People said he’d be a great Lex Luthor. Others wanted him to be an MCU villain. But apparently, the closest Bryan Cranston has come to a superhero film was as Mister Sinister in the maybe-on-day-it-will-come-out “X-Men” spin-off film “The New Mutants.” And according to Cranston, the reason that he was in talks for that role was that he has very specific rules about which superhero roles he’ll take.
While speaking to Screen Geek, the “Breaking Bad” actor opened up about why he’s been avoiding superhero roles in films and how the closest he got was the “The New Mutants” villain.
READ MORE: ‘New Mutants’ Still Hasn’t Begun The Massive Reshoots & Could End Up Being R-Rated
The first rule is that he’s only interested in villain roles. “I want to play an antagonist a fraction smarter than the protagonist, never dumbed down to give the hero an easy win. That’s frustrating and boring to watch,” explains Cranston.
The next rule for hiring the Emmy-winning actor to star in your superhero film is if it’s a role that hasn’t been done before. He says, “I guess it’s a selfish standpoint. I don’t want to do a character that has been done several times before. I don’t want to be compared like, ‘Well, his Commissioner Gordon was yada yada yada.’ I don’t want to do that. I want to take something that hasn’t been done.”
And so far, the role that he seriously considered that checked all his boxes is Mr. Sinister. “Actually, that was the character, I’ll admit. Mister Sinister was the character I was thinking about,” he revealed.
Unfortunately, a couple things happened that prevented Cranston’s version of Sinister from hitting the big screen. First, the role was apparently cut from the film, as “The New Mutants” is about to undergo massive reshoots that are said to change up to 50% of the film and add a completely new character in the process. And the second reason, albeit probably the most important reason, is that he wasn’t cast in the role. Reports suggested that if Mr. Sinister was to hit the big screen, he would be played by none other than Jon Hamm.
However, now that Cranston’s rules for starring in a superhero film are known, perhaps Marvel, Fox, Sony, and (Heaven forbid) DC can call him up and get him on board. However, those fans hoping for his Commissioner Gordon or Lex Luthor might be out of luck.
