Trivia / Breaking Bad S5 E14: "Ozymandias"

• Creator's Favorite Episode: Vince Gilligan claimed that this was the "best episode (they'd) ever done". Virtually all television critics and viewers agreed immediately upon its airing — currently, it holds a perfect 10 score on IMDB, currently the only IMDB Episode with a perfect 10, and many now call it one of the greatest hours in television history — some say it's the greatest.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: A positive example. While filming one scene, the baby who was playing Walt's daughter Holly started crying for her mother (who was standing just off-camera). In context — Walt had gone on the run after a vicious fight with Skyler and had kidnapped the baby as he left, and the script called for him to spend a few moments with her before deciding to give her back — it worked brilliantly, and a bit of reactive improvisation from Bryan Cranston allowed them to Throw It In!.
• One-Take Wonder: According to Dean Norris, Hank's death scene was done in one take.
• Throw It In!: The show has always excelled at communicating non-verbally while never underestimating the power of words. Holly saying "mama" was not scripted; the baby "playing" Holly saw her mother who was nearby and called for her. The director, Rian Johnson left it in because it expressed so well what Cranston was originally going to sell with a look.
• What Could Have Been: Guillermo del Toro desperately wanted to direct the episode. When he expressed this desire to the episode's eventual director Rian Johnson, Johnson responded, "Yeah, sorry, I'm the one who gets to fuck the prom queen."

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