In addition to the main characters such as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, the villains are particularly memorable from Breaking Bad. These include iconic characters such as Gus Fring and Tuco Salamanca. The brutal drug dealer made his big appearances in the first two seasons of the hit series, where he dealt with his extremely aggressive type burned into memory.
For Tuco actor Raymond Cruz, the role was more than challenging. She even demanded so much from him that the actor himself demanded his premature character death.
The Breaking Bad star left the series hit prematurely because of a stressful role
According to Cheat Sheet, in an interview with broadcaster AMC, Cruz spoke about his own request that Tuco be killed on the show:
I asked her to kill me. To be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to coming back and taking the role. It’s really difficult to pull this off. They said, ‘We want you to come back and do eight more episodes.’ And I said, ‘No. I’ll do another one and that’s it. You have to kill me.’ They say: ‘We’ve never heard of an actor who wanted to die.’ And I say, ‘You don’t understand. This part is really hard.’
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the Breaking Bad star opened up in more detail about what made her role as Tuco not just psychological demanded:
In the first few episodes I did, I hurt my voice. I hurt myself every time I did it. I almost broke my nose. I pulled muscles. You go away and you are damaged goods. And you’re like, ‘Oh man, I can’t imagine doing that week in and week out.’ Then I would come back — I would fly to Albuquerque at night and film Saturday and Sunday. Then I went back and did The Closer and then came back to do Breaking Bad. It was relentless. When you’re not filming, you’re studying for the next day.
After Breaking Bad, Cruz returned as Tuco. For the prequel series Better Call Saul, he played the character again for several episodes.
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