How ‘El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie’ was kept in almost complete secrecy
On Aug. 24, Netflix released the first teaser for “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” – revealing only the producers, the writer and director Vince Gilligan, and the film’s lead Aaron Paul. In the movie, Paul reprises his role as Jesse Pinkman – a character which had previously netted him three Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actor in a drama series.
Despite a leak a few days prior, in which a few savvy fans had noticed that Netflix had accidentally listed the film on their streaming platform, this announcement was completely unprecedented. It appeared out of thin air, and leaving many with the question: “Where did this come from?”
Vince Gilligan said he first started considering the story that would eventually become “El Camino,” while working on the final season of “Breaking Bad” over six years ago. Spoiler warning, but the series ends with Jesse escaping a Neo-Nazi compound and driving off into the desert before cutting back to Walter White, leaving Jesse’s fate to the imagination of the viewer.
As Paul described in an article by The New York Times, “‘He’s screaming, he’s crying, he’s got these emotions going through his body. And then it just cuts away from him.’”
Gilligan said, in an article by The Hollywood Reporter, that at the time, in his mind, Jesse went off to a happy ending, but as the years went on, he continued to ruminate over what exactly that ending would entail. In the same article, producer Melissa Bernstein described it as Gilligan simply, “letting his mind run over” Jesse’s uncertain fate, and realizing he had a lot to say about it.
While planning events in 2018 to celebrate “Breaking Bad’s” 10th anniversary, Gilligan first informed his inner circle of his idea to revisit Jesse Pinkman. At around this time, Paul received a phone call from Gilligan, who expressed his desire for a continuation of Jesse’s story.
Soon he would partner with Netflix and AMC, which came with a rich history of collaboration on Breaking Bad. AMC acquired the show after FX canned it, and Netflix doubled its viewership after making it into one of the binge-era’s first streaming–cable hit.
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The covert nature of the production required a series of procedures to keep the project under wraps, including the obscuring of locations from public view with trucks. Cast members were also driven to-and-from the sets. An alibi was also devised for Aaron Paul to provide backstory for why he was working on a small indie film in New Mexico, and the script was revealed to the crew at the last possible moment.
The film was shot in and around Albuquerque last year, and at one point the “Albuquerque Journal” got wind of a secret film project going under the working title “Greenbrier.” Paul said the security on the film was so tight that the report came after the movie was already filmed.
Despite these covert restrictions, the production was highly praised by the cast members. For some, it was a long-awaited reunion.
In an interview with Netflix Charles Baker, who stars as Skinny Pete, said that it was like coming home, and Gilligan said he’s been waiting for this production for years.
While the plot and story have remained a closely guarded secret, Gilligan has admitted the film is a “coda to the series,” rich with references and details meant for the superfans of “Breaking Bad,” who Gilligan has identified as the true intended audience of the film.
As a secret project that appeared seemingly on a whim this summer, the film seeks closure and a more finite ending to the tumultuous rollercoaster Jesse endured in his years on “Breaking Bad,” and was released on Oct. 11.