It turns out that Bryan Cranston was surprised by one of Breaking Bad darker twists before millions of viewers.
During a recent Variety actors about actors conversation with Better call Saul Star Rhea Seahorn, Cranston shared a hilarious behind-the-scenes confession about the moment he realized Walter White had gone even further than he thought.
Like many actors in Vince Gilligan’s universe, Cranston was given scripts one by one, meaning he often had no idea where the story was going.
That became a problem during a pivotal Season 4 confrontation when Jesse Pinkman pulls a gun on Walter, convinced he poisoned young Brock Cantillo.
“I remember filming an episode of Breaking Bad where Aaron Paul’s character Jesse comes at me with a gun because he thinks I poisoned the little boy on the show, and I’m like, ‘Why would I do that?’” Cranston recalled.
Certain that Walter was innocent, he rushed into the scene, even blaming Gus Fring.
“I point my finger in the direction of Giancarlo Esposito’s character: ‘Gus Fring, he’s the one who would benefit from this!’”
Then the next script arrived.
“‘You think I did it? Then kill me. Then shoot me right now, if you think I did it!'” Cranston recalled while performing. But after reading the next episode, reality hit me.
“And then the next episode came a few days later, and I read it and was like, ‘Oh, I did that.’ Wow. Too bad.
Despite the shock, Cranston said he wouldn’t have changed anything about his performance.
“No, because it has to be believable. But maybe I really thought it was Gus Fring who did it!”
If Walter White could fool Bryan Cranston, maybe the rest of us never stood a chance.
