The power of love
BRYAN CRANSTON finds himself transformed by an alien attack in the final episode of electric dreams
electric Dreams
sunday, channel 4 HD, 9pm
FOLLOWING FIVE FANTASTICAL episodes, this week’s instalment of Electric Dreams is a much ‘quieter and more simple’ tale, according to its star Bryan Cranston.
‘It’s really sweet, and small in scope compared to the others, but that’s why I was attracted to it,’ says the Breaking
Bad actor, who also serves as executive producer on the sci-fi anthology.
‘It examines the condition of what makes us human and looks at the oldest of emotions – love.’
ALIEN ATTACK
Adapted by Stranger
Things writer Jessica
Mecklenburg, Human
Is is based on Philip K.
Dick’s 1955 short story and follows a cold, emotionally abusive husband, Silas Herrick
(Cranston), and his sad, disconnected wife,
Vera (Essie Davis).
Both work for General Olin
(Liam Cunningham) at the
Intergalactic Intelligence Agency. As part of their mission to protect the planet of Terra, formerly known as Earth, Silas is sent to collect valuable resources from a planet called Rexor IV, where his team comes under attack from vicious aliens.
Miraculously, Silas escapes, but the heartless husband returns home a changed man. Now desperately in love with his wife, could this be the same snivelling Silas who left for Rexor IV?
‘I’m playing a man who’s done with his relationship,’ says Cranston, 61, ‘and then as someone who sees his wife in a new light. But from Vera’s point of view, you’ll see a woman who emotionally risks herself in order to find love, and as we know, love is anything but simple.’
The episode marks the end of the current run of Electric Dreams, but there are four more episodes due to air next year, with Juno Temple, Greg Kinnear and Vera Farmiga among the cast list.
‘It’s been one of the most difficult things I’ve been involved with in my career,’ says Cranston. ‘We’ve had 10 different writers, directors and locations in the UK and US, plus a massive amount of cast and crew. Everything has been multiplied.’
A WORLD OF POSSIBILITIES
But surely the bonus of being executive producer meant Cranston could cherry-pick the role he liked the most?
‘Yes, I got to do that,’ he smiles.
‘But I wanted to choose something appropriate for my age, so I had to wait and see what the writers came up with because although we used Philip K. Dick’s material as a springboard, we told them to change whatever they wanted – characters, settings, languages – as long as they kept the core idea and connected it to modern-day life.
‘But if you look at any movies based on Dick’s work, whether it’s The Adjustment
Bureau, Blade Runner or Total Recall, you will always find human beings at the core. ‘Yes, there are futuristic notions, but it all boils down to human beings and our relationships with each other.’