Bob Odenkirk has had one of those careers that you can’t help but be impressed by. He’s made fans doing comedy work in projects like Mr. Show, he’s made even more fans doing more serious drama like Breaking Bad and its spinoff Better Call Saul. He’s even more recently shown that he can do action with last year’s Nobody. Because of his successful career there were a lot of fans who mildly freaked out when the actor suffered a mild heart attack recently. However, the actor credits the action movie for being part of the reason he made it through in pretty good shape.
Last July Bob Odenkirk collapsed while on set, during the production of the final season of Better Call Saul. It turned out the actor had a heart attack, or a heart incident, according to him, and while that can certainly be a life-threatening event, the actor was back on set in less than two months. Speaking with Howard Stern, Odenkirk praises the on-set medical team that performed CPR and used a defibrillator to save his life, but he also said being in better shape and learning how to work out while filming Nobody also contributed to his survival. Odenkirk explained…
One of the things that saved me was I learned how to work out. And because I was in good shape, you kind of enlarge some of the other veins around your heart if you work out a lot, and I had done that. And as a result, I was told that more blood was able then to go to my heart during CPR, because these veins were just a little bit bigger from a lot of working out. And so that helped me, but also, recovery wise, I recovered much faster than I think a normal person who wasn’t exercising so much would because my body was already in good shape.
We all know we should exercise but to be sure Bob Odenkirk puts that fact into real perspective in a way that most of us can probably understand. The people on the set may have been the ultimate reason that Bob Odenkrik survived. He says a defibrillator was used on him three times which, despite what they show in the movies, is a lot, and with each additional use the odds of success go down. However, the speed with which the actor recovered may have had a lot to do with the fact that his body was already in good shape thanks to the work he did to make Nobody.
Being in good shape is often necessary for actors so many of them work out in some way on a regular basis, if only to be sure they stay in decent shape. But the work required to get in shape for action movies, the sort of shape that both makes an actor look believable in an action hero role while also being able to do what is necessary on set, is another level of work.
Odenkirk is clearly glad he put in that work now, which may help boost the chances of a sequel down the road. A lot of other people are glad too. The well wishes from friends, fans and colleagues came pouring in while Odenkirk was in the hospital. The man is clearly loved. The final season of Better Call Saul is set to premiere on AMC in April.