David Ury is good at being a meth head—and proud of it. In two episodes of Breaking Bad's second season, he played Spooge, a junkie who stole Jesse Pinkman's money, then got his comeuppance. His role was brief, but his demise was unforgettable: As Jesse looks on in horror, Spooge's annoyed wife drops an ATM they've robbed onto his head, crushing it like a cantaloupe. It's a pivotal scene, not just for its gruesomeness—though it might be near the show's pinnacle in that arena—but also for what it signifies for both Jesse and the audience: We're headed to some really uncomfortable places. This is only the beginning.
On the occasion of the Sunday's series finale, we called Ury to ask him about all this. Here, in his words, is his recollection of his fictional death:
The first notoriety I got as an actor was for the role of "ugly guy" in a Fox promotion back in 2002. I remember being on Good Morning America and having Diane Sawyer ask me what it was like to be known as "the ugly guy." So playing a meth addict was really a huge step up.
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I got a single audition for the role. I went in with a script from a previous episode. All I knew was that it was a meth head, which I had played a few times in the past. I'm good at fidgeting.
I had a stunt double. But for my part, they had that ATM rigged up on some kind of pulley system with these ropes and sandbags under it. They had me get under there and showed me how far it could fall, and how the sandbags and pulleys would stop it so that they wouldn't crush my head. And it still scared the shit out of me.
Then they have the stunt guy come in. And that guy—from what I remember, they had to hollow out a part of the floor so that when the ATM fell, he could put his head back into the floor.
I don't really think of it as gratuitous. It's an extreme, intense moment. It's really more the situation that was brutal. The death of my character made Jesse this feared guy on the street. It got him street cred. While also the kid is left there watching TV, and we see this tender side of Jesse, caring for this kid and trying to protect him from seeing the death.
I'm very proud of that legacy. I feel very lucky to have such an extreme death.
