Bryan Cranston, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
(laughs) Thank you, Trevor. It's great to be on with you.
It is wonderful to have you on.
I have always been a big fan of your dimples.
As a fellow dimple-haver myself,
I have followed your career avidly.
I subscribe to Dimple Weekly,
and we are all proud of your achievements.
Um, so, welcome. Welcome to the show.
How have you been holding up, by the way? How are you?
Well, isn't that an interesting question-- how are you?
It used to be where you say, "How are you?"
"Fine, thank you. How are you?" "Very good." And you move on.
-Yes. -Now, 2020, it's like, "Ooh, how am I?"
How am I?
It's kind of this existential question now.
The answer is, good.
I-I mean, you know, we're-we're adaptable beings.
I'm-I'm saddened
that we... we don't have any, uh, current leadership
that is taking what we're dealing with seriously,
and-and, you know, 3,000 people are passing away
at a... on a... on a... on a day now.
And I think back in March,
when I contracted COVID-19, and how lucky I was.
My symptoms were very mild, and I had some aches and achiness,
and a little dry cough and-and...
uh, and just absolute lethargy.
-I couldn't sleep enough. -Right.
It knocked me out that way. Yeah.
And then, I lost my, uh, sense of taste and smell
for months and months.
Well, are you being serious?
Yeah.
What is that experience like?
Well, to this day, I don't have it back 100%.
It's about 75%, maybe, something like that.
If I walked into a kitchen and someone was brewing coffee,
-I can't smell it. -Wow.
So I have to open up the bag of beans, and I go,
"Oh, yeah, that's-that's coffee,"
-or stick my nose in it. -Oh, wow, man.
Yeah.
And do they... do they have an idea of when it comes...?
Or is it just, you just play it by ear, you see?
Well, what's interesting, my wife was reading up on this,
and she said, um, neurologists will tell you
the way to retrain the senses is to do exactly what I do--
open up that bag of coffee beans.
It reconnects the-the senses in-in your brain.
Um, so anything-- pungent cheese.
Right, right, right.
You have to teach your brain to smell again and taste again.
-Yeah. -Wow. Okay.
Well, I'm glad it's you and not me.
And I'm glad that you are healthier now.
I-I do not wish that experience.
I love the taste of things too much.
And I like knowing who smelled it 'cause I know who dealt it.
I mean, these are important things in life.
Um, I would love to talk about your brand-new show.
You're playing a judge in a very sticky situation.
A judge who has a son who's involved in a hit-and-run,
and then he has to make the very tough decision
between following the law and following his family.
As tough as that decision is for any parent,
um, my character, Michael, does the right thing
and says to his son, "You need to turn yourself in,
"uh, and-and be responsible
and accountable for-for your actions."
And I convince him to do the right thing.
We go to the police station.
I'm about to turn him in, When I notice a grieving couple
who are the parents of the boy
that was killed in this car accident
-earlier in the day. -Right.
I don't know who she is, but I know him,
and he is a vicious, violent criminal.
And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that if I continued on
and turned my son in to the police department,
and, thereby, into the judicial system,
he would get to him somehow, and he would kill my son.
So, all of a sudden, animal instincts take over.
-Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. -And it's like, that's it.
We're leaving. I-I'm making this impulsive decision.
Uh, and away it goes.
I feel like you have this amazing ability
to play characters where you-you're a good person
who is not doing the right thing,
but we want you to not do the right thing
because we-we... we're in touch with the humanity
of the person that we... we are... we are watching.
When you're playing these characters, like, how...?
I really want to know how you get into doing that.
How do you... how do you learn to love them
so that we can love them and their flaws
and then start supporting them committing crimes?
'Cause you-you let... you make us support people
who commit crimes. That's what you do.
I... That's what I do. That's my stock-in-trade.
Um, yeah, it's true.
You know, I learned early on, uh,
that when... when a... you're going through maturation,
-and you're in middle school or high school... -Mm-hmm.
and someone does something embarrassing or humiliating,
you laugh at them. That was...
Because you-you're glad it wasn't you.
But beyond that, when you mature,
human beings are really lovely at heart.
The foundational sense of a human being.
If they see someone humiliated or embarrassed or vulnerable,
they don't want to laugh at them.
They want to wrap their arms around them.
They want to protect them.
And so that's the beauty of-of portraying someone like this,
or Walter White, or someone who is trying
to do the right thing, but is flawed.
So an audience, knowing that they are imperfect themselves...
-Mm-hmm. ...casts that upon the character, saying,
"My God, I don't think I would have done anything differently.
-I would have done something like that." -Right.
So they instantly relate to you.
And then... I hope that they do.
I take them by the hand, and I say,
"Let me take you for a ride.
Come on. I'll tell you a story."
And you go and you take them on a journey
that sometimes they want to shake loose of,
but they cannot...
They're compelled to continue on that journey.
My-my only criticism of the show, if I may,
is that it's a miniseries.
We're in a pandemic, Bryan Cranston.
Why would you not make a full, long show?
Why do you do this to us, Bryan Cranston?
We're your fans. Why would you do that?
I do it to help you, Trevor.
I don't want you to-to have that instant gratification
seeped into your soul.
I want you to develop a sense of restraint
and an appreciation for things that take time.
Look, would you drink a cheap bottle of wine
that was made last week? No.
You would wait. Let it wait.
Turn it. Let it mature.
And then open that bottle.
In the pandemic, I will finish that...
I have finished that bottle, Bryan Cranston.
I will not wait for anything during the pandemic.
It's 2020. Needless to say, I think it's a fantastic show.
You've done an amazing job again.
Thank you so much for joining me on the show.
Trevor, appreciate it.
Hopefully next time, we can do it in person.
Always, my friend, always. I'll see you around.
-Be well. -Thank you. Bye.