On Saturday, festival-goers at Las Vegas’s larger-than-life electronic music extravaganza, Electric Daisy Carnival, were electrified beyond their expectations when television megastar, Bryan Cranston of “Breaking Bad” fame stormed the stage. Cranston was called onstage by performers Above & Beyond to ceremoniously “press the button,” drop the bass, and send concert attendees into a frenzy upon hearing him bellow his trademark Walter White line: “Say my name.”
Cranston, 59, seems perhaps like an incongruous choice for a guest star at EDC, renowned for its heavy-hitting, eardrum-smashing, strobe-light, mega rave atmosphere. But the actor, who got his start as goofy patriarch, Hal, in the series “Malcolm in the Middle,” and recently skyrocketed to household-name status as high school teacher turned meth chemist, Walter White, in AMC’s acclaimed “Breaking Bad,” received nothing but an ear-splitting wave of cheers as he stepped up to the stage alongside EDC headliners, Above & Beyond, to help deejay as the bass dropped on one of their hit mixes.
The appearance was a success in publicity for Cranston, whose claim to fame, “Breaking Bad,” has already proven a smash hit with the kind of millennials who tend to flock to EDC. Cranston’s Electric Daisy Carnival appearance on Saturday thrust him back into the limelight – er, strobe lights – in an effort to promote his post-Walter White projects, including his recent work on another upcoming crime drama, Sneaky Pete. This time, he’s not the star, but the visionary. Sneaky Pete was written and produced by Cranston himself alongside David Shore, and is currently in production talks with Amazon.
While Bryan Cranston may not be ready to singlehandedly tackle the electronic dance music scene (yet – he’s still young, and it’s never too late to be an EDM artist…probably), his guest appearance at EDC proves that he’s not even close to the finish line in the world of entertainment, and his success and massive popularity as Bryan Cranston will live on long past Walter White.
From doting dad, to drug-dealing mad scientist, to EDC dynamo, Bryan Cranston plays his many roles with finesse and a spark of eccentricity – if not versatile, what is he?