Before we go any further, let’s get the silliness out the way. Haha, ‘erected’ is a funny word. It makes us think of willies. Willies are naughty bits which makes references to them funny. All good? Great. Now let’s get into the story.
Although it’s been over a decade since the drama series first aired, Breaking Bad is still a huge tourism drive for Albuquerque. With much of the TV series being filmed in the hub of the New Mexico city, Breaking Bad’s creator, Vince Gilligan, commissioned a special tribute to our favourite meth manufacturers.
In 2019, sculptor Trevor Grove was instructed to immortalise Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jessie Pinkman (Aaron Paul) in statue form, and now that the sculptures are complete, Gilligan along with Sony are donating the art pieces to the city which became synonymous with Heisenberg’s antics over the series’ five-season run. “Over the course of fifteen years, two TV shows and one movie, Albuquerque has been wonderful to us. I wanted to return the favor and give something back,” Gilligan said in a press release.
The iconic desert backdrop of Albuquerque hasn’t just acted as the epicentre of Breaking Bad, but it’s also been the prime filming location of spin-off Netflix series Better Call Saul and 2019 Netflix movie El Camino.
Gilligan continued, “These larger-than-life bronzes of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman exist thanks to the generosity of Sony Pictures Television and the artistry of sculptor Trevor Grove, and I love them. It makes me happy to picture them gracing The Duke City for decades to come, attracting busloads of tourists.”
The statues will be unveiled in a special ceremony on July 29, with guests set to include Albuquerque Mayor Keller, Gilligan, Cranston, Paul, and Better Call Saul co-creator Peter Gould among other special guests. Hereafter, the statues will be displayed inside the Albuquerque Convention Center.
“We also appreciate that the statues will be indoors, and therefore protected from pigeons depositing their critiques on our heads,” Cranston and Paul joked.