Breaking Bad - How Bryan Cranston Perfected Walter White

This video essay analyzes Bryan Cranston's acting capabilities as Walter White in Breaking Bad. Cranston earned 4 Emmy Awards for his performance as Walter White. Breaking Bad is owned by AMC. If you want to understand how Bryan Cranston masterfully gave the performance of a lifetime, this video essay has you covered.

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Music used:
The Chase by Topher Mohr and Alex Elena
Eureka by Huma-huma
Someday You Will Know by Mocha Music (Premium Beat)
&
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:42 Honesty/Dishonesty
5:46 Externalizing Internal Battles
10:00 Emotional Outpour
12:48 A Masterful Combination

#breakingbad #bryancranston #walterwhite

[zannchristo]

"Bryan Cranston loves to act"
Bryan: I love to act

he loves to act

[sengroagers]

There’s so much acting in just his eyes alone. Somehow he can have the kindest suburban dad eyes you’ve ever seen, and switch to the cold animalistic gaze of a murderous druglord like it’s nothing

[dhil]

Skyler’s acting in the phone call scene in Ozymandias was also amazing, you can see her go from upset to confused/reassured as she realizes what Walt’s doing

[CircuitRider]

Of course Cranston is incredible throughout the entire series, but a smaller scene I love that isn’t usually mentioned is the ‘rehearsal’ between Walt and Skyler in Bullet Points, when they’re preparing to go and lie to Hank and Marie about the gambling money etc. It’s a very interesting, almost ‘meta’ scene, that manages to be both compelling and hilarious due to the great performances of Cranston as well as Gunn.

[PhilChannelAwesome]

I think the pizza scene was what really showed us Bryan's ability to act. The way he threw the pizza in one take was incredible!

[marcdumont]

For such a sweet person Bryan Cranston has really scary eyes.

The scene where Jane died is a great example. The last shot he's crying, he closes his eyes and when he opens them again the change in his expression is shocking. It's like he's a completely different person. Great acting.

[russell]

Remember this is the same actor that has done a character that made his stomach talk in front of a mirror and another character convert to Judaism just for the jokes. With this range, he is (in my opinion) one of the best actors that have ever lived.

[camraging]

My personal favorite moment from him is when he finally admits to himself and skyler that he did all this because he liked it and was good at it. There’s pauses in between each sentence that say so much. One of certainty and pride that he was good at it, one where he’s looking back at everything he went through, and finally one of relief. Brilliant acting.

[kjetilhansen]

The writing and acting is so brilliant that it made me side with and sympathise with Walt on my first viewing. He is, throughout most of the series, a completely horrible human being, but I found myself consistently moving the goalposts for what is morally acceptable alongside Walt. It was really only upon my second viewing that I saw through his self-deception and manipulation from the very beginning. It truly made me think deeply about my own moral compass.

[kkxi]

Bryan Cranston showed us a master at work while working on Breaking Bad. One scene that sold me on his acting was all the emotions he went through when he was going to shoot himself outside the RV.

[rummagingchaos]

man i wish i could forget the entire plot and relive it for the first time again. every couple of years i’ll binge watch the entire series again. a masterpiece

[themeltingpoint]

His acting looks so exhausting, it's so impressive that he can keep something like that up, the mentality he has to adopt and the level of acting he puts into every facial feature, I can't imagine doing that for as long as he did.

[rheannaradloff]

As someone who read his book twice " a life in parts" I just want to point out he didn't plan to see his daughters face when Jane died. That's something that randomly happened in the moment and elevated the scene, so they kept that take.

[Whaddayamean]

Anthony Hopkins said Cranston's performance as Walter White was the greatest he'd ever seen

[thescoobymike]

Walter White is also an actor. Bryan Cranston can play two layers of acting so well it’s insane.

[thestockimagequeen]

Bryan Cranston is without a doubt one of the best actors of all time.

[onemoreminute]

"Not only did he exceed our expectations, he raised the bar for everyone. And in doing so, he delivered the performance of a lifetime".

Your goddamn right

[HumorousLOL]

I don't know what it is about that show, but it seemed it was almost impossible for any of the actors, even the ones with tiny roles to be bad in that show. It was insane that just about everyone who appeared in that show gave incredible performances.

[kecskemetib]

Bryan Cranston is the Heisenberg of acting.
He is able to show all possible emotions at once, in superposition.

[Paracosm]

I like the theory that the alternate ending of breaking bad is just walter becoming Hal from Malcolm in the middle