Jim O’Heir talks ‘Better Call Saul’ role, Carol Burnett and Cinnabons
nypost.comJim O’Heir is a Cinnabon fan — since his “Better Call Saul” guest-starring role required him to scarf down scads of the mega-sugary cinnamon rolls.“They brought in 100 fresh [Cinnabons] each day,” O’Heir told The Post. “One day, after one of the takes, I went to my little break area and a medic comes up and says, ‘Hi, Jim, I’m going to check to make sure your blood-sugar levels aren’t getting out of hand.’ I did end up eating a lot of them … it was so important to the storyline that the director [Michelle MacLaren] got on the phone with me before I flew to Albuquerque [to shoot the episode] to talk about it.
They wanted [my character] to be so meticulous about Cinnabons like, ‘You live every bite.’ They sent me a box of Cinnabons so I was rehearsing cutting them before I even left for New Mexico.”The episode, “Nippy,” aired Monday night (in black-and-white) and flashed forward to Saul Goodman’s (Bob Odenkirk) post-“Breaking Bad” life as Gene Takavic, he of the bad mustache, who’s now managing a Cinnabon franchise in an Omaha shopping mall.Gene, in typical Saul Goodman fashion, plans a mall robbery to short-circuit a potential blackmailing scheme by Jeff (Pat Healey), a local hard-luck cab driver who lives with his elderly mother, Marion (guest star Carol Burnett).
Jeff knows Gene/Saul from Albuquerque and could blow the whistle on his past — so Gene gets him into “the game” to earn him some quick cash and throw him off the scent.
Read more on nypost.com