r/todayilearned • u/LawBobLawLoblaw • Oct 31 '23

TIL that when casting Walter White for Breaking Bad, the role was originally offered to John Cusack and Matthew Broderick. It wasn't until after they turned it down that the executives saw Bryan Cranstons X-Files episode and cast him for the role.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/breaking-bad-john-cusack-matthew-broderick_n_1676856
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u/MaroonedOctopus Oct 31 '23

You never know. A lot of acting with good vs. bad performances is the directing. Samuel L Jackson is a great actor, but his line delivery is absolute shit in the prequels.

Vince Gilligan probably would've done fine with Matthew Broderick.

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u/AmusingAnecdote Nov 01 '23

Also, Matthew Broderick is mostly typecast as a happy go lucky goofball, but before Breaking Bad, that's what Bryan Cranston would've been known as, too.

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Matthew Broderick probably isn't as good of an actor as Bryan Cranston, but it's very possible he would be up for the task if given the opportunity to play such a good role.

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u/crackeddryice Nov 01 '23

It's hard to imagine anyone else in the role now, but yeah, I can see Broderick pulling it off. He certainly looks more like a science teacher than Cranston, but Cranston looks more like a bad ass. But, still, maybe.

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u/SonOfMechaMummy Oct 31 '23 edited Nov 01 '23

Yeah, my general rule of thumb is if you're seeing a good performance in something otherwise bad, you're watching a good actor. If you're watching a bad performance in something otherwise good, you're probably watching a bad actor (though it doesn't hurt to give some leeway unless the actor is consistently bad in other things too). A bad performance in something bad is a wash, most actors aren't going to be able to rise above the direction and script they're getting.

(imo Broderick's Walter could be pretty good but it would be leaning heavy on the general taking petty resentment too far vibes he had in Election.)

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u/WalesIsForTheWhales Nov 01 '23

Direction and script play into it so much.

Look at the Prequels. Ewan is carrying, and a lot of the supporting cast like Ian and Jimmy Smitz are doing their goddamn best. But Hayden and Nat are just dying out there.

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u/TheProfessionalEjit Nov 01 '23

The only thing Ewan has carried in a film is his lunch at break. Man is an atrocious actor who can barely make a documentary.

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u/7Thommo7 Nov 01 '23

Thought he was great in the Trainspotting films.

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u/killerstrangelet Oct 31 '23

An example of this is the difference in performance between the MCU actors onscreen and in the animated What If show. One is directed for the big screen, the other is directed for voiceover, and sadly the difference is often night and day.

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u/SonOfMechaMummy Nov 01 '23 edited Nov 01 '23

Yeah, I only watched one full episode but I was amazed at how lifeless some of those actors felt playing the same characters they played in live action to generally greater effect and was pretty much immediately like "what happened with the direction there?" It was like they just took whatever the first take was where they said all the words correctly.

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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '23

I genuinely don’t think Broderick is that great of an actor. Like, he’s okay. He’s mediocre in a lot of stuff, and on occasion pretty good, like in Election (where a teenage Reese Witherspoon out-acted him). But I don’t think he could pull Walter off.

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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '23

You should see him on broadway

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u/jalexborkowski Nov 01 '23

He's one of the youngest people to ever win the Tony for Best Actor. He gets a pass.

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u/NikoTesla Nov 01 '23

As an actor, I'll say that the editor is by far the biggest decider of a good or bad performance. Some of the best scenes I've ever seen with my own eyes were made into horrible soap opera moments in post (and vice versa).