CANNES – He had a bite of Wes Anderson’s world voicing Chief in the stop-motion animated “Isle of Dogs,” but Bryan Cranston is now officially a member of the auteur’s growing live action ensemble. The six-time Emmy Award winner, two-time Tony Award winner and Oscar nominee joined the club with his role as the inquisitive 1950s television program narrator in “Asteroid City.” And, if you’ve ever spoken to any of the other longtime Anderson collaborators, you quickly learn that for actors, a Wes Anderson movie is a blast.
“Oh my God, he just loves actors. He loves the acting process,” Cranston says the afternoon following the film’s world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. “He’s not one himself, but he’s like the conductor of this. It wouldn’t happen if he was unkind or disrespectful though. You’d work for Wes once and then go, ‘The work is too hard and he’s an asshole.’ And that would be the end of working with Wes Anderson. But the fact that he is a very kind human being and very sweet and generous, you open up to him and you want to do the hard work.”
The “Breaking Bad” legend sat down with The Playlist a few hours after a lively press conference where Anderson held court, but Cranston and his co-stars Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson and Jason Schwartzman heaped praise on the celebrated auteur. Over the course of our conversation, Cranston reflects on how an Anderson movie has “downtime” unlike any other production (something that seemingly shocked Johansson), that now classic Anderson “timing,” whether Anderson should tackle a stage production, how his feelings about fame have changed over the years and much, much more.
Note: This interview contains minor spoilers from “Asteroid City.”
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The Playlist: I know you’ve worked with Wes before, but does he just send an email and say, “Hey, I’ve got a movie, are you free?”
Bryan Cranston: Yeah, basically.
Really?
Yeah.
Do you feel like that’s rare?
Very rare. That’s how he casts. Usually, the casting for me now is an offer goes out, “Would you read the script?”
Yeah
I ask my team, “Did you like the script?” If they say, “We hated the script,” then I’ll say, “We can pass.” Because if they hated it, you’re saving me at least two hours, and let’s move on. But if they say, “This is a unique, interesting script, go read it,” then I’ll read it. Or, this is Wes Anderson, it’s like, “I’m in.” You basically go, and I told Wes, it’s like, “Whatever you want me to do.”
Did he tell you what the character was or did he just say “Are you available in whatever month?”
Yeah, pretty much that. Then you go, “What is it you would like me to do in this one?” I did “Isle of Dogs” with him but that was four days behind a microphone, it’s not anything like working in live-action, so this was my first experience working live-action with him. I adore Wes, but also, I love the community that he creates. The sense of an acting troupe coming together. All of us, we don’t have trailers, we don’t have private dressing rooms, and we don’t have assistants running around. We don’t know what our billing is. We’re all making the same amount of money, which is low, which is basically nothing. I don’t even know what I made. But you don’t do a Wes Anderson movie to make money. It’s for the experience, and the experience is rich. It’s not easy, but it’s rich.
This is the part I don’t understand. I get not having trailers, I get a lot of stuff being done in a day, but during the press conference, Scarlett Johansson said there was no downtime on set compared to other film sets. How is there no downtime on any movie or TV project? Is it just like, “Okay, at 1:00, show up, we’re going right away”?
Kind of like that. But I wouldn’t say there was no downtime, because we didn’t work all that long hours. We never started before 9:30 in the morning. So we can get up, you can go to the gym. And we’re always in a confined area that is confined, a cordoned-off area, a hotel that we control. So we don’t have to worry about civilian eavesdropping, and we can have open conversations and trust with each other and talk about personal things that we wouldn’t want the public to know and that are rather private. That’s a great thing to have, that security. We can go to the gym, we can have breakfast, do whatever, and then you walk over to the wardrobe area. They take over a whole area. You get in your clothes, you walk over to hair and makeup, you get hair and makeup. Yeah, Wes is on his way. You might hitch a ride in his own golf cart or grab a seat in the car going and you go to set. It’s boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, and you’re there on set with him. Now, you have some private area and you’re reading a book or watching them shoot, and then it’s like, “Brian, can you step in?” “Yeah, what do you need?” Did you see the movie?
