TCA press tour: The return of ‘Breaking Bad’
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It was good to see the star of AMC’s ‘Breaking Bad’ looking healthier than he did when he won an Emmy for the role in September.
Bryan Cranston, former star of ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ had lost 16 pounds then, trying to look the part of a high school chemistry teacher who has only 18 months to live because of lung cancer. Viewers will see the thinner Cranston, and his bald head, when the show’s second season premieres March 8. But today the TV press got to see a Cranston ‘in beefing up’ mode since production has ended.
Since the five months that Cranston’s character, Walt White, was diagnosed, a lot has happened in his life. His wife got pregnant, and Walt, unable to work, decided to team up with a former student in starting a crystal meth business so that he can leave his family financially secure. That partnership went awry by the first season’s end, and now Walt is pondering his next move as he continues to deal with the reality of his disease.
Cranston, who lost 16 pounds for the role, said that he learned firsthand what cancer patients go through when he accompanied his sister-in-law to her breast cancer treatments.
‘There’s a lot of self-reflection, quiet time, anger and resentment,’ Cranston said. ‘You run a gamut of emotions and not always in the sequence that you think you would. That’s what is great about the show. Often his condition will surface in an emotion that seems inappropriate at the time. But, given the set of circumstances, you accept and understand it. It forces you to do a lot of self-examination.
‘Walt looks at how his life has changed. Before this he was a walking zombie for 25 years. He was a very depressed man. There is no going back emotionally. He can’t go back to teaching. His life has changed, and at times he’s embracing that which I find fascinating sociologically.’
In the second season, Walt will have to decide just how far he is willing to go for his family’s security, which will culminate with a ‘big slam’ season finale, creator Vince Gilligan said.
Because Walt was given only 18 months to live, and producers are hoping for a third season, there might be some optimistic news in Walt’s near future, Gilligan said.
‘There may be a little bit, a ray of good news, for how long we don’t know,’ Gilligan said. ‘That’s often the case in real life with cancer — moments of sunshine, moments of hopeful outlook. And it can change in the blink of an eye, unfortunately.’