Bryan Cranston Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters

I am the danger.

A guy opens his door and gets shot.

And you think that of me?

No, I am the one who knocks.

I couldn’t find Walter White’s emotional core

and I was struggling.

And then all of a sudden it hit me.

It’s calloused over.

He doesn’t even know what it is.

It’s a rock in his soul.

[upbeat music]

Breaking Bad.

You got one part of that wrong.

This is not meth.

I will say this upfront that the lion share

of Walter White was really the imagination

of Vince Gilligan.

He’s genius.

And he laid out a beautiful template for me to step in.

I remember going to my wife,

I always get her counsel,

because we’re together, whatever I do affects her.

So I wanted to get her input on it.

And I said to her,

Just know that

this show would shoot in Albuquerque, New Mexico

if it were to happen.

And I handed her the script

and she started reading the script.

And I would peek in to see every once in a while

and she was like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom to the end.

And right when she got near the end,

I came back into the room and,

and she went, shit.

She just said shit and I knew that was her approval.

Chemistry is,

well, technically,

chemistry is the study of matter,

but I prefer to see it as the study of change.

Now, just, just think about this.

I started out that character very meek, very,

submissive and passive, a pushover,

because he didn’t know who he was.

Then once I got that, I went, oh,

he should be a little overweight with the love handles.

He should be pasty white.

He should have a mustache that looks like,

either grow one or cut it, one or the other.

And then I called it an impotent mustache.

And I know how to shape an impotent mustache

if anyone’s interested.

If a mustache drops below the creases

of the lips, no, that gets badass, that gets nasty.

So you have to make sure that’s always

above the crease of the lips.

And you thin it out so you can see skin underneath it.

And it doesn’t look as masculine.

It just seems, what’s the point?

Well, I was always looking for those what’s the point?

And I chose my clothes in conversations

with the costume designer to select clothes that blend

in the wall, beiges, off whites, pastels, soft yellows,

things like that.

Sand color, anything, he didn’t, he disappeared.

He was a nobody.

I took all the color highlights outta my hair, which I had.

It was kind of brown with kind of reddish highlights.

Took it all out, just deadened it,

took the color outta my face.

All of a sudden you start to see yourself

and then you put on those clothes and you go,

I know you,

let’s go play.

WW.

Who you figure that is, huh?

Walter White.

You got me.

If success and fame and celebrity never came,

I’d be fine because I was making a living.

I was doing what I loved to do, and I had a great family.

So it was okay.

Now all of a sudden this happens.

And you have to learn how to deal

with it because you’re not ever taught

how to become a celebrity,

how to handle yourself as a famous person.

It’s almost like when you become a parent

for the first time, you just have to trial and error.

Had Malcolm in the Middle been picked

up for an eighth season,

someone else would’ve played Walter White,

because I would not have been available.

But that summer is when I first read his script,

Vince’s script for Breaking Bad.

[upbeat music]

Malcolm in the Middle.

It seems like such a shame to dump this in the trash.

Maybe birds would like to make nests with it

or I don’t know, maybe you boys

could use it for school projects.

Arms up.

Dude.

I came up with a philosophy that I,

is the most important thing that I try to extend

to younger generations of actors.

And that is, you’re not going

into an audition trying to get a job.

You’re going there to do a job.

Hold your power and then give it to them

and allow them to take it and do what they will with it.

Those decisions about who might get a job

are not for you to decide.

So don’t waste an ounce thinking about that.

I was testing for three pilots, all comedies.

I had this philosophy, so I wasn’t worried.

And then another one comes up

for Fox called Malcolm in the Middle

Who wants to make five bucks?

How?

I need someone to take the fall.

[Woman] Oh my God.

Make it 10.

Done.

Oh my God!

You’re a good son.

I got him honey.

The distinction here for Hal, playing off of this bombastic

aggressive woman, Lois, don’t compete with her.

Do not try to match her.

So I started to think what would be a complimentary

characteristic for Hal would be perhaps the opposite of her.

What is she lacking?

Oh, she’s lacking subtlety, softness, sweetness, quiet.

