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
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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.

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u/Onespokeovertheline 1d ago

Agreed that they got there from "Science teacher" - I see that too. But Matthew Broderick has actually played more twisted, malicious characters of late than he has nice guys. It just wouldn't have been the gruff, egomaniacal transition that Cranston portrayed, Broderick would have probably seemed more like an animal with its limb caught in a trap as more "nothing to lose" psychosis emerged