PLUME: What was nice about the series as a whole was that it didn’t present any of the characters as caricatures. You could see a three dimensionality to the people being represented.
CRANSTON: Cool…
PLUME: A lot of where that type of stuff fails is when you get a superficial, characteristic view of ‘this is who this person was,’ with not a lot of depth allowed. The mini-series, the way it played out, you definitely did get a sense of them being closer to a whole person.
CRANSTON: I appreciate that, because what they realized early on – what Tom wanted to go for, and rightfully so – is the task of telling the story from a human’s point of view, and not just… the accomplishment was well known. The logistical complications that it created was also documented. But who actually did this? Who was able to conceive this? Who designed this? You know? And that’s where they got into it. Even episodes where I thought, “Oh, this can’t be that interesting,” were fascinating to me, because you go, “Wow, some former pencil pushing geeks are standing around going, “We can’t do it. We can’t make the LEM this heavy. We’ve got to find a way to make it lighter.” And then they’re all scratching their heads and one guy says, “Well, there’s no gravity, so why don’t we take out the seats.” They all looked at him and they realized, “Oh my God. That’s right. They don’t need to sit down if there’s no gravity. Let’s have them stand in the LEM.” Little things like that, that happen all the way through the series, that you go, “Without that momentary blast of incredible idea, it wouldn’t have happened. It wouldn’t have come together.” It was an amalgam of all these fascinating people coming together to make this happen that changed the world, in a great, great respect. It was Tom’s homage to those people, that’s what he presented. I just think it was brilliant, and I’m so thrilled and proud of it, and lucky to be a part of it.
PLUME: Such a wonderful series.
CRANSTON: Yes.
PLUME: And one that’ll be watched for years to come.
CRANSTON: Yeah … that really was a goal. It’s not hard to bring in an audience of people who remember it, but if you can bring in an audience of people who have no relationship to it whatsoever, then you’ve really done something.
PLUME: I did want to touch base on your guest role on Babylon 5 a little more, and what that type of work – because it’s not the type of work that you have done extensively, that sort of sci-fi work. How challenging is that as a day player?
CRANSTON: Being a day player, period, is one of the hardest things you can do as an actor. You’re an outsider, you don’t know the crew, you come in and it’s new stimuli everywhere you look, and yet you still have to focus on this. You don’t want to be the turd in the punch bowl, so you overwork it sometimes. You just have to find some kind of comfort zone somewhere, to get in there. It was a new experience for me, and it was a job and I was always looking for jobs, like every actor does. They offered this to me and I thought, “This is interesting.” I didn’t really take to the character as much as I took to the complexity of the plot. I like the idea that they told Bruce Boxleitner – I don’t know what his character name was – they said, “In order for you to achieve the greater good, you have to sacrifice something of value. And this man and his crew is what you have to sacrifice, in order to achieve this greater good.” I love that plot dilemma for a person who is forced to play God, and forced to pick and choose who lives and who dies.
PLUME: With the assumption that what they’re doing is for the greater good, but no way of knowing until it’s over…
CRANSTON: No way of knowing for sure – exactly. That’s even another codicil that remains in the wings. Then he makes the decision, and then he has to confess to me. He could have lied to me… he could have lied and said, “No, no, you’re going to get away and you’ll be able to get out and we’ll do this and that and the other.” But he didn’t. He told me the truth, that this was a diversionary tactic that needed to be absolutely realistic in order for these enemy forces to buy it, but there’s no way out for you. In order to save the rest of the planet, this is what you have to do. I thought, “Wow, that’s a hell of a moment.” So that’s what made me say, “Yeah, I’ll do this.” It wasn’t the actual character – although I got to play that … “What’s my assignment? I understand. I understand. Oh my God – I understand. I know what you’re telling.” And have that moment of realization, that you’re telling me to commit suicide.
PLUME: It was a moment that, to work, had to be well played on both sides. For as small as it was, it definitely was a moment that carried through quite well.
CRANSTON: Well, thanks. So that’s fun. It’s not always about the specific role as it is about you being a part of the whole thing…
PLUME: What is it like to become a recurring character on a show – like, say, the character on Seinfeld (Dr. Tim Whatley)? Does that change the dynamics of going back to a set?