She’s, so I went, oh, she’s fearless.

So I’m fearful of everything.

And I just started putting these

out and I went, oh, that’s a character.

I’m developing a character here.

So I just let it all sit within him.

And the last bit was,

no one wants to see a person who’s indifferent

to their family,

who can care less or whoever’s doing whatever.

So I made a distinction

that Hal was not disinterested in his family.

He was distracted by things.

And I love the fact that we were a married couple

and my character was madly in love with his wife.

That was a nice thing to see on television.

[upbeat music]

Well, I was naked and covered in blue paint.

I was strapped to the front of a moving bus.

I was hung upside down and tortured.

I had 10,000 honey bees on me at one time.

So it just went on and on and on.

They said, what would you do?

I learned how to roller skate

and did a roller skating episode.

It was just a glorious time because who gets to do that?

I got to play.

I went to work to play.

I first proposed the idea of a reunion movie.

The creator of the show, Linwood Boomer, is warming to it.

If we come across an idea

that all of us feel is really valid, not just,

I have no interest to keep busy or pick up a paycheck,

I want to do something that, man, that’s a great idea.

And we get to see these people 20 years later.

All the boys are now in their, at least in their thirties,

they’re all grown men, married, children,

it’s just an extraordinary situation for me.

I was, in fact, a couple of ’em

are nearing the age I was when

I played the dad of those kids.

[upbeat music]

[Bryan] Seinfeld.

Is it Jerry Seinfeld?

Hey, he didn’t come with us.

Tim, the pencil.

Jerry. Hey, Tim.

Jerry, I didn’t think you’d show

Did you say,

Jerry I didn’t think you’d show?

Or Jerry, I didn’t think you’d show?

The audition for Seinfeld was great.

Did it first for the casting director, Meg Lieberman.

And then for the callback, Jerry was in the room

and the goal of any actor is to, man,

if I can get him to laugh, that’s the thing.

And I got him.

That was funny.

And then they called me back and they called me back

and again and again and again and again.

And pretty soon you’re,

you have a recurring role on that.

And I looked different on each episode

because I went off and did other things.

And so I had a beard.

I didn’t have a beard.

I had long hair.

I had short hair.

I had a crew cut.

I had a mustache.

You know, it’s fun.

The life of an actor.

And they never bothered explaining,

why does Whatley look so different every time we see him?

The precision in which Jerry and Larry would craft a joke

or a moment, a beat, was just awe inspiring.

And of course, Julia and Jason

and and Michael were brilliant, brilliant comedians.

And so no matter who was acting

in any scene at any given time, I’m watching brilliance.

So even if I only had two scenes in something,

I’m watching the rest of the show all through rehearsal,

all through taping nights, just to be there to soak it up.

[upbeat music]

Your Honor

Where have you been, counselor?

I’m sorry, your honor.

Sure, but you were also late yesterday morning.

So what’s the answer to my question?

I have a problem.

Getting out of bed in the morning?

Your Honor, is something that got me

with the concept of the first season

which was as a parent myself,

being asked what would you do

to save the life of your child?

And the answer that any parent would answer

as far as I know, is anything, I would do anything.

The follow up question as I started to get

into the character was, would I become a criminal

if I really felt that by doing so, I would protect my child?

Yep, yep.

I would become a criminal.

And that’s the story of Michael Michael Desiato

in Your Honor.

And actors in general are novices

at everything except playing other people.

So whenever we start a a character,

it’s always outside of us.

And you need to trust that through work

and through your ability and through your imagination

and your availability of your emotional treasure chest,

you’ll be able to put it all together.

First season ended tragically.

So the second season, we flip it and it becomes

about a man exploring despair.

When tragedy strikes, it has a ripple effect

on many people around,

not just the immediate family,

but that first inner circle,

then the second and third people that you work with.

If you worked with someone who lost a child,

that relationship is gonna change.

And I hope that when people watch this who are

experiencing that particular condition

or have maybe perhaps,

they’re curious to see how one person

handles it and make adjustments

in their life to see if there is a life beyond tragedy.

[upbeat music]

[Bryan] Drive.

