'Breaking Bad' Interview With Bryan Cranston

Bryan Cranston Q&A

Some may remember Bryan Cranston's arc as 'Seinfeld' dentist Tim Whatley, most know him as bumbling but lovable 'Malcolm in the Middle' dad Hal -- but Cranston is in a whole new place these days, and has an Emmy for Lead Actor in a drama to prove it.

Cranston broke out of his comic-acting mold as chemistry teacher-turned-meth lab operator Walt White in AMC's 'Breaking Bad.' As the show's second season rolls out (Sundays, 10PM ET), Cranston talked to AOL TV about everything from how his cancer-stricken character's desperation grows in the new season, why America can't get enough of him in his undies ... and the truth (finally!) about why his 'Seinfeld' character converted to Judaism. -- By Kimberly Potts

AMC

1. Was it weird to win an Emmy for drama after being best known for your comedic roles for most of your career?

You know, I don't allow myself to even think of those things. I'm just grateful for the opportunities that I've had, that I was actually invited to this dance, because there are a lot of actors who are not maybe given the role that does draw attention. And it's also a major dose of luck that I'm again in a well-written show that is drawing attention from critics and from fans alike. I'm deeply humbled by it, and I'm happy because it's great for the show, for hopefully helping people find the show.

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2. The first season was shortened to just seven episodes because of the writers' strike, but there was a lot of set up and character development packed into those seven hours. What's the overall theme for season 2?

Everything that Walt's been working for comes into jeopardy in season 2 ... keeping the family unit together, keeping away from the legal authorities, keeping his business private. All he's really asking for right now -- and I say this from a sympathetic point of view, because I'm playing him -- "Just please let me keep my blinders on here, let me be selfish for the first time in my adult life, and let me just make this money for my family and then please just let me die." I think that's what he really wants right now.

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3. Is the tone of the show the same this season, with the dark humor mixed in with this intense drama for Walt and his family?

Definitely. He is absolutely anxiety ridden. In his classroom, in science, there's order to things, the5. re's a mathematical equation to reaching answers, and in this [new] world there is none. As the season goes on, just as Walt feels that he's got a handle on the situation, some other unbelievable aspect of it raises its ugly head and he realizes he just doesn't have the skill set for this. He's dealing with murderers and liars and thieves ... If it wasn't for the nice liberal supply of dark humor, it would be too tense to watch, I think. It gets very involved.

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4. Walt's wife Skylar (Anna Gunn), is a bright woman and his DEA agent brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris) is good at his job, as we see in the second episode. How long can Walt keep them in the dark?

Seventeen or 18 years? No, I think we've established a pretty good rapport with the audience in saying that this is the conceit. We have a man who has terminal lung cancer, and he's not going to get out of that. Whether he actually succumbs to that, I don't know. [Series creator] Vince Gilligan, he thinks he might have an idea, but maybe he won't do that. That's the great thing about television ... you have off time, where you decompress from the intensity of a season that you've just shot, and you're able to think about it and say what went well, what went not so well, how you can make it better. With a feature film, you know the ending before you start shooting page 1. On this, we don't know the ending. We don't know really where it's gonna go. We have an idea ... Vince thinks he has an idea, but it may divert off of that.

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5. You're saying Vince Gilligan has an idea about how Walt's journey will end -- do you know what it is? Or are you purposefully remaining in the dark?

No, I don't know what it is, and that is on purpose. I have to live inside this guy, and [knowing] could only harm me. I think I'd rather not know, because my character doesn't know. And I think it's easier to truly play that I'm not aware of where this is going.

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6. What have you done to make Walt a character the audience will root for, even while he's mixed up with murder and drug dealing?

The key to get him to be sympathetic to our audience, and to me, was to simply make him human. Be honest about him. Show his care and love and concern for his family, but also show his negative side, the impatience, the quick temper, his ability to lie and become good at it. To be able to draw in an audience to embrace him as human, and then have them reject his actions is a very delicate thing to create. Vince Gilligan has been able to create an inner conflict within the viewer right from the beginning, so they are emotionally drawn into a tug-of-war with liking certain aspects, liking me, rooting for me, but hating my actions. People have even said to me, "You know, I was rooting for you to complete a drug deal," and I'm going, "What?!" So there's that inner moral conflict with the viewer, and that's just where we want them.

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7. Do you think Walt's desperate situation may resonate more with people right now because of the economy?

When given a set of circumstances like Walter White has, it conjurers up the question, "What would you do? To what length would you go to provide for your family?" And this is an American fear. This is the great American tragedy, to have someone who is underemployed and underpaid, like a lot of teachers, having to take a second job to provide basic needs. And God forbid you have a catastrophic illness strike your family, because it will wipe you out financially. So yes, I do think that it's resonating. In this economic climate, there is so much fear. Hopefully we have enough levity and comedy in our show that it gives you a little hope, you know?

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8. There's a lot to know in playing this character, between his health situation, the chemistry aspect of his jobs and the drug business ... do you actually know now how to cook up a batch of Meth?

Yes. We had DEA chemists on the set as consultants, and they would walk us step-by-step through the process of how you would get to the point of having a finished product of crystal Methamphetamine. I undoubtedly since have forgotten those steps, as is my nature, but it was kind of eerie to realize that this information is out there and pretty readily available.

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9. Is it fair to say that Bryan Cranston is pretty comfortable, maybe more comfortable than the average guy, with walking around in public in tighty whities?

[Laughs] Well, I have no desire to shed my clothes, but it does seem, for whatever reason, that I'm in tighty whities a lot, or, as you'll see in episode 3 of 'Breaking Bad' this season, shedding my clothes, and I just have to come to accept that this is what America wants to see. Um, no, but it made sense to the script, and so I was willing to do it. There's a lot of humor in that sense of vulnerability, and to help me overcome any type of embarrassment, I usually have a default mechanism of humor. [When I shot the nude scene in episode 3], it was being naked in a public place with 55, 60 people walking around. So, while they were setting up a shot, I decided I would start walking around and shop. "Oh, jalapeno peppers, those would be good on a salad that I'm going to make tonight," and putting things in a shopping basket. If I wasn't able to do that, I don't think I would have been able to shoot it.

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