According to ScreenRant, Betsy Brandt (Magic Mike, Masters of Sex, Life in Pieces), who plays Marie Schrader in the Emmy Award winning show Breaking Bad, reveals a memory of seeing lead role Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle, Your Honor, Why Him?) cry after an incredibly emotional shot and one of the most influential scenes in the franchise for Walter White.
Breaking Bad has had many controversial scenes, episodes, seasons, and spin-offs throughout the franchise but one in particular seemed to emotionally stick with Cranston the most. In Season 2, Episode 12 entitled “Phoenix”, Walter White breaks into Jesse Pinkman’s, played by Aaron Paul (BoJack Horseman, El Camino, Need For Speed), house to find him and his girlfriend Jane Margolis, played by Krysten Ritter (Gilmore Girls, Love & Death, Jessica Jones), sprawled across a stained mattress with needles sticking out of there forearms and incriminating heroin on the nightstand. Suddenly, Jane starts to spasm and vomit while sleeping causing her to start to choke. Walt watches Jane perish instead of saving Jane by simply turning her body as Jesse sleeps unaware of the situation or his partner’s deadly betrayal.
During an recent interview on The Rich Eisen Show, Brandt, while promoting her newest series on Saint X, recollected seeing Cranston overwhelmed after the very dramatic scene of Jane’s early demise causing the professional thespian to break down just for a small spurt of time in order to gather himself, and shoot the next scene.
Eisen questioned, “He said the toughest scene he had to do was the one involving Krysten Ritter, you know, when her character died and Walt basically watched her.” Brandt responded, saying, “I saw him right after that. That was a tough scene. I mean, it’s funny, we would do a class picture every year. Okay, everybody would come and do a class picture and he was crying, like, because you hold it together. He wasn’t in the corner alone. Someone was hugging him. It was like—it was tough.”
Even though Ritter’s appearance as Jane on Breaking Bad was short-lived, she made a tremendous impact on the characters and tone of the series. Jane’s death especially affected Jesse causing him to rethink his life choices and check into a rehab clinic. Jane also affected Walt’s character making him more of a cut throat business man instead of a cancer-ridden high school teacher gradually acting more and more like a kingpin each passing day.
Cranston’s highly acclaimed performance as Hisenberg has given him several awards and career opportunities, due to his nuanced acting in Breaking Bad showcasing the steady decline of an average Joe’s bad choices. White is a complex individual that makes many tough decisions; like letting Jane choke on her own vomit, causing audiences to become more and more ingrained by the macabre storyline.