IRONY ALERT

‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Begs Hollywood: ‘Write More Good Guys’

Vince Gilligan may have some regrets about creating one of TV’s most celebrated villains.

In his acceptance speech for the Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television Writing Achievement at the Writers Guild Awards on Saturday night, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan made a surprising admission to the audience: “Walter White, because of the work they did, he’s one of the all time-great bad guys,” said Gilligan. “But all things being equal, I think I’d rather be celebrated for creating someone a bit more inspiring.” Because in our current reality, “bad guys, the real-life kind, are running amok. Bad guys who make their own rules, bad guys who, no matter what they tell you, are really out for themselves.”

While Gilligan didn’t name any names, he did point out what he considers to be a “weird irony” that “in our profoundly divided country, everybody seems to agree on one thing: there are too many real-life bad guys.”

Gilligan’s advice to his fellow writers was simple: “I say we write more good guys.” Because they’ve accidentally made villains “too sexy” and aspirational. And “when that happens, fictional bad guys stop being the cautionary tales they were intended to be.”

Gilligan concluded, “Maybe what the world needs now are some good, old-fashioned, Greatest Generation types who give more than they take. Who think that kindness, tolerance and sacrifice aren’t strictly for chumps.”