Bryan Cranston Is Ready For Anything
And so he’s making them. He’s not going on any more Easy Rider trips across the country, but he’s pushing himself, resisting that box like he’s resisting his razor. Currently, that translates into Trumbo [above], written by Bruce Cook and directed by Jay Roach, which follows Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Cranston) through his battle, alongside the Hollywood 10, (condensed and amalgamated into the familiarly dark Louis CK), against the blacklist that forbade them to work in America due to ties to the communist party; while simultaneously shooting All The Way, the upcoming HBO film about Linden B. Johnson’s first years as President, following the assassination of JFK, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He already earned a Tony for the role on Broadway, which did not come without sacrifice. Call it persistence.
“[LBJ] was always battling his weight and was never one to take care of himself,” says Cranston. “I found myself holding my body in a certain way on Broadway that, by the end of the night, caused my back to hurt. And I just couldn’t make that correction on stage. I would get into the headspace of that guy and just go into it.”
So, he’d book corrective massages in between showings and hair appointments that increased the size of his forehead and thinned his hair to match that of the former president, like regular oil changes for the revving engine that is his career. All part of the job, and certainly worth the experience.
Cranton’s Preparation H commercial.
In Trumbo, Cranston found another challenge, this time, thankfully, less physically taxing. The Hollywood screenwriter was one of the great American dandies, with a flashy sense of style to match his flashy personality, an absolute champion wordsmith with a quick wit and a quicker pen. He spoke fast and intelligently, with a superfluousness that was quite unlike the stoic, largely silent Walter White. But those butterflies that Cranston got when he first read the script for Trumbo are his dragon, and he knew he had to chase it.
“There’s something about staying a little on edge that, for me—and I’m not saying this for all actors—keeps me going, keeps me alive, keeps me thinking, keeps me working,” says Cranston. “I don’t want to get into complacency. I don’t want to look at a script and go, ‘Oh ya, I’ll give that look and do that there,’ and put it down, because then you’re phoning it in. I want to be challenged.”
That’s the real reason Bryan Cranston lets his hair grow out. Sure, the paycheque is nice (if no longer necessary), but really, he just wants to be ready when someone comes along with his next adventure. The next job. Actors talk about excitement and challenges and doing different things almost as much they talk about how thrilled they were to work with their co-stars, whoever those co-stars happen to be. But, with someone like Cranston, you believe it. Because he’s proven it. That box is calling, and so is the barber’s chair, and any other metaphor we could throw around to describe the potential for complacency and routine. But Cranston isn’t having any of that. He’s got too much work to do.
