Bryan Cranston: How Love, Drugs, and Power Inspired My "Breaking Bad" Performance as Walter White

Bryan Cranston: How Love, Drugs, and Power Inspired My "Breaking Bad" Performance as Walter White

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As scary as it may seem, Bryan Cranston was deeply informed by personal experience in how he approached Walter White, the character he played on the hit television program "Breaking Bad." In what may be the 'crazy ex-' story to beat all 'crazy ex-' stories, Cranston explains how a series of dark encounters with a mercurial girlfriend helped him tap into Walter White's most menacing qualities. But Cranston is interested in more than the fictional roles he's given to play as an actor. He finds the roles that each of us play in life—from partner, to friend, to citizen, and so on—are what really defines who we are, what we do, and the shape our lives take over their long arc. His book on the subject is aptly called A Life in Parts.

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BRYAN CRANSTON:

Bryan Cranston won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Walter White in AMC’s Breaking Bad. He holds the honor of being the first actor in a cable series, and the second lead actor in the history of the Emmy Awards, to receive three consecutive wins. In 2014 he won a Tony Award for his role as Lyndon Johnson in the bio-play All the Way. In film, Cranston received an Academy Award nomination for his leading role in Trumbo. Among his numerous television and film appearances, he was nominated for a Golden Globe and three Emmys for his portrayal of Hal in FOX’s Malcolm in the Middle. He is the author of his memoir, A Life in Parts.

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TRANSCRIPT:

BRYAN CRANSTON: I mean the purpose of writing my book was to express myself, to continue being a storyteller. These are two stories. It’s called Life in Parts because of the parts we play. Not only the parts I played in my profession but also the parts we play as human beings. I’m a father. I’m a husband. I’m a brother. I’m a citizen, a neighbor, and all those things. And we all are. We all present ourselves that way. I also wanted to write honestly because I thought if I’m not telling the truth then what’s the point. It’s masturbatory which has its place in your life but not in this case. I wanted to present it to say okay, here’s when I was afraid. Here’s when I was insecure. This is times when it was really trying on me or testing me. The two incidents that you mention I was married once before to a lovely young woman who we just, we weren’t suited for each other. And so we separated. We parted ways. And out of that four year togetherness I was newly single. And within a month or so I was on an audition and I met this woman named Ava whose name I changed. And she was aggressive and assertive and beautiful and I was kind of taken aback. And we got together quickly and we were boyfriend and girlfriend before I could blink.

And then I realized there was something off about her. And what was off about her is that she was addicted to drugs. But I never knew exactly what kind of drugs. I was really very ignorant about drugs because I was on that track to become a police officer and I just never indulged. I’d smoke pot once in a while but it was never my thing so it didn’t appeal to me. And I’ve never done any other drug than that. So I was very ignorant on that but I noticed her behavior was different. She would be sweating one moment and then she’s fine and then she’s down and then she’s up. IT’s like there’s something very strange going on. And I tried to get out of the relationship and she was so powerful she refused the breakup. When I decided I was going to breakup with her I thought of the possible scenarios. She could be angry. She could be pleading. She could agree with me. Yeah, I think it’s best we should breakup. There could be any number of things. And I thought about how I would react depending on what reaction she would give. The only thing that I didn’t count on is that she said no. Just calmly said so, we’re not breaking up. I don’t know what to do with that. And she was so aggressive and assertive that she just kept pulling me into her life and it was crazy. It’s a longer story but she started stalking me and showed up at work. I was working on a soap opera at the time in New York and she showed up at work and she was thrown out of the studio.

And she would leave these messages on my answering machine in those days. This is the early eighties. And threatening me that she was going to have me killed and when I lease expect it. She would say I can find...

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