Yeah, of course.
Yeah, so the scene where they’re taking showers and I come in and go “Am I not in this scene? Sorry.” And he said, “I just have this idea that you show up and we realize, ‘Oh, I’m not supposed to be here.'” And I go, “Yeah, that sounds like fun.” So. I got in there and do it.
I was going to ask about this because the media and many fans assume that everything in Wes’ movies is dictated on the page, to the letter. That there’s no improvisation. But clearly, there is. He’s clearly willing to change and do things even differently than what the animatic might have been.
Right. Yes. He’s still orchestrating it. But like any good actor, you come in with ideas and put it out there, and he’ll go, “Oh, I like that little … or whatever little thing you’re adding. “Let’s do that.” And so you have that freedom to be able to do that. Or physicality once when I’m on stage and I just went like this [Cranston stands up and leans out on his right leg] and spoke my lines and then stepped back.
Right, right.
It’s bizarre and odd. But he liked it and it was like, “O.K.” Yeah.
So when you got the script, does he sit down with everyone and say, “This is what I need your character … “? Is he that involved or is he like, “People will get it based on what they’re reading. You bring what-
The animatic is…that process is that. So instead of having him have an in-depth conversation with every single character, he gives you the animatic to watch and then allows you to ask questions to further clarify any given point or any plot point or a definition of a line or what’s happening at any given time.
And by the way, I loved Jeffrey Wright saying, “Release the animatic.”
Yes, “Release the animatic.”
That won’t happen until 50 years from now when we’re all long gone. But did you watch it immediately and think, “Oh, I know the voice he wants for this character”?
No. There is an efficient voice that he had. But he voices all of them. And I still thought, “Well, I think my character should be without judgment and without emotion.” He’s the narrator. He is there to offer expositional information to the audience so that they can track the plot. He’s there to introduce the names of characters and their position and stay out of the way. But I also feel that these men, specifically in my case, of the ’50s and ’60s and all the way up to today, who earned their living with their voice, I think they love the sound of their voice.
Yes. They did. Yes.
So, it’s this. And so I started talking like this, where there is gravitas and that kind of thing. So you can raise or drop according to what is happening at this moment. So you’re taking your time.
It felt very theatrical to me. And I thought, “Oh, there’s something about kind of sing-song-y, kind of” I don’t know, it just felt like it was fun to say. So, I presented that to him in that way. And he goes, “It’s very stylized.” But it seemed to fit.
You also mentioned today that you believed this was Wes’ love letter to performance art. Can you expand on that?
Well, not just … I think I mentioned that it is a movie about a television show doing a story about theater.
Yes.
So he’s using all the main genres, but also, he’s doubling up. There are actors who are playing characters [who are actors]. So they are twofold, right? There’s the actor and that personality. Then there’s the character. It’s personified mostly in Jason Schwartzman‘s character who we see as the photographer. But then he’s also going in, talking to the director and talking to the writer going, “Please tell me what this means. Why does he burn his hand? I don’t understand.” That sort of thing. So we see all these characters. And then the logistical part of that with Wes, because of what he created, requires a huge cast. So, he is able to collect all these actors. Oh my God, he just loves actors. He loves the acting process. He’s not one himself, but he’s like the conductor of this. It wouldn’t happen if he was unkind or disrespectful though. You’d work for Wes once and then go, “The work is too hard and he’s an asshole.” And that would be the end of working with Wes Anderson. But the fact that he is a very kind human being and very sweet and generous, you open up to him and you want to do the hard work. And his voice is very unique. He’s an auteur. There’s just a handful that you go, “Oh my God, that’s a Wes Anderson movie.” And he always takes chances. He never plays it safe.
