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New Mexico pop culture poster child Bryan Cranston, known for his portrayal of Walter White in the TV show Breaking Bad , has returned to the state to be celebrated for his work — and to step back into an old role once again. The veteran actor joins the likes of Godfrey Reggio, George R.R.
Martin, and Tantoo Cardinal in being recognized with the Santa Fe International Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award, which he was honored with Saturday night at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. Wes Studi, the first Native American actor to receive an Oscar, presented Cranston the award, citing Cranston's excellence in "bringing us a deeper understanding of the human condition" across roles from the father Hal in Malcolm in the Middle to the Albuquerque science teacher-turned drug kingpin in Breaking Bad . "I'm just so appreciative to be back in New Mexico — where my heart really lies.
It's like once you get the taste of it, there's something that happens to you," Cranston said at the podium. Cranston took the stage afterward for a discussion with screenwriter Kirk Ellis, Cranston’s longtime friend and creative partner. "Let's talk about the acting gene," said Ellis.
Cranston spoke about his father, who he recalled always acted in roles that ended with the character's death. "When you're a little boy, it kind of scares you at first. You know it was something you were indoctrinated from the very beginning," Cranston said, saying this prepared him for a life of acting.
Cranston has a system, he said, for understanding any character, in film, TV, or in plays. "I call it the big five," he said. "What is this character good at? What is he not good at? What is his secret? What is his ambition, and what is his fear? I look for all five of those things.
If you're really successful, you find them. You're engaging your imagination, and you're welcoming this character to take over, to come inside. And once it does, you lock the door.
I've trusted that method for a long time, and it's served me," said Cranston. For his role as Lyndon B. Johnson in All The Way , Cranston said, he prepared by extensively speaking with the former president's speechwriters, daughters, and reading all the material he could.
The research came to fruition when he uncovered a letter LBJ wrote to John. F. Kennedy's daughters following their father's assassination.
"That just filled me with who this man was," he said. "And that, that's what really was the catalyst for me to go." But the magic of acting, he said, is making it look effortless.
"If the magic trick is done exceptionally well," he said, "you may not see the work involved. And that's really our goal is that you work so hard to create something that you don't feel the effort." He also spoke about the talent and support of his daughter and wife, both actors themselves.
"She's really, really good. Thank God! Oh, that would be one of the hardest things to do — 'Yeah, honey, um, you know, the bank is hiring.' You don't want to be in that position," he said, to laughter from the audience.
Cranston also credits his wife Robin Dearden, who he met on a film set almost 40 years ago, for his decision to take the role of Walter White for Breaking Bad . "I read this script, and I thought, 'Oh God, what am I going to do here?' And I asked her to read it," he said. "And I said to her, 'Before you read it, I just want to say, if it, if it happens, I have to move to another state.
' "And she said 'OK,' and she read it," he continued. "And I would peek around the corner and see her reading it, reading it, reading it, reading it. And she got to the end.
And she took it and she threw it. ..
. And I knew — it was like, 'Oh yeah, OK, we have to do this.' " Breaking Bad holds the Guinness World Record for most critically acclaimed TV show of all time, earning 16 Emmy Awards — with Cranston, the series’ protagonist, himself winning three consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series from 2008-10.
Following Cranston's discussion, the film festival screened his film Trumbo, which earned Cranston a best actor nomination during the 2016 Academy Awards. He’s not just here to be celebrated for his work though. Cranston has returned to the state's television screens to once again step into the role of White — this time, not as a meth kingpin, but as someone who really hates litter.
Cranston met with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham Friday night to raise a toast "Breaking Bad Habits," a $3 million statewide beautification campaign featuring his character. Spearheaded by Lujan Grisham, the campaign aims to reduce litter through a series of media-buys including TV ads, billboards, bus ads, and merchandise featuring the likeness of Heisenberg, White's alias in the show.
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