Bryan Cranston (‘Better Call Saul’): ‘You feel like you are in high school again’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“You feel like you are in high school again,” admits Bryan Cranston about returning to the role of Walter White for two episodes during the final season of “Better Call Saul.” For our recent webchat he continues, “Oh I know this, this feels right, and it didn’t take much to lock back into that. You embrace the entirety of that experience. But at some point you have to not live in the past; you have to move forward. That’s the goal: to appreciate the past but move forward.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Better Call Saul” closed out its seven-season run with an ambitious and acclaimed final season. The series tracked Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) becoming the sleazy but charming lawyer Saul Goodman. Walter White was the chemistry-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin who hired “Saul” in the Emmy winning drama series “Breaking Bad.” The last “Saul” episodes saw the shows’ timelines collide. New movements between characters from both series were explored. In the final episode, White and Goodman talk regrets. Cranston explains, “It shows the irritation that Walter White always had with Saul.” He later adds, “Walter White became who he became out of a set of circumstances that arose. He migrated from an altruistic to an ego driven path. For Saul Goodman, it reinforced that Saul always had a bent towards criminality and shortcuts.”
Cranston won fourEmmys for Best Drama Actor for his role on “Breaking Bad” plus two more times for producing the Best Drama Series winner. Looking back on both series, he says the endings were “earned from what the men had wrought on their circles and society. Jimmy McGill inevitably was going to end up alone. For Walter White, the only way out was death. He was going to go out in the blaze of glory he always planned. That pretty much tells the whole story. I don’t think you are going to see another iteration of that world again. Of course, I’ve been wrong before.”
Cranston also finished up his work on “Your Honor” for the final season on Showtime. In the drama, he played Michael Desiato, a judge who makes a series of moral compromises to save his son’s life. Season 2 sees Michael process the death of his son and public disgrace. Cranston explains, “I find the characters that are damaged but trying to find their way to a more enlightened life are more interesting ones. The most interesting characters to me are the ones that are going to take an emotional journey. You are exhausted playing those characters because they take everything from you to do it.”
And to add to a busy season, he also played Jerry in the TV movie “Jerry and Marge Go Large” alongside Annette Benning. His character utilizes his mathematical acumen to win the lottery and uses the money to help his struggling town. The actor reveals, “It was the first thing I did after the lockdown. I wanted to do something that was uplifting. Working with Annette Benning was a joy. It was a delight to play with her. That it was based on a true story was also very interesting. I think it’s a little gem.”
After a career that has involved Emmy and Tony wins, as well as an Oscar nomination, Cranston states, “Any human being who makes a living as an actor is the luckiest person in the world. When I meet actors who don’t acknowledge that I just want to slap them. You’re an idiot if you don’t realize how fortunate we are to make a living as a storyteller.”
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