With ‘Wakefield,’ Bryan Cranston finds honesty
To the best of my knowledge, Bryan Cranston is not an acting teacher.
But maybe he should be. In a recent conversation about “Wakefield,” in which he plays a lawyer who walks away from his suburban family and watches them from the attic of their garage, he talked about what attracts him to roles.
Best known for playing Walter White, the chemistry teacher who becomes a meth kingpin in “Breaking Bad” (but also Oscar-nominated for “Trumbo” and a Tony winner for “All the Way”), Cranston, 61, clearly loves his work and loves talking about it. Question: In TV you get to grow a character over time. That’s more difficult in movies, but it happens with “Wakefield.”
Answer: I always look for characters that have an arc. I’m not that interested in doing, necessarily, a character that doesn’t show growth or diminishment, which is just the reverse of that. I always want to see some change. That tells me that the story was impactful to that character, that it had an effect on that character, and therefore was an important story to tell. So I always look for the strength of the story; then the script, how it supports the story; and then the character; and then the director, in that order. Q: You write as well as act. How do you process a script when it’s sent to you?
A: First it’s the story. Does the story resonate with you? Did it move you emotionally? Was it important? Did it have any social relevance? Was it just thrilling? It could be any number of things that move you, but it has to move you. If it bores you, eh, they’ve failed. And I stop there. If it’s a good story, then I just analyze it to make sure that the script that was written, does that support that great story? Or was I disappointed that, wow, there’s such potential with this story, and the script just didn’t fulfill it, it didn’t support it? I stop there, realizing that old saying, “If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage,” that’s by and large very true. It’s got to be there.
And then I go to the character, and see if the character is compelling to me. Does it have that arc? Is it important? Is it honest?
And then, fourth, is the director. Does the director have a visual image in their heads? Do they have a language that they want to be able to convey that will make this two-dimensional story on a computer screen really stand up and, “Wow, I see it, I feel it.” Do they have a vision and are they collaborative? Do they want a partner in trying to tell this story, or are they dictatorial? I don’t work well with people who say, “No, you need to sit in that chair and do your entire dialogue here, and then you’re going to stand up on this line and move to the window there.” That doesn’t work for me. You’re just drawing stick figures arbitrarily, and you’re usurping the input of an actor. You’re taking away their creativity and just dictating what they do. For me, that just doesn’t work. Q: Have you ever had a project that checked off all those boxes and you decide that it may be great, but it’s not me?
A: Yeah, there have been stories I really dissected and thought long and hard of, and other factors made me decide to do it or not. It’s a learning process. I decided to do “Why Him?” not because the story was so compelling. The story was very simple: Midwestern dad doesn’t like the boyfriend of his beloved daughter. That’s not enough to go wow, I gotta do that, or wow, that’s unique, I’ve never heard that story before. But what it did have, this was a comedy, and ever since “Breaking Bad,” comedy offers have been few and far between. Ah, so OK, a comedy, a lead role and it’s a studio movie. It’s a big-budget studio movie and it’s a comedy. I want to make sure people don’t forget I can do comedy, so I think this is the thing to do. Talking to (director) John Hamburg, I was then convinced it was the thing to do, because he believed I could do it, I would provide a significant amount of improvisation and I was looking forward to doing it. That’s why I said yes to that. And I enjoyed the film. Q: But you were hilarious in “Malcolm in the Middle.” Do people not remember that?
A: The industry likes to compartmentalize. It makes life orderly. It’s a little disorganized if someone can do this and this. “When I’m thinking of this, can I just put them there?” And, “Oh, you did ‘Breaking Bad,’ so your real wheelhouse, where you can excel, is in menacing characters in drama. OK. We’ll put you there.” So it’s up to the actor to continue to resist those placements, those pigeonholes, and seek new pathways. Q: Wakefield, like Walter White, isn’t necessarily likable, but you still have to make them compelling in some way, or people will tune them out.
A: Yes. The key to that is finding the humanity of a character. If you can’t present likable characteristics, the bottom line is you have to present at least honest characteristics, so at least people can relate to him and realize and feel that that’s a real person. And yes, a lot of things he’s done are unsavory or selfish or whatever, but I believe him. I understand why. I don’t agree with it, but I understand why he would do that. And if you’re able to convey that, then I think it’s a very respectful thing to an audience. Let an audience weigh in on how they feel about the character on their own. And whatever an audience feels is correct. An audience is never wrong. And how they feel is an expression of how they feel about art, and the subjective viewpoint. So our job in telling a story is to present it as honestly as possible, and it’s an audience’s job to tell us how they felt. Q: You have to show something that brings us back.
A: That’s right. I don’t even think men who do despicable things are always despicable. That’s easy. That’s what they used to do in the old Westerns. White hat and black hat. Good guy and bad guy. Everything he does is good, and everything this guy does is bad. That’s what they also created in soap operas, because they needed people to quickly tune in and identify who I like and who I don’t like. Who’s the antagonist and the protagonist? Got it. But audiences are far more sophisticated than they ever were. Far more. And if you presented drama like that, what I just described, you’d be canceled immediately... The bar has been raised. Q: OK, I have to ask. I’ve interviewed you several times, but I’d never seen “Breaking Bad.” Now I have, the whole thing. Have you ever missed out on something like that?
A: I was late to “The Wire.” And I loved it. And it was just because at the time I didn’t have the time. So that. Of late I’ve been so busy creating it’s been hard for me to luxuriate and indulge in other people’s work. But I look forward to that. I know that I’m very busy, I have a lot of opportunity right now, and I’m very grateful for that. But at some point that’ll end and things will calm down, and I’ll be able to catch up on all these things. Q: But for now?
A: It’s fun. I’m enjoying the ride.