Giancarlo Esposito to Guest on 'Community'

[Brian Damage]

Breaking Bad‘s Giancarlo Esposito is putting in some face time on Community.
The actor — whose mug did a disappearing act in Bad‘s Season 4 finale — will guest star in an upcoming episode of the currently-benched NBC comedy as a business associate of Pierce’s (Chevy Chase) late father, Cornelius Hawthorne, reports Vulture.
Esposito is currently recurring as the Magic Mirror on ABC’s Once Upon a Time.

http://www.tvline.com/2012/02/community-giancarlo-esposito/#more-300540

[JamesG]

Exclusive: Giancarlo Esposito Talks About His "Community" Guest Spot
Feb 17, 2012
by David Kronke


Giancarlo Esposito's explosive exit as Gus Fring from "Breaking Bad" last season was one of the most memorable and intense in TV history.

But Gus lives on, sort of — Esposito will guest-star in an upcoming episode of "Community" as Gilbert, Pierce's abusive father's longtime assistant. He's nearly as manipulative and misanthropic as Gus, at least initially.





On the "Community" set Wednesday evening, Esposito explained the similarities in the parts exclusively to TV Guide Magazine:

"This role calls for someone who has quite a bit of calm and is keeping a secret," he explained. "From the moment they called me, my sense was the writers admired 'Breaking Bad' and wanted me to come on and do some semblance of a Gus-like character."





Esposito's appearance was thrown together quickly.

"I got a call at the very last minute, the night before last, midnight on the east coast, and they didn't even have a script, they had a thumbnail sketch," recalls the actor, who described his impression of the show as "quirky and interesting."

"They said that normally when they try to get someone of note to come on the show it falls through, so I decided to make their dreams come true."



"Community" approached him just a couple of weeks after Esposito told his manager he'd be interested in dipping his toe in comedy again — early in his career, he had seriocomic roles in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing and the Fox series "Bakersfield P.D.".

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Giancarlo-Esposito-Community-1043497.aspx