Backstage With… Bryan Cranston on his latest series and forgiveness: ‘We’ve lost empathy’
Bryan Cranston has told Sky News’ Backstage podcast that he feels America has “lost empathy”.
The Breaking Bad star was speaking ahead of the release of the second series of his show, Your Honor, in which he plays Michael Desiato, a judge whose moral convictions are tested when his son kills another teenager in a hit-and-run.
Originally planned as a limited series, Cranston says he decided to sign on for a second and final season as the idea of exploring potential redemption and forgiveness for his character was too tempting to turn down, given the current climate in his home country.
Pic: Paramount
“I felt that especially America – I can’t speak for any other culture or society – we’ve lost a level of empathy within our country,” he said. “We’ve become a coarser, harder, more judgemental, more divisive country; less congenial, less forgiving.
“I think that was in the back of my brain, thinking, wouldn’t it be interesting to have an entire second season that encompasses forgiveness, sadness, despair, suicidal thoughts, redemption; not only asking for forgiveness, but granting forgiveness.
“Where does all that play in a modern society? Because I believe that it is a sign of human strength, not weakness – to ask for forgiveness, to admit fault and take responsibility and accountability for your mistakes and your sins.
“And if you are granted forgiveness, that is also an act of high character, and I know there have been country leaders who might have thought elsewise, but I believe it is something that is a very profound experience.”
It’s easy to draw comparisons between Cranston’s character in Your Honor and the one he’s best known for – Breaking Bad’s Walter White.
Both start their shows as regular people with lives bound by the same morals that most of us live by; both see those morals decline until their lives are turned on their heads.
Cranston as Walter White and Aaron Paul as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad. Pic. Sony
Cranston says this kind of character arc is something he looks for in a role.
“Any well-drawn character has to learn from that experience. So whether the character starts on a high and ends at a low, or starts on a low and ends on a high – or starts on a low, hits the high, goes back to a low or whatever the diagram becomes for that character’s journey – as long as they have movement, it is important.
“Stagnation is the enemy, apathy is the enemy, I’m not interested in characters that are not invested in something – a goal, have something that they’re hoping to achieve or become, or overcome perhaps; fears and the like. So it is movement that I look for when I take on characters.”
Your Honor explores the idea that any of us is capable of anything, when tested with the right circumstances. Cranston says the reality is that all of us blur the lines when it comes to what we think is right.
“Parents lie to their kids because you have to sometimes just to keep them in line, or don’t want to tell them the truth about this situation right now,” he said.
“That line moves and it’s always interesting, and I think what audiences look for in characterisation is that they resonate with what they’re seeing, what they’re witnessing.”
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For Cranston, the work comes in making a character relatable.
“That’s my goal… if I feel that something is socially important, or that I personally went through something, or feel it’s an honest depiction of someone going through something, that’s when I think that audiences will invest in those characters; not just watch passively, but actually be actively involved in the outcome of a character’s life, and that’s when you know you’ve got them.
“That’s really an actor’s responsibility, is to take an audience by the hand and promise them a journey and you take them on a ride and it’s emotional and physical and it can wear them out and they’ll laugh and they’ll cry.
“And then you deposit them back in their seat and say: ‘Thank you for joining us, we hope that you feel it was a worthwhile journey’. And that’s it.”
Your Honor series 2 is streaming on Paramount+ – hear our review in the latest episode of Backstage, the film and TV podcast from Sky News
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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