Leave it to Bob Odenkirk to bounce back after a heart attack. If you’ll recall, we went through a short national nightmare last summer when he collapsed on the set of Better Call Saullast summer. Although he initially described the incident as a “short heart attack,” it was later revealed that Odenkirk probably would have died if it weren’t for CPR and triples (of a defibrillator). In a recent interview with NPR, Odenkirk revealed that his heart actually stopped beating for 18 minutes. Yet according to the actor, the experience actually had a positive impact on his Bob Oden-work. “[My wife] came into the hospital room and I popped up after surgery that morning going, ‘Let’s go to work!’” he recalled.

According to Odenkirk, the heart attack invigorated him with a “strangely fresh energy” akin to the sensation of being born again. He found it easier to be in the moment, which he said is the job of an actor. “That’s the weird mind game you play, is getting yourself in the moment of someone else’s life, but really feeling on the edge of, ‘I don’t know what happens next here,’” he explained. “And it was easier for me to do with this kind of weird, new-found POV on the world.” In fact, the experience was so impactful that he said he would love to “ruminate on it every day” and stay in touch with that feeling. And he wasn’t the only one who found a positive in the health struggle. Odenkirk’s heart attack happened while he was filming “Point and Shoot,” season six’s eighth episode. He took a short break before returning to set, and showrunner Peter Gould said the actor’s approach to his role had changed. “We were all wondering, ‘What’s it going to be like?’” Gould said. “And it turned out it was great. It was one of the most hopeful things imaginable.” Hopeful — now there’s a descriptor that we’d imagine isn’t often applied to a heart attack.

Sources

NPR Bob Odenkirk Says His Heart Attack Made Acting ‘Easier’