When Bob Odenkirk suffered a heart attack in the summer of 2021, it gave fans a genuine scare. But the man was back on the set just a few months later. But that might not have happened if he didn’t already make a surprise turn in his career with action flick Nobody, which Bob Odenkirk credits for saving his life.
In the latest edition of Esquire’s “What I’ve Learned” series, Bob Odenkirk reflected on that life-changing moment and how the two-year regiment helped increase his overall health and fitness to the point where he says it played a significant factor in his recovery. “The training for the movie Nobody helped me survive the heart attack. I have almost no scarring on my heart, which is crazy after what happened to me. One of the feeder veins to my widow-maker was shut down completely. That incident kicked off a change that is still happening now. It’s not a new chapter; it’s a new book of my life. I had some memory challenges that were difficult for a little while. But more than difficult, they were wonderful. For weeks, I was getting memory back. Every day I was putting it together: Oh, I had a heart attack. Oh, right, I’m an actor. These are my kids.”
Five years removed from his heart attack, Bob Odenkirk now has a fresh perspective that has allowed him to look at life through an entirely different lens. “But it was a wonderful thing to wake up every day and the world was fresh. I didn’t have the anxieties and worries of yesterday flooding my brain every morning. I was able to see the world and be present in a way that was just f*cking great. I mean, the world was f*cking great. I just loved being alive. And I remember thinking, I’ve got to remember this.”
With the success of Nobody (it grossed $57.5 million on a $16 million budget), Bob Odenkirk is next geared up for the sequel, which hits theaters on August 15th. That will almost assuredly be another hit at the box office, and has also given its star yet another workout routine that will help him combat any other issues that might try to knock him out.
