For Odenkirk, it’s an ‘Incredibles’ experience

Bob Odenkirk has played a long list of characters over the years who should be taken with a grain of salt. That’s definitely been the case with the role of Jimmy McGill/ Saul Goodman that Odenkirk has played on “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul.”

That’s why Brad Bird, director of “Incredibles 2,” knew he had better call Odenkirk to be the voice of Winston Deavor, a fasttalking businessman who is a huge fan of all the superheroes in the Incredibles family. The sequel to 2004’s Oscar-winning “The Incredibles,” one of the highestgrossing animated films of all time, is being released on DVD and Blu-ray Nov. 6.

In describing his role in “Incredibles 2,” Odenkirk says: “He’s a mogul who you would imagine has a lot of ulterior motives. Whether he’s a good guy or bad guy is something you should never be playing as to give that away. I think it’s our own natural instinct to see a salesman character and wonder what they are up to. What do they really want?

“It’s a natural cynicism that is healthy in people to see a character like that and ask how honest are they being. The twist in this is where the character ends up is not what you are expecting.”

Odenkirk has a long list of credits that include plenty of voice work with such TV and film projects as “Futurama,” “Tom Goes to the Mayor,” “Hell and Back,” “American Dad!” and “The Life & Times of Tim.” Working on “Incredibles 2” was different because Odenkirk saw more of himself in the character than in his past voice work.

“I was surprised to see the physicalization of the character. The movement of his arms is something I really think I did,” Odenkirk says. “When I watch it, I go, ‘Yeah. That's how I did it.’ So, I just played it with Brad Bird doing all the other voices. Then I just acted it out in every way as if I were on a set.”

Bird also had confidence in Odenkirk to let him improvise during the recording sessions. That faith comes from the equally long list of writing jobs Odenkirk has had over the past 30 years, including “Get a Life,” “The Dennis Miller Show,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Mr. Show with Bob and David” and “Tom Goes to the Mayor.”

Odenkirk compares Bird to other directors he has worked with — Vince Gilligan, Steven Spielberg, Alexander Payne — in that they all have a specific vision for the production they want to make but are confident enough in their own vision to allow actors some creative freedom.

But with the freedom he was given, Odenkirk didn’t push too hard. He points out that he’s done very little work on feature film scripts and the majority of the productions where he has been on the writing staff have been for shorter television offerings. “If it was a sketch, that’s what I have written my whole life,” Odenkirk says. “That’s a place where I feel a lot more sure of myself and throw myself around a little bit because I know what I’m doing. It’s certainly true in ‘Better Call Saul’ and ‘Incredibles’ that this is not my wheelhouse.

“So, I don’t feel as sure of myself and jump in on a project like the ‘Incredibles.’ I back away and think, ‘God bless you for being good at this.’ I did not spend my life getting good at this.”

Along with the work of Odenkirk and others — Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Catherine Keener, Sophia Bush and Samuel L. Jackson — did on “Incredibles 2,” the DVD and Blu-ray releases come with bonus material highlighting the beloved characters in the film and the filmmakers who bring them to life.