From dentist Tim Whatley in Seinfeld to Hal Wilkerson in Malcolm in the Middle to Walter White in Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston has an uncanny ability to morph into a character who’s always undeniably human. I’ve met many actors throughout my career, and Bryan is one of the nicest, funniest, and most down-to-earth stars I’ve ever interviewed. His talents aren’t limited to the big and small screen, either. I’ve seen him in action on Broadway in All the Way (a play about LBJ) and in Network (in which, of course, he was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore). Plus, I saw him in LA last year in Power of Sail — a play about a college professor and free speech absolutist. Clearly, I’m a fan!
Most recently, Bryan is back with the second season of Your Honor — another riveting show about truth, justice, and how far you would go to protect your family. He just stopped by to talk about what’s in store for Judge Michael Desiato this season, but we ended up chatting about everything under the sun.
Katie Couric: How is Michael different from Walter White? Are there similarities in their characters? They are, at their core, good people who become bad people because of circumstance.
Bryan Cranston: What Walter White taught me is that nothing is black and white. There’s a lot of gray area. I don’t think human beings are just one thing. We have good qualities and we have bad qualities, things about us that we’re proud of and things that we need to improve — hopefully, we’re not criminals. But that’s human beings.
The common denominator is that Michael Desiato and Walter White were played by the same person, so that will always create a throughline.
The difference is the attempts. We want to see characters attempting to do the right thing to the best of their ability. But if they’re damaged and troubled people — men, in this case — then they may not be capable of doing the right thing at the right time always.
It’s always about how one bad decision can change everything in an instant. You have said you’re attracted to damaged characters who still have some manner of humanity and decency within them, despite their flaws and shortcomings. So I guess that does describe Michael and Walter.
Those are the kinds of characters I get offered to play.
And you’re such a nice guy. How is that?
Well, I can relate. I mean, I’m human.
I don’t know you that well, but I would say you’re an incredibly decent and morally upstanding individual. I feel like you have certain values that you adhere to and you played pretty wholesome characters prior to Breaking Bad. So how come we’re just now seeing the darker side of Bryan Cranston emerge?
When you think of it from a standpoint of a dramatic narrative, the most interesting characters to play are damaged people. We don’t want to see people do all the right things all the time — they would never make it into a show or a movie because it’s not interesting.
So there’s going to be a turn. There are going to be problems in that person’s life that they’re either capable or incapable of overcoming. That’s what makes drama so fascinating.
You’re the happy beneficiary of this national obsession with crime and thrillers. I’m curious about what you think of that whole trend.
I’m more interested in the human element and the story. Does the story resonate with me? You look at Breaking Bad, a story of a man’s plight and struggle through this horrific prognosis of a limited life. He wanted to set his family up for after he’s gone. He elicited sympathy for that. It’s an indictment of the health system, that a fully employed teacher needs to have a second job in order to pay for his special needs son.
Then you have Your Honor, which asks, “What would you do to save the life of your child?” If you ask any parent, they would do anything. I ask people, “Would you become a criminal to save the life of your child?” “Would you allow an innocent person to be hurt or killed in the line of saving your child?”
All of a sudden, you can’t go back. My character can’t retrace his steps, clean it up, and make good on something. His spiral has already started and he is in this mess. We have to try to make the best decisions that we can. My character didn’t have the luxury of thinking, “What are the repercussions of this initial decision?”
You don’t read reviews ever, right?
I did until about seven or eight years ago. Then, I read a couple of reviews about a movie that I did. I thought, “Oh, well that’s not helpful to me.”
This person was lazy and claimed certain things that a little research would’ve proved wrong. I found the laziness of that to be irritating. I don’t think reading reviews helps me at all. I don’t read reviews when I do a Broadway show or when I do a movie because it’s not going to change anything. Most people say you could have nine great reviews and one bad one, and the one you’re gonna think about most is the bad one.
It seems to me that you’re very grounded and you really have never lost perspective.
Yes. I’ve been married for 34 years now. We have a very good life but it’s very, very normal. I remember when I was on Malcolm in the Middle and I was nominated for an Emmy, we went to the Emmys and I was in my tuxedo, got into the limo, and everybody was taking pictures with Robin and me on the red carpet. And it’s all fancy Hollywood. Then, we went home, I paid the babysitter and said goodnight. And Robin walked into the kitchen and turned up her nose. She discovered there was something stinky in the garbage. She just picked up the plastic garbage bag and shoved it in my hands — I didn’t say a word because that’s my job. And I opened the back door and it was starting to drip. I was holding the dripping, smelly garbage bag out at arm’s length so it didn’t drip on my tuxedo. I walked out to the garbage — and not 20 minutes ago people were asking for my picture and an autograph. And now I was taking smelly garbage out. I smiled because…that’s it. That’s the reality of it. That’s real life. That’s tangible. It’s right there, smelly garbage and all.
That’s what I want to embrace. I want to embrace the reality of life. And if you can create that foundation, then you have room to dream and take chances. Because you always have an invisible tether to something that’s real.
