3 days Ago
Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan reflected on the importance of writing good guys in upcoming shows. Gilligan dove into the topic while receiving the WGA honorary Paddy Chayefsky Laurel For Television Writing Achievement during the 77th annual WGA Awards. He noted the irony of having creating one of the “all time great bad guys” out of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) in Breaking Bad, but insisted that more good guys need to be seen on TV.
He began: “We are living in an era where bad guys, the real life kind, are running the market. Bad guys who make their own rules. Bad guys who, no matter what they tell you, are only out for themselves.
Who am I talking about? Well, this is Hollywood, so guess.” He continued: “But here’s the weird irony in our profoundly divided country, everybody seems to agree on one thing; there are too many real life bad guys. It’s just we’re living in different realities, so we’ve all got different lists.
” In his remarkable career as a TV writer, Gilligan has penned The X-Files, The Night Stalker, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He’s won our Emmys, two PGA and DGA Awards, as well as six WGA Awards between Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He added: “As a writer speaking to a room full of writers, I have a proposal.
It certainly won’t fix everything, but maybe it’s a start. I say we write more good guys. For decades, we’ve made the villains too sexy.
I really think that when we create characters as indelible as Michael Corleone, Hannibal Lecter, Darth Vader or Tony Soprano, viewers everywhere, all over the world, they pay attention and say, ‘Those dudes are bad ass, I want to be that cool’. When that happens, that’s when bad guys stop being the cautionary tales that they were intended to be. They [instead] become aspirational.
So maybe what the world needs now are some good old fashioned, greatest generation types who give more than they take.” Vince Gilligan also teased his upcoming sci-fi psychological series starring Rhea Seehorn, praising the actress and noting that she plays a “good guy.”.