So your character in particular has so many scenes where, because this is all in-camera, you’re speaking while all this other action happens behind you or next to you. Even after all these years of talking to people about Wes’ films and how he shoots them, I’m still confused about how the timing works. Is there someone giving cues?
There are times when you do know the beats, you know the tempo, and then after your first take, it’s like Wes would say, “Bryan, can you do that twice as fast? Good. And then when you’re looking at them, when he takes the final taste of ice cream, as soon as he pulls the spoon out of his mouth, turn back around and do the last bit.” So you get some visual cues because he’s doing something with the camera and you’re watching that and that plays out, spoon comes out. And so it’s an orchestration. Again, it’s almost choreographed where the vocal music plays and then the physicality of moving the camera, the physicality of the actors moving, and it all comes together, dovetails. And it’s got to be smooth and it’s got to be symmetrical and very Wes Anderson-like.
But you’re doing it on set. It’s not like you guys have done 20 million read-throughs before.
Right. We basically rehearse it on set until he sees it perfectly. There’s not a lot of rehearsal, if any. You go in. Everybody knows their lines. “O.K., Bryan, I think you step up here as soon as Adrian walks past, then you step up.” So you’re just massaging a little bit and see how it works.
I’ve got two quick questions before I get kicked out of here. The first one is you are an absolute master of the stage. Earlier today Wes talked about his fear of putting on a play or doing something on the theatrical stage because he can’t edit it in an editing room.
Yeah.
Do you feel like he should take a chance? Do you feel like he would be more successful than he thinks he would be?
I had the same thought. I thought, “I would love to see him direct something for the stage.” That would be exciting. I think he would have to write it himself.
Oh, of course.
Yeah. Because he’s so unique in his voice and the language and the visual language that he creates, I think it would be quite successful.
He does know that there are previews, right? That you could change things…[Laughs]
But that’s a good call. Because I think he’s just like … I just like anybody who hasn’t done anything, you’re intimidated by the unknown.
True.
You’re afraid of the unknown. And until you have the courage to just jump in the deep end of something, success or failure, it’s better to fail at something than not to try something. So give it a shot.
Last question for you. Correct me if I’m wrong, but is this your first Cannes?
First Cannes.
Having seen everything, having heard everything over the years, what was your takeaway from the world premiere last night at the Palais?
Oh, it’s pretty, it’s stimulating. My proudest professional achievement is that at 25 years old, I started working exclusively as an actor. And I’ve never had to do anything else. And part of that was like, I just want to be a good working actor, didn’t allow any room for other people’s opinions on my status. So if you were to say, “You’re a master of Broadway, or you’re-
You’re a two-time Tony winner!
I know. [Laughs.] What I’m saying is that I would in the past, “Oh no, no, I’m going to…it’s OK…” I used to spend a lot of energy doing, “Ah, yeah, no, I don’t … You know that doesn’t matter….”
Sure.
And then finally I got out of my own way and just let it go. And I don’t hang on to it. It’s like, “Oh, that’s very kind. Thank you.” And it goes, it dissipates. And by letting that go, it also made room for celebration. That I can go to last night, be with my wife, take pictures, be dressed up, see a movie, have people cheering and calling my name, and have my photograph taken. “Oh, look at this. Look at it. Wow. Hello, hello.” And it dissipates. To me, I don’t hang onto it. I experience it and just let it go. After that night, last night, I don’t think about it. If someone asks, “How was it?” I’ll go, “Wow. It’s pretty wild.” And I can recall it, but it’s not like something I go, “Man, I got to have that again.” It doesn’t feed me. It doesn’t motivate me at all to be up there to do that, to do a movie. In order to do that. That’s not the motivation for me. For me, it’s the satisfaction of that creative storytelling. That’s where my juice comes from. That’s what I get so excited about. Now, yes, I would love that other people to feel the same.
Absolutely.
And they either do or they don’t. I can’t control that.
“Asteroid City” opens in limited release on June 16. It expands into wider release on June 23.
Follow along with all our coverage from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival