Bryan Cranston (of “Breaking Bad” fame) was on Howard Stern’s radio program this morning to promote his new Broadway Play which begins this week (he plays former President Lyndon B. Johnson in “All the Way.”). Of course the subjects of “Breaking Bad” and the casting rumor of him playing Lex Luthor in the new “Superman” movie came up. And this being Stern, the topics of him getting crabs, having threesomes, and wishing death on an ex-psycho girlfriend worked its way into the conversation as well.
As for a few interesting tidbits from “Breaking Bad,” Cranston said that he got so emotional during the scene where he let the character of Jane (Krysten Ritter who played Jessie’s girlfriend) die that he broke down and cried for fifteen minutes.
In another tidbit, he said that he hated Christopher Cousins who played Ted Beneke (the man who was having an affair with his on-screen wife Skylar). There were no issues with the actor himself. It’s just that he was so jealous that someone else was sleeping with his fictional wife, that it just manifested negative feelings toward the actor.
Finally, and most interestingly, Cranston approached Vince Gilligan (the creator of the show) and suggested a storyline where Walter White would himself start taking meth and then begin sleeping around with multiple women, thereby going even crazier with the character. Wisely, Gilligan rejected his suggestion.
As for the rumors of him being up for the role of “Lex Luthor” in the upcoming “Batman vs. Superman” movie, he said that was all just fan speculation. No one from the studio ever contacted him and he doesn’t believe that he was ever seriously considered. As he put it, people were thinking “Lex Luthor is bald so who else do we know that’s bald? Hey, Cranston’s bald.” (I’m paraphrasing here).
Stern asked if he would have liked to play the role of Luthor to which he indicated that he would. Now I’m not sure if he was just humoring Stern or if he actually meant it. Either way, I suppose it doesn’t really matter at this point since the role has been cast. For the three people who haven’t heard the news, Jesse Eisenberg won the role. Though I do question that casting decision, I will reserve judgment until after I see the film.
In closing, I found the interview with Cranston to be nothing short of fascinating. He really is a great interview when he does Stern. I’ve embedded his previous Stern interview below. He’s extremely open about his life. It’s worth the viewing.