Director wants to see a rollover.

You okay with that?

Remember, if you don’t feel good, just abort the shop.

There’s no shame in that, all right?

You’re doubling for the start.

You’re not like a day player or anything.

And I got you 500 more, huh?

Of course we split that.

You okay?

Ready to go?

All right.

Ryan’s character as a, he was a thoughtful man

and an expert driver, and he wasn’t very talkative.

And so I thought, well,

I think it would be kind of interesting

to counter that, that I’m a bit too talkative.

And also it made sense

because a person who’s too talkative often talks themselves

into trouble, says something they shouldn’t have said,

does something they shouldn’t have done.

And that’s what my guy was.

You kind of wanna slap him and go,

just shut the hell up sometime.

Calm down.

I can build a car in six months and in six seconds

these jerks, write it off as a stunt,

that won’t even make it into the movie.

See, all I need is a hard use stock car.

That’s all.

Now I figure we start

off with small town circuit and we work our way up.

Stunt coordinators and stunt men

in general are rough and tumble.

They’re a bit crazy.

And they’ll probably even tell you that themselves.

To do what they do, the broken bones,

the abrasions, the contusions that they get

in doing their work every single day.

And so I thought, I thought this guy was a tough kid,

probably a kid who jumped off his roof being a spaceman,

jumped off balconies

into pools when he was a teenager, things like that.

He was the guy, watch this, he’s that guy, you know?

And so I said, I think he’s from a Midwestern town,

so I made him from, the Chicago area

and I put the hard R in there,

and he’s just one of those guys.

It said he had a limp

and I wanted it,

to make it germane

to his life.

And so I pitched that Ron Pearlman character

that he did it to me, make it specific.

So we have to deal with him again.

And he’s, I don’t like this guy.

Take a fucking hike.

I want to talk to my partner.

I’m just fucking with you.

How you doing, Shannon?

How’s the fucking leg?

I paid my debt.

I’ll think about it.

The character that Albert Brooks played,

he and I loved each other too.

He really had an affinity for me.

I think in the original script.

He came behind me with a garroting wire and choked me.

That’s a very violent death to be choked, right?

Just like, ah, it’s you know, it’s,

you have to have someone behind you.

And it’s like, you have to have this aggressive move

and there’s something that just didn’t,

it just didn’t feel right.

And it was bugging me.

I’ll let it go.

I let it go.

And one night I had this dream and I woke

up in the middle of the night going, oh my God.

I got it, I got it, I got it.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.

You know where the handshake came from.

The handshake came from showing you have no weapon.

I show you, we may not know each other,

but I show you we have no weapon.

And out of that came the clasp to say

I don’t have a weapon either.

And two men with no weapons can say,

okay, truce, peace right?

I said, what if I see him in my garage?

And we’re like, oh.

And I’m not quite sure.

But he’s talking very casually and he’s talking like,

I’m sorry this worked out this way.

It just didn’t, it didn’t work out that,

it’s the way it goes, but hey, I hope you,

I wish you well, kind of thing.

And he holds out his hand and I’m like,

oh, maybe he is gonna let me go.

Oh, great.

And that handshake, and as soon as I touch his hand,

he turns my wrist,

with his other hand, comes out a knife,

and he slices my arm and I’m in shock.

And then immediately he starts to put me at ease,

to assuage my fears, to not let me drop,

but lower me down, caress my head against the bumper,

not let me hit it.

And just kind of comfort me.

It’s gonna be okay.

It’s gonna be okay.

And I pitched that

and Nicholas is going, that’s in the movie.

We’re gonna do that.

That’s in the movie.

Because he had the thought

of making Albert Brooks’s character

a knife collector anyway.

And he said, this is so perfect

for him to do in his milieu, his way of doing it.

And that’s how, that’s how I died.

[upbeat music]

Saving private Ryan.

These two men tonight, Normandy,

this one Omaha Beach, Sean Ryan,

this man at Utah.

Peter Ryan.

This man was killed last week in New Guinea.

Daniel

Ryan.

