Bryan Cranston on getting cast as Walter White in ‘Breaking Bad’: ‘I wanted it badly’

Robin Dearden (L) and Bryan Cranston arrive for the 68th annual Primetime Emmy Awards on September 18, 2016. Cranston detailed how he obtained the role of Walter White in "Breaking Bad" during a new interview on "CBS This Morning" File Photo by Christine Chew/UPI

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 12 (UPI) — Bryan Cranston has revealed how determined he was to land the iconic role of Walter White on AMC’s “Breaking Bad.”

“All we know is to be able to identify well-written material. And I knew it was exceptional material. And I wanted it badly,” the actor said Tuesday while promoting his upcoming memoir, “A Life in Parts,” on “CBS This Morning.”

“I lifted my leg and marked him with my pheromones.” I said, ‘You are going to give me this role, and I’m not leaving,'” Cranston joked about how he lobbied “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan for the part.

Eventually the 60-year-old noted how Gilligan became convinced even if the network wasn’t.

“Without Vince Gilligan being my champion to get the role, it never would have happened. And I’m grateful that it did,” Cranston shared. “But he really took a chance, to take a character and change him from a good person to a bad person had never been done in the history of serious television.”

The memoir, which was released Tuesday, gives fans a glimpse into Cranston’s life that includes surprising revelations about his difficult childhood, how he was briefly a suspect in a murder case, and his experience dating an ex-girlfriend who threatened to kill him.

“I was murderous and I was capable of great love. I was victim, moored by my circumstances, and I was the danger,” he writes. “I was Walter White. But I was never more myself,” Cranston writes in the book.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here