Throwback: Wonderful Story Of Marvel Star Giancarlo Esposito About Rebuilding His Career

Giancarlo Esposito had a rough road as he financially struggled to get back on his feet before landing on his role in Breaking Bad, the actor rebuild his career after that.

Published on Aug 30, 2024  |  08:09 PM IST |  86.5K
YouTube/Star Wars
Giancarlo Esposito (YouTube/ Star Wars)

Trigger Warning: This article mentions death.

Thankfully Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad happened. Giancarlo Esposito who played the iconic kingpin Gus Fring in the show was so broke before landing on the role that he arranged his own murder. The financial struggles of the actor almost reached the unbearable level and he actually considered ordering his own killing to support his family with the insurance money.

The actor who recently made his Marvel Debut to play Seth Voelker aka Sidewinder in the studio’s highly anticipated upcoming movie Captain America: Brave New World, joined an episode of SiriusXM’s Jim & Sam. Esposito was on the promotional tour of his AMC drama Parish and shared that a year before landing on his Breaking Bad role around 2008, he thought of arranging his own murder.

“My way out in my brain was: ‘Hey, do you get life insurance if someone commits suicide?” Esposito said. “Do they get the bread?’ My wife had no idea why I was asking this stuff,” the actor continued. Further, the 66-year-old admitted that he “started scheming.”

“If I got somebody to knock me off, death by misadventure, [my kids] would get the insurance,” Esposito candidly admitted who has four kids— Kale Lyn, Shayne Lyra, Ruby, and Syrlucia Esposito with his ex-wife Joy McManigal.

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“I had four kids. I wanted them to have a life,” The Gentlemen actor said. The financial insecurity for him was a “hard moment in time.” He literally thought of “self-annihilation so they could survive. That’s how low I was.”

Although that was the first “inkling” he soon realized that there was a way out, however, he wouldn’t be there to be “available to my kids” Esposito added. Later, he started to think “That’s not viable” because he thought of the pain he would cause them which “would be lifelong.” Also, there would be “lifelong trauma” that would just “extend the generational trauma I’m trying to move away from,” the actor shared. The AMC hit series came to his rescue, “The light at the end of the tunnel was ‘Breaking Bad.'”

Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul led the show was premiered in 2008, made astonishing fandom, and with the evolving plot of the narrative, Gilligan was on a hunt for a villain in the world of Breaking Bad who could instill fear in everyone. Esposito appeared in 26 episodes of the series and he got to reprise his role in the prequel series Better Call Saul for 34 episodes which chronicles the life of Bob Odenkirk’s Breaking Bad character Saul Goodman— the go-to lawyer for Walter White.

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Speaking of reprising his role in the Breaking Bad universe, initially, he did a guest spot on that show, “and even then, after doing one guest spot, they come back to do another,” Esposito said. “They offered me a contract; I said, ‘No.’ It empowered me,” he shared. 

The actor explained the reason, “The reason I said no is because it was the end of the third season” and they wanted him to “sign a contract” for six long months. But they promised him some more money, “which would have been great, would have been a holding fee.” He would have to “go to them to say, ‘Can I do the Disney project? Can I do this? Can I do that?’” Further, he was in fear that “they would say no. I also didn’t know what their intention was.”

Esposito’s career got a swift push after his appearance in Breaking Bad, it made him one of the most sought-after actors of recent times as he went on to add several astonishing credits to his name including Disney’s The Mandalorian, Prime Video hit show, The Boys and Guy Ritchie’s Netflix action comedy The Gentleman. The actor also appeared in horror movies— Abigail and MaXXXine.

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ALSO READ: Captain America 4: Giancarlo Esposito Teases 'Badass' Secret Character For Upcoming Movie

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About The Author

Lachit Roy is an experienced writer focused on entertainment news and feature stories. With a postgraduate degree in Mass

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