HIS LOVE OF LIFE IN BRITAIN
rants about the problems of television – we are not the truth.”
Other sources of news and entertainment also trouble Cranston – especially smart phones.
He fears people have become addicted to their devices and admits to getting distracted himself by celebrity gossip popping up on his phone.
And he says people should get a grip on the amount of information they allow into their lives and learn to be their own gatekeepers.
He adds: “We have to do it to our children and should also do it to ourselves – turn it off !
“Television, phone, a tablet, they are tools and they have to be used properly but they can also be misused. “A hammer is a great tool to drive a nail into a piece of wood but if I hit you on the head with it I have misused it, so it is no different with this.
“If you are addicted to these devices then you are misusing them and they are using you and you are a puppet to them.
“You have to have the ability to know when to shut it down and off so it doesn’t enter your psyche and be a problem in your life – and you go to news when
want. “It is a phenomenal piece of technology because I can do so much on them. At times I get waylaid working on emails and then I will see something, ‘oh what’s that... who are they married to?’
“And with a couple of pushes of your finger you are down the rabbit hole.
“It’s addictive, so we have to be vigilant to push against that. Being overwhelmed with information doesn’t make us wiser.
DUMBER
“In fact, I think it makes us dumber because we’re not thinking on our own.”
In philosophical mood, the married dad also talks about his past and a tough childhood that still troubles him.
His early years were marred by his mother’s struggle with alcoholism after his father Joe, a boxer-turned-actor, walked out in the search for success.
Cranston, who was just 11 at the time, recalls: “My dad wanted to be a star, nothing else would do. He wanted the home run.”
When his mother Peggy turned to alcohol to help her cope, the family lost their home and were sent to live on his grandparents’ dirt farm.
Cranston goes on: “There’s still a lot of pain I’m dealing with. It’s worse than if they died in a car crash, because they were still there physically, somewhere.
“He chose not to be with us or see us or be a father.
“My mother chose to become an alcoholic and drown her sorrows and sadness and resentment.
“She was like a ghost of herself. And no one ever explained why he left.”
It seems a minor miracle that, given his traumatic formative years, Cranston carved out such a hugely successful career.
In hit AMC show Breaking Bad he was the disenchanted, put-upon chemistry teacher who morphs into a murderous crystal meth druglord.
The part won him a legion of fans. It’s why he needs to wear that disguise while on walkabout... and it’s a role that will always be hard to cap.