The Walking Dead was responsible for this iconic scene in Breaking Bad, and fans couldn’t have guessed it

Gustavo Fring's death scene is counted among the most memorable moments in Breaking Bad. Not only was the twist unexpected, but also the graphic nature of the scene sent shockwaves across fandom.

After a cat-and-mouse game, Walter was able to get the better of Gus by planting a bomb in Hector Salamanca’s room. Initially, it looked like the Los Pollos Hermanos owner had survived the explosion as he walked out of the room, fixing his tie as if nothing had happened

But as soon as the camera panned to the other side, audiences saw that half of Gus’s face had blown off, and he died. The prosthetics used to depict his injured face looked extremely authentic and realistic, and it was actually The Walking Dead team that helped the Breaking Bad creators with the makeup for the scene.

The Walking Dead team helped Breaking Bad creators with the Gus Fring death scene

Both Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead aired on AMC. When showrunner Vince Gilligan planned Gus Fring’s death scene in Breaking Bad Season 4, he contacted the professional makeup and prosthetics artists from The Walking Dead to help create Fring’s blown-off half face.

TWD was already famous for its realistic makeup of the undead, done by professional artists Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger. In a 2011 interview with The New York Times, Gilligan revealed that he sought help from Nicotero and Berger for portraying his vision on screen, and it took months to create and perfect that mold:

“We did have great help from the prosthetic effects folks at The Walking Dead, and I want to give a shout-out to Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, and KNB EFX, those two gentlemen and their company, because their shop did that effect.”

Gilligan added that to make the scene look even more natural, visual effects were incorporated during editing:

“That was augmented by the visual effects work of a guy named Bill Powloski and his crew, who digitally married a three-dimensional sculpture that KNB EFX created with the reality of the film scene.

“So you can actually see into and through Gus’s head in that final reveal. It’s a combination of great makeup and great visual effects. And it took months to do.”

The showrunner further said that he had to shoot 19 takes of the sequence to get it right, adding that it was not because of any actor’s fault, but because of his own vision:

“That one shot where the explosion happens, and then you dolly in on Gus, is actually two shots: the explosion happened in one take, and then the shot revealing Gus – it took me 19 takes to get it right. But we did use Take 19. That was no fault of the actors. That was me being a little persnickety as a director.”

Played by Giancarlo Esposito, Gus Fring was one of the most menacing villains in Breaking Bad. As a drug lord, he hired Walter White and Jesse Pinkman to work for him and synthesize meth.

Trending

But their association did not last long, and Gus became a threat to Walter’s life. The chemistry teacher turned meth cook then decided to eliminate Gus and was able to kill him with an explosion at Hector Salamanca’s nursing home.

For more interesting features about Breaking Bad, stay tuned to Soap Central.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback