Bryan Cranston Reveals His Intricate Style and Beauty Choices For ‘Breaking Bad’ Season 1 Walter White
Bryan Cranston is best known for his portrayal of Walter White in Breaking Bad, which is considered one of the best performances in TV history. In a recent interview, Cranston revealed some intriguing details about his intricate style and beauty choices for the show’s first season.
‘Breaking Bad’ was the best script Bryan Cranston had ever read
Cranston has been in many hit TV shows, including Malcolm in the Middle and Your Honor. Yet, despite the controversial nature of its subject matter, Breaking Bad remains his most well-received creative endeavor.
Cranston has openly shared his admiration for his role as Walter. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2018, the actor revealed that the Breaking Bad script was the best he had ever read. Cranston praised creator Vince Gilligan for his unique approach to storytelling and for creating a complex character like Walter White. He went on to explain that Gilligan changed the construct of what was possible in series television.
Cranston’s appreciation for the script was evident in his portrayal of Walter White, as he brought a level of depth and complexity to the character. That made him one of the most memorable characters in television history.
Bryan Cranston made a lot of choices for Walter White in ‘Breaking Bad’ Season 1
Playing a character like Walter White required Cranston to undergo a massive physical transformation. Walter was a man who had been beaten down by life, and the actor knew that he had to look the part. In an interview with GQ to break down his most iconic characters, the six-time Emmy Award winner explained how he got into the role.
Cranston revealed that he was always looking for those “What’s the point?” choices. His first step in the transformation process was to shave his mustache, going with what he called an impotent mustache. Describing the facial hair, he said, “So you have to make sure that’s always above the creases of the lips. And you thin it out so you can see the skin underneath it. And it doesn’t look as masculine. It just seems, what’s the point?”
His next style choice was his clothes, about which he said, “I chose my clothes in conversations with the costume designer to select clothes that blend in the wall. Beiges, off-whites, pastels, soft yellows, things like that.”
The transformation didn’t end there. He also worked on his hair by removing all the color highlights from his hair. It’s no wonder that Cranston won four Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Walter White. He went above and beyond to make sure that he fully embodied the character physically and emotionally.
Bryan Cranston had a routine for getting out of his Heisenberg character on ‘Breaking Bad’
Playing a complex villain can be taxing on even the biggest Hollywood stars. Walter White may have started out as a sympathetic character, but he completely changed as the show progressed. Cranston explained to Esquire in 2018 how he dealt with having to represent Walt’s darker sides.
“I had specific ways to get out of character at the end of a day. I would wrap a moist towel around my bald head, and another one around my face, and sit there in the makeup and hair trailer and just allow the day’s grime and negative energy to escape,” he said.
“I’d wipe it all off of me, and that helped relieve the burden of carrying around this man’s darkness. Another thing I did every night was call my wife in California and just talk. She didn’t live through 14-hour days of Walter White. She’d talk about what’s going on at home, which helped me get out of that frame of mind and back into Bryan.”
And by the time Breaking Bad ended, Heisenberg certainly had his share of shadows. It’s almost hard to remember how different Walt was in Season 1. But then, that’s exactly why we couldn’t get enough of his journey.
