'Nobody 2' star Bob Odenkirk insisted he could do this Bruce Lee stunt

Bob Odenkirk had already proven he's a certified action star before "Nobody 2" (in theaters Aug. 15).

The "Better Call Saul" star, 62, punched above his weight playing easily overlooked family guy Hutch Mansell (secretly a former assassin), who is pulled back into the vengeful killing life in the 2021 thriller "Nobody."

With a baddie body count estimated in the 60s, a fan-beloved battle on a Winnipeg city bus, and $57 million global haul at the pandemic-hampered box office, Odenkirk made his mark with makeup-enhanced bloodied knuckles.

He truly felt the pervasive "Nobody" enthusiasm during a 2022 hiking trip to Ireland, where 40 fans besieged him in a restaurant.

"Every single one of them wanted a picture, mostly about 'Nobody.' That made me think, 'Wow!' " says Odenkirk, whose next thought was, naturally, a sequel.

Indonesian action director Timo Tjahjanto leads the new movie with Hawaiian shirt-wearing Hutch and his family, including his ex-FBI agent father (Christopher Lloyd), and his assassin lifestyle-accepting wife Becca (Connie Nielsen). The Mansells unleash summer vacation hell in fictional Plummerville − a tacky tourist town that hides its mobster underbelly.

The bus fight has been replaced by Hutch's "Nobody 2" duck boat brawl with local thugs, a location inspired by the Berwyn, Illinois-born Odenkirk's childhood memories of the Wisconsin Dells, the Midwest's Vegas of waterparks.

"I went on two trips as a kid, the Illinois State Fair and the Wisconsin Dells," says Odenkirk, who knows not to fight in duck boats. "They're just a clunky hunk of metal. You will get hurt. Everyone gets hurt in a duck boat fight."

Here's what else to know about fighting Odenkirk and "Nobody 2":

In 'The Bear' brawl, Bob Odenkirk's Uncle Lee could have battled Jon Bernthal's Mikey

The infamous 2023 "Fishes" dinner episode in "The Bear" Season 2 is the most awards-heavy depiction of a dysfunctional Chicago Christmas in TV history. Jon Bernthal (as Mikey Berzatto) and Jamie Lee Curtis (as drunken matriarch Donna) won Emmys for the episode. Odenkirk earned a nomination as Donna's gentleman friend, Uncle Lee.

The dinner ends with a table-turning brawl between Mikey and Uncle Lee that is halted primarily by Donna driving her car through the house. But Odenkirk believes Uncle Lee, who lunged at the fork-tossing Mikey, could have prevailed.

"With the right move, Lee might have (won), but I don't think Bernthal would have quit either," says Odenkirk. "Maybe Lee could have gotten (Mikey) to a draw. Lee's a spark plug. He's ready to go."

Bob Odenkirk did duck boat stunts, but was denied a Bruce Lee action move

Odenkirk claims to have trained for two years to take on the "Nobody" action. In "Nobody 2," the star pulls off an in-camera action move during the duck boat fracas. Hutch jumps, grabs a metal bar and kicks a foe.

"They didn't want me to do it. They had a stuntman there dressed as me, ready to go," says Odenkirk. "I said, 'Watch me, I can do it.' "

Even after pulling that off, Odenkirk was denied the opportunity to pay screen homage to Bruce Lee's legendary 1-inch punch.

"Bruce Lee could do it," he says. "But they said to me, 'No, you're not going to be able to sell that.' "

Unlikely action star recruits an even less likely evil sheriff for 'Nobody 2': Colin Hanks

If Odenkirk doesn't pop into mind when casting action stars, neither does Colin Hanks as Plummerville small-town bully Sheriff Abel. The casting inspiration came from Odenkirk, who starred as Deputy Bill Oswalt to Hanks' kind-hearted Officer Gus Grimly in FX's "Fargo" Season 1.

"Colin is the sweetest guy with the sweetest face," Odenkirk says. "I thought he was the ideal guy to play the evil sheriff."

Bob Odenkirk cracked up nightly in 'Glengarry Glen Ross' over this actor's line delivery

Odenkirk found humor during his Tony Award-nominated Broadway run in David Mamet's pressure-cooker drama "Glengarry Glen Ross." It was hard not to find laughs in the Broadway revival featuring some of the funniest humans on Earth: Kieran Culkin, Bill Burr and "Spinal Tap" star Michael McKean.

Odenkirk had to fight to keep his game face intact each night, listening to McKean deliver one seemingly straightforward dramatic line.

"McKean would make me laugh every time with the line, 'We had a robbery!' The way he did it got an audience laugh every night," Odenkirk says. "And it was a huge laugh."

Visualize 'Nobody 3,' but not around Christmas

If "Nobody 2" hits even close to "Nobody," Odenkirk says fans should hold on for "Nobody 3." He envisions a scenario when Becca and Hutch's two teenage kids have grown up and flown the coop.

"It's like the kids are out of the house and in the world, and it's like, 'Gee, are they OK? Where are they now?' " says Odenkirk, who vows not to follow the summer vacation 'Nobody 2' with a Christmas-themed movie. "I don't want to copy National Lampoon that much."