11 Interesting Facts About El Camino

Interesting Facts (8)

1. #001

   While making Breaking Bad (2008), Vince Gilligan had long wanted to shoot in the Painted Desert in Arizona, but schedules and budgets ruled it out. He finally realized that ambition on this production after the Navajo Nation granted permission. Cast and crew reached the location by helicopter.

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2. #002

   Bryan Cranston wore a bald cap for his scenes, and it shows. He had shaved his head for the television series, but when these scenes were shot he was appearing in Network on Broadway and needed to keep his hairstyle.

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3. #003

   Walter White's bloody handprint is visible on one of the large canisters. Vince Gilligan said he wanted to use the original props and could not bring himself to wipe it off.

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4. #004

   Some cast members were offered roles without being told the film had any connection to Breaking Bad (2008), while others had to pledge secrecy and keep from friends and family what they were really working on.

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5. #005

   One of the police officers who turn up at the vacuum store is a real Albuquerque police officer, who had also worked as a consultant to Vince Gilligan.

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6. #006
   Contains a major spoiler — show

   In the final flashback, Jane tells Jesse he is better off making his own decisions in life. The irony is that in Breaking Bad (2008) Jane's own major choices, renting to Jesse, getting involved with him, relapsing into drugs, blackmailing Walter and shooting up one last time before rehab, formed the chain of events that led to her death.

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7. #007
   Contains a major spoiler — show

   When Ed Galbraith gives the two police officers in his vacuum cleaner shop a description of Jesse, he is actually describing Spider Jerusalem from the comic 'Transmetropolitan'.

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8. #008
   Contains a major spoiler — show

   Vince Gilligan's first plan for the script was to end with Jesse Pinkman caught by police at the Canadian border. His girlfriend Holly Rice convinced him that having Pinkman locked up after everything the character had been through would not be a happy conclusion for fans.

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Production Story (1)

9. #009
   Contains a major spoiler — show

   Aaron Paul revealed a second alternate ending. In an interview with The Wrap, he said: "Originally, in the first draft of the script, that's how the story ended: with Jesse driving through Alaska, and you hear the voiceover of what's inside the letter." According to Paul, the letter apologized to Brock for all the harm Jesse had brought into his life and asked for his forgiveness. Paul added that one day Vince might let him make it public.

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Behind the Scenes (1)

10. #010

    Flashback scenes were shot in a handheld style, unlike the present-day scenes, which are steadier and more locked-down. The approach drew on the fact that Breaking Bad (2008) was mostly filmed handheld. Because the crew's camera was too big and heavy to carry, they recreated the handheld effect by mounting it on a rig made of a truck airbag sandwiched between two plastic plates that could be inflated or deflated with ease.

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Deeper Meaning (1)

11. #011
    Contains a major spoiler — show

    In a brief scene in the original Breaking Bad series, Jesse Pinkman lifts a bug crawling slowly across the ground, smiles at it and sets it back down — a quiet hint at his gentle nature. El Camino echoes this when Jesse picks up a beetle, a sign that he remains the same person at heart despite his captivity, the torture he endured and watching those he loved die.

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