Bob Odenkirk, Kieran Culkin, and Bill Burr battle for the top of theGlengarry Glen Rossleaderboard.
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This interview was originally published on February 26, 2025 as part ofNew Yorks spring theater preview.
We are recirculating it now timed toGlengarry Glen Rosss opening night.
BillBurr:Somebody who was gonna be in this put in a word for me.
I said, Ill do it if you get him to do it.
You toldVarietyit was Nathan Lane who wanted you for this role.Burr:It blows my mind.
BobOdenkirk:I also asked for you.
I wanted you in the L.A. production I was trying to get going two years ago.
He wanted you too?
Everybody wanted you to play this role.
Burr:I had no idea!
Odenkirk:By the way, do you know Nathan and I are related?
Odenkirk:I did that Henry Louis Gates Jr. show, and they said Im related to Nathan Lane.
Culkin:You ever met him?
Odenkirk:I dont even know him.
Bill, whats your relationship to him?Burr:Ive never met him.
Hes just a fan?Burr:I guess so.
Im a fan of his.
It wasnt in my wheelhouse.
Its funny how life is.
A couple years ago, I thought,Im in my 50s.
I guess thats probably not gonna happen.
And Bob, the L.A. production didnt take off?Odenkirk:No.
And then I came to New York and met with my agents and said, I want to doGlengarry.
Nathan Lanes doing it.
I said, All right, but its the one play I would do.
Then a few months later, something changed, and I was called up.
I dont really know much theater.
Frankly, I dont go to it.
My wife and my daughter love Broadway, but I struggle with the artifice of plays.
Its the same as when I took onBetter Call Sauland I was like,What the fuck is this?
How do I do this?
So youre gonna be in the closet, and this persons no longer in the scene.
Burr:Thats like stand-up.
Culkin:People have asked me, Are your kids gonna come see it?
Are my 3- and 5-year-old gonna come seeGlengarry Glen Ross?
She gets on me for it.
Odenkirk:Im actually shocked athow manyfucks there are in this.
Weve been going over pauses, but I also have to go over thefucks!
Because there are morefucks than evenIsay, and Ilovesaying it!
Do you have favorite lines?Burr:I do for these guys.
For Kieran: Whoever told you you could work with men …
I mean, if somebody says that to you as a guy, its game, set, match.
And for Bob, its this little line: He goes, Fuck you, thats what Im sayin!
Its so old school.
Its almost like Dangerfield.
Odenkirk:Since the characters a Chicago guy and Bills from Boston, the play fits his mouth.
Its crazy how you say these words and how they just feel right coming out of you.
The way you march around the stage, too, is so Dave Moss.
Burr:Igetthis guy.
And, also, I think hes right.
Itdoesnthave to be that way.
A lot of this new robber-baron age is just wildly out of control in every business.
Meanwhile, were selling shit land.
The core issues, drives, and frustrations of these guys feel like life now in almost every business.
Its the gig economy.
You dont work for a company; youre just an independent contractor, and youre fighting against everyone else.
We dont give you health insurance; we dont give you any protection.
The play also has a lot of humor in it.
And the director has a background in comedy, like some of you.
And Im not quite sure whats going on, but I know youre fucked.
Its funny to me.
Those are always the things I tend to laugh at when I see a play.
How could you delude yourself?
and you immediately picture their apartment and their clothes and how Levenes not seeing that.
Burr:That reminds me of the onesale I made in health insurance.
I brought it in, and my boss was going, You sold that guy?
And I go, Yeah.
And he goes, Was he disabled?
He goes, Was he fat?
And I justdeflated.The guy was, like, morbidly obese.
It didnt even register!
I just went in there, I plugged in his age, and I never did the weight thing.
But I will say the salesmen were hilarious.
It was like hanging out with comedians.
They would call each other.
Id go, Where the hell do you hear these jokes?
Hed go, Im in sales.
Its all we do.
Thats funny as shit.
Its such a play such a screamingplay.
Culkin:Hes drowning him a bit.
Odenkirk:A cat playing with a little mouse.
Its this big tub of amazing stuff that you could delve into.
Burr:Giving shit is an art because youve got to feel the love underneath it.
These characters are like a bunch of comedians.
Youre giving each other shit and then theres the top comic.
A lot ofmy scene with Kieranis I dont really hate you.
Odenkirk:Youre mean.
Burr:That whole thing, I never fucking liked you its the exact opposite.
When human beings get upset, they say the exact opposite.
I wouldnt be like, I actually really liked you.
So when you say that to me, that really hurts me.
Its funny, that was written 40 years ago, and men are still not allowed to say that.
Which is why we communicate in the short bursts of insults that we do.
Whats that about?Odenkirk:Thats Patricks little invention.
He wants us to compete.
The bottom two actors will be replaced by an understudy.
Culkin:Bill and I are the bottom twoat the moment.
Odenkirk:Its all just an effort to get people to interact and have a group vibe.
Culkin:We havent had a new point in a couple of days.
He offered me a point today, but I didnt earn it.
Are you finding this to be an effective motivator?Odenkirk:I dont need it.
I feel like the process is gonna get us there.
My challenges feel so internal.
Its the blocking, the consideration that Patrick has to make for peoples sight lines.
Its almost like if you made a movie and you said, You only get this one lens.
You cant change it.
You cant zoom in.
Everything you did within that one lens would have to be weird and orchestrated.
Bob, it sounds like youve been trying to doGlengarryfor a while.
What draws you to Shelley Levene?
And he gets to show the way hes broken and compromised and a failure.
I like to imagine he did have a heyday, but he was never No.
He was never really built to do it, in a weird way.
Its almost like the guy whos built to do it is less amazed that hes doing so well.
Rickys like,Yeah, I know.
Thats what I fuckin do.Whereas Shelley is like,Can you fucking believe what I did this year?
I cant believe it!
Culkin:Levene does have all the tools, though.
You and I can bullshit.
Odenkirk:Yeah, but he sweats for it.
He works for it.
Odenkirk:I love playing the vulnerability and the pain of him.
My dad was not a salesman, but he had a printing company.
They all ended up divorced, alcoholic, and in alotof car accidents.
But they would just get together to shoot the shit.
Burr:And if they made it to 63, its a miracle.
Odenkirk:My dad made it to 56.
But all of them I remember my mom would be like, Mr. So-and-so just drove off a cliff.
They were fucking losers, and they all thought they were in the Rat Pack.
Burr:Can I tell you something?
I bet they were hilarious.
Culkin:I bet they were a good time.
Glengarry Glen Rossis in previews March 10 at thePalace Theatre.
More Works in Progress
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