Bryan Cranston Says The Fate Of His Character In 'Godzilla' "Was A Mistake"

**SPOILERS** Last summer’s "Godzilla" certainly had a lot to admire, but it also made some missteps that prevented it from being the home run it could’ve been. As we discussed in our feature, Breaking Down The Monster: The Best & Worst Of ‘Godzilla,’ one of things that didn’t play as it should’ve was the death of Bryan Cranston‘s character. His was one of the most complex roles in the film, but his exit at the end of the first act left an emotional hole that wasn’t filled in the remaining part of the movie. Chatting with The Nerdist podcast, Cranston agrees.

“That character dying at that time was a mistake. I knew it when I read it. When I read it I said, ‘Oh, page 50 this character who was the emotional core at the center, that was guiding the audience in the story up to that point – he dies?’ What a waste," the actor said. "They kind of dealt with it poorly, that’s my only criticism of it because I think it was a fun movie, it was a very successful movie. I told them that even if I wasn’t doing this role, that character shouldn’t die at that point. It’s just bad narrative, but they were too far down the road. I was the last guy hired because I was still shooting ‘Breaking Bad‘ and they kept pushing because ‘Breaking Bad’ kept pushing. Finally, I was able to get in and do it.”

Indeed, sometimes blockbusters just have to push forward because they are on the clock and don’t have time to rewrite things. However, Cranston does have an idea of how the film’s writers could’ve better handled his character. “That character should have been with his son and they would’ve started to bond a little bit more and they went on this journey together to go back home and be reintroduced to his grandson. Just when they’re bonding and it looks like they could have a relationship, the father sacrifices himself to save his son. And that’s the way he should have died,” he said.

Basically, the actor wanted a bit more time to build an emotional foundation before tearing it away, which isn’t a bad idea. We suggested that exploring his coming to terms with keeping Godzilla alive to fight the M.U.T.O.’s, even though he’s long blamed the monster for the death of his wife, would’ve also been a great angle to take as well.

But hey, the movie made Quentin Tarantino cry, so Gareth Edwards‘ approach clearly worked for some people. Check out the full podcast below. [via Collider]