CRANSTON: It does, and it changes drastically.
PLUME: How did Malcolm come along? Was that an audition process?
CRANSTON: It was. You know how fickle this business is… I fully invested in my theory of just do your job and walk away, and if it’s meant for you to be, then it’s meant for you to be. That really served me, and this was no exception. Just a couple weeks before Malcolm came along, as far as an audition, I had auditioned for a pilot at NBC, a comedy, and it went all the way down the wire to go to the network, and you do a network test in front of all the network executives and you negotiate your deal and everything. It’s down to me and two other guys. This could change your life, and yet it’s just about doing the work, focusing on the work, and forgetting everything else. We all three were there at the same time – you know who your so-called competition is. I think I went in first, and came back out. They ask you to wait. Another guy goes in and comes back out, they ask him to wait. Third guy goes in and comes back out, they ask him to wait. In this case, they had to start rehearsals right away, because they were starting to shoot this thing immediately, so they said they were going to tell us right then and there – which all of us want. You don’t want to go home not knowing, you want to know. In or out, whatever it is. One of the other two guys got it. So, okay, good luck to you, and he stayed. Me and the other guy walked to the elevator. We walk out together and say, “Well, that’s the way it goes, see you later.” And you go home and you just have to forget about all that. Then, about a week after that, I had another series of auditions. It lasts about four or five times that you have to go in to audition for the same role, as they narrow the field. I went in and read, and same thing. Came down to me and two other guys. One of the guys was Corbin Bernsen, and this was for the WB Network. We went in and auditioned, same thing … and then they said, “It’s Corbin’s job.” Okay, see you later. I walk out with a guy, same thing. The other guy who didn’t get it was like, “Son of a bitch! I hate when they …” and getting all upset about it. My point is like, “You know what? It’s out of our control. We all had a fair shot, and it’s just what is.” Three days later I get this call for another audition for Malcolm In The Middle. “Okay, let’s read this one.” This one, the script was so much better than the other two. I thought, “Oh, this is nice.” But the role of the dad was like, “How do I play this?” Because the mother is so bombastic and aggressive and the father is just kind of nowhere in the pilot. I don’t know if they know what to do with him. I start thinking about it, and I thought, “Well, okay, in any good marriage you want to complement the person, not be as aggressive as the other person, so why don’t I complement. Why don’t I go the opposite of what she is? Why don’t I be softer in look and softer in tone. She’s that aggressiveness, I’ll be sensitive and maybe calm.” I started thinking about the characteristics that I could add to this guy, and then all of a sudden he started coming to me, as far as who this guy is. His obtuseness is really a matter of him escaping in his mind so that he can go to a little sanctuary to avoid the chaos of four boys in a regular two bedroom, one bath household. That started to happen. I went to the audition, went on the callback, went on the callback, same process, but this time, I was the only one sent to network. I was the only one – which, in some odd way, there was more pressure on me. Because now if I didn’t get it, it’s not like they like someone else better – it’s like, “No, he’s just not it.”
PLUME: And this time you’d be walking out alone.
CRANSTON: And walking out alone, exactly! But then you look at it and you go, “It’s mine. It’s mine to take if I want it. Go get it.” So I went, I got it, and we start shooting that and the pilot was fantastic. The upshot is the two other pilots that I didn’t get, neither of those sold. Those guys who got the job, Corbin Bernsen and the other guy on those two other projects, were now unemployed again and looking for another job. At the time I thought, “Oh, dang, I didn’t get it!” But you’ve got to think something’s better around the corner. Something meant for you is waiting. Just because you don’t get something right now …
PLUME: So things don’t work for a reason.
CRANSTON: That’s right. You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.
PLUME: Isn’t that a poet that said that?
CRANSTON: Yes, I think I should write that down.
PLUME: Malcolm is, what, a one camera show?
CRANSTON: Yeah, it’s a one camera style show, as opposed to four cameras on sitcoms – on regular 180 degree walled sitcoms.
PLUME: So it is essentially like shooting a film each week…
CRANSTON: Just like shooting a film. We shoot one episode in six days, then it goes to about a two month period of post-production, color correction and sound effects, music, looping… all kinds of things… editing. Then it airs.
PLUME: What is the difference in doing TV in that format?
CRANSTON: I like it better, because the end result is more real. It’s not as real in doing it. When you do a four camera situation comedy, you basically run the entire scene one time, and they stop, then they check. They say, “This is good, let’s do it again,” and the cameras may make an adjustment, and you run the entire scene again. Then you’re done. You move onto the next scene. In ours, we painstakingly take hours and hours and hours to set up a shot. So it’s awkward, because they’ll just be shooting, like, my close-up, then they’ll turn around and shoot Jane’s close-up – so it takes more time, but the end result, when edited together, it feels more real. There’s reasons for that. We shoot on 16 mm film, which is fine for television. Shooting in film style allows you a 360 degree access to the place that you’re in. For instance, when you see a show of Malcolm, you see the entire house, all angles, at some point. When you’re shooting a regular sitcom, four camera, there’s like a 180 degree line. You can see everything within that 180 degrees, but that’s it. You can’t cross over. So, for instance, Seinfeld – you never saw the wall where the TV stood, or the other side of that kitchen. You only saw that one side, and you shoot always in that one direction. It’s not as real, because any time you see people having dinner in a four camera situation comedy, they’re all on one side of the table. You know what I mean? Nobody eats that way and we know that. It’s like a little subliminal… I have to suspend my belief even more. There’s a lot of those things that you keep having to do that, but with our show, we sit around the table like you normally would. At some point, you see every angle, so you have less to suspend, and more to invest in the show, and I think it pays off.
PLUME: I’m assuming just by the very nature of the set-up time for shooting that way, and the amount of takes that you’re given, that it’s better as an actor – as compared to a four camera run-run-run right through it.
CRANSTON: Actually, it depends. When you say better for an actor, no. The best time schedule in Hollywood is to be on a four camera situation comedy. Your schedule is ridiculous. First of all, you shoot three weeks in a row, and then you’re off a week. You shoot three, and you’re off a week. Then you shoot two, and you’re off two. You have a lot more time off, even during the year that you’re shooting.
PLUME: On live-audience ones they only shoot, what, a day anyway?
CRANSTON: They shoot a day. For instance, they shoot on Friday, let’s say. Monday you come in and have a table reading of the new script … maybe an hour on the first day. Then you go home. Second day you come in about 10:00 in the morning – there’s no 5:30 calls, like I get occasionally – you start rehearsing and maybe rehearse until 3:00… 10:00 to 3:00, something like that. Something easy. Wednesday you’ll do maybe 9:30 to 4:30, 5:00 – that’s it. Thursday you have camera blocking. That’s when the technical group comes in and they block out the scenes. That’s a longer day, usually 9 or 10 A.M. until 6, 7 P.M. Then on Friday you have a 10:00 call and you get out about 9:30, 10:00 at night. You have one night that you have – that’s a normal day for us.
PLUME: Where you have any real pressure.
CRANSTON: Right. There is more pressure. There is more pressure on the actor for a four camera – that’s just something that you’ve got to get used to. You use it to your advantage, much like you would if you were doing theater, where you know there’s a live audience out there. The most tenuous time for an actor is just before you make your entrance. If you’re off-stage, you’re waiting, and just before you make that entrance is when you’re the most nervous. But when you get on, then you’re on. Then it’s like, “Okay, you can relax, you can breathe,” and you’re fine. But it’s that moment before. I would think that’s the same for a gymnast – you’re just right there, just waiting. Or the swimmer on top of those blocks, you know what I mean? All those minutes before, that your heart’s pumping …
PLUME: Essentially, when you do the time comparison, you guys are doing the equivalent of 7 or 8 films a season…
CRANSTON: I guess. We’re doing 24 half hours, so 6 movies – basically 6 2-hour movies.
PLUME: So 6 movies in a year.
CRANSTON: Yeah… well, we work about 8 months.
PLUME: Which is kind of an astounding turnaround time.
CRANSTON: Well, television has got to go faster. Movies have bigger budgets and they have a slower pace. We basically do an average of 5 pages a day, I guess. We shoot 5 pages every day. But, you know, I did soap operas and they’re at 45 pages a day, but they whip them out. In soap opera, it’s more about how you’re saying it than what you’re saying. “The intention’s there, good, we got the point, move on.” They’re not such sticklers on verbatim.
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