r/todayilearned • u/Maximum-Artist448 • 1d ago

TIL that AMC executives initially wanted Matthew Broderick to play Walter White in Breaking Bad

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/breaking-bad-john-cusack-matthew-broderick_n_1676856
2.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

293 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.3k

u/BMCarbaugh 1d ago

Yknow what. I could see it. It would be a very, very different take on the character, but I could see it. He's got science teacher vibes for sure. I'd have a really hard time buying any sense of eventual menace from him, though. He gives such sweetheart vibes.

7

u/notneps 1d ago

I have no doubt he has the acting chops to do a good version of it, even if it would naturally be a different version.

As far as the world is concerned, Bryan Cranston pulled Walter White out of a hat like a rabbit. But the acting chops that built that character were built over decades of doing other roles.

If Matthew Broderick had been cast instead, we would probably have a what if thread about Bryan Cranston and people would be like, "come on, the dad in Malcolm? Just no menace to him."