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Jesse Plemons cracks wise, weighs in on 'Fargo' with The Ticket

We've seen a lot of Jesse Plemons lately. Monday, we saw more than ever.

A few minutes into the fourth episode of the second season of FX's Fargo, the Dallas-born Plemons showed his buns -- bare. Considering Plemons has put on an additional 30 to 40 pounds to play recent roles that called for him to be heftier, it was a brave move.

Plemons exposed himself even more, explaining his calculated weight gain -- and other topics -- in a recent interview on the Bob and Dan Show on The Ticket (KTCK-AM 1310).

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Plemons, 27, has kept busy since Friday Night Lights, when he played an awkward Texas kid navigating life through high school football. That role wasn't much of a stretch for a guy who played football until his sophomore year at Mart High School.

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But he's been getting one breakout role after another. He played the memorable sociopath Todd Alquist in Breaking Bad. He's played a tough guy in Black Mass and a soldier in Bridge of Spies.

Plemons told Bob Sturm and Dan McDowell that he's getting more consistent work than ever.

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"A lot of people ask me, how I've chosen such great projects," Plemons told BaD Radio. "It really has nothing to do with me with some master plan or anything.

"I'm kind of my best when I like the material. I've just been fortunate to get the parts I'm really excited about. And people keep giving me jobs, and I will take them."

On the weight gain: "I was playing a real person who's much bigger than I am, and he's sort of a domineering tough-guy character. I felt like I needed it for that role. If the script and the opportunity is good enough, it's definitely worth it. It's much easier to gain it, obviously, than to lose it, and I'm still paying for that decision. That's part of the job. Right before Black Mass, I played a professional cyclist [in The Program]. So, I went from being as thin as I've ever been to as big as I've ever been."

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On his role as Ed Blumquist, who's being asked by his wife, Peggy (Kirsten Dunst), to cover up the killing of Rye Gerhardt: "Love, man. Love makes people do a lot of crazy things."

On the writing on Fargo: "For some reason, the joy for me in all of this, is doing it -- actually filming and figuring it out. I usually finish a job and never think about it coming out, and I have to think, 'Oh, my god, I have to think about what I did five months ago.' I'm excited for people to see the rest of it. It's amazing writing. A job as an actor is trying to live up to the writing and make people believe it could happen. It's another one I feel lucky to be part of."

On being a child actor: "I did my first commercial when I was 2 and a half, 3. And then when I was about 10 or 11, I got a few lines in a movie called Varsity Blues. And then I made the decision ... I wanted to give it a shot. As a 3-year-old, pretty sure I was just enjoying the free Cokes that were being handed to me. Growing up in Texas at the time, there were a lot of westerns and TV movies being filmed. It was something, my mom, my sister and my grandpa [would do]. We'd just go be extras for a few days. I just really took to it for some reason."

On social media: "I just realized that after a few years of having a Facebook account. I'm not really good at it. I'm not inclined to post something throughout the day. I'd rather be where I'm at and not a million places at once. I get overwhelmed with regular day to day things, I don't want to be constantly checking my phone.

On his character Landry killing a guy on Friday Night Lights: "It was, in hindsight, a weird season. While we were filming that, it was an exciting challenge as an actor because the show kinda prided itself on being realistic. Then, dealing with a storyline or a circumstance that was a little further out there. It was just a fun challenge in trying to make that as believable as possible. Then, I think the writers realized people weren't totally into the idea, and just tried to get Landry out of that as quickly as possible."

On his character Todd shooting the kid on Breaking Bad: "That's usually the first thing people say, 'I can't believe you shot that kid.' The show is called Breaking Bad."