very beginning. But his weakness is his compassion for other people. You can elaborate from that.
Esposito: There was always danger around Gus, but he used his skill and intellect to manipulate his way out of that and create a world of his own. This guy could be selling toothpaste ā he's a good businessman. It doesn't have to be meth, but it is. His most excellent skill is how he blends in with people and allows them to believe he's your next-door neighbor, a normal guy. You could say he's going bad, but he's doing a lot of good in the process ā even if it is self-serving.
Esposito: [Laughs] Within every villain, there's a saint. I refuse to look at Gus as just a villain ā he's more than that. That would be the stereotype.
Banks: We think of villains as twirling a mustache or tying girls on railroad tracks. Mike knows that things are bad, and if anything, it spirals him deeper and deeper. The only reason Mike is here is because of his granddaughter. Without her he would have eaten his gun a long time ago.