Well, whenever you get an opportunity to work

for an auteur, an artist,

the level of Steven Spielberg, you don’t hesitate.

You accept that call and you do whatever they want.

And my arm was straight down

in my pants when it was shooting from behind.

And when it was shooting from front,

it was, I held it like that, even rehearsing.

And so I had no movement here.

I can’t pull it out because the uniform,

we’re doing take after take.

So I just kept my hand confined.

You have to experience what that’s like.

So I was well prepared.

I took a Demitasse cup and saucer

and the saucer fit right in there.

And I had a Demitasse spoon that I would stir my coffee

and I poured it.

I picked it up, I stirred my coffee, dink dink,

taped the edge of it, put it on the saucer itself,

rotate the hand

to hold the saucer

and then put it down on my desk all without looking.

And I was so excited.

And finally we’re gonna shoot my scene.

Steven and the whole crew comes in and I go,

Steven, I have an idea.

He goes, you do?

I said, yes.

I said, and I showed him the whole thing,

and I poured the coffee, put it down,

interested in this document.

This is really important stuff here.

And I picked up the thing and put a sugar in,

sir, stir, ta, ta, boo.

And he was like amazed.

He went, Oh my God, that’s really good.

I can’t use it.

And I said, Whoa.

And I said, Oh, really?

He goes, Yeah.

He said, because at this moment we know what’s happened.

We’ve gotta get the news up the ranks

to the general to make the decision.

So as soon as the scene starts

I’m following the captain who’s got this paper,

we’ve gotta get private Ryan out.

And he’s coming right to me, and right to my desk.

And I read it and I go, where’d you get this?

And, you know, and we gotta see the general

we get up and go see the general.

It’s not a loss.

I got a chance to act.

I got a chance to create a moment,

even though the moment was never filmed.

[upbeat music]

All The Way

Oh, I have.

I would’ve given gladly not to be standing here today.

The greatest leader of our time

has been struck down.

I went down to the Johnson Library

in Austin Texas

two different times

and had access to whatever I needed.

And my own personal security guard.

Libraries closed to everyone else.

And they said, just when you wanna leave

he’ll open it up and lock it.

And it’s like, Oh, great.

So I’m just absorbing as much as I can.

So I was most interested

in trying to see if I can understand the 36th president

of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson.

And it took a long time to come in.

So I was fo hyper-focused on that.

And for some reason, I just thought, oh yeah,

I’ll get to the lines and stuff at some point.

And I felt like I started to get him.

I got a sense of him.

I got his cadence down and his draw down

and his sensibility

and his heart and his meaning, and his ambition

and his relation to, oh, ah, I got, got got, again,

it was starting to feel really good and really confident.

Oh, I have to get going now

because we have three weeks to rehearse.

It’s a three hour play.

And my character speaks for almost all of it.

Now we’re making history here, Everett,

and you have to decide how you want history to remember you.

I’m off stage, maybe a total of four minutes.

The rest of the three hours is me speaking.

And all of a sudden we did a table read and I panicked.

I made

a calculable error.

And that was,

oh my God, I neglected the logistics

the balance

of learning lines

to the point I even fantasized about someone jumping me,

in my lowest of low.

Someone jumped me and beat me up.

And I got put into the hospital

which delayed the opening of the, that’s how bad it was.

I was so nervous.

I was so scared because I was not going to be ready.

My dear friend Bill Timoney, an actor,

great in his own right.

I hired him to come and stay in the second bedroom

and drill those lines in me, just over and over,

morning, noon and night several times I’d wake

up and there’d be sheets of dialogue,

just in my face.

Bill gave me some great wisdom.

He said, Just, here’s the bottom line.

He said, On opening night, you are going to be

on that stage and you are going to do this play.

So up until that point, we just keep working.

And I was like,

I needed to hear that.

Once you get it.

And I did.

I was on stage and I never missed a performance.

And eight shows a week, three hours per day,

it’s like, wow, man, bang, bang, bang.

Doing theater from an actor standpoint is far

more exhausting than doing long hours

on a movie or a television show.

It was in the bones by then.

It was in the bones

by the time we made the movie all the way.