MovieChat Forums > Bryan Cranston Discussion > Why isn’t he a bigger star?

Why isn’t he a bigger star?


When Breaking Bad ended we all thought he would become a big A-list movie star but has his career ever since been kind of underwhelming? I think he’s a great one of a talent actor and should be getting the type of roles and movies that Tom Hanks gets but for some reason he doesn’t. He’s a much better actor than Tom Hanks yet everyone seems to love him and acts like he’s such a God level actor. Something just isn’t adding up.

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Not a fan of this guy !

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Same deal with James Gandolfini after the Sopranos. Bad choices, and crap agent is my guess.

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Gandolfini was a fat slob who had a creepy voice and could only act as a gangster. Not to mention he was an ugly looking lump of lard. He stuffed himself with foie gras and squeezed his heart into failure mode.

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I’m sure your childish and bitter response has absolutely nothing to do with James Gandolfini having different political beliefs than you. 🙄

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I have no idea what Gandolfini's political views are ... so no, it has nothing to do with anything.

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I’ve previously read your MovieChat comments that you stop watching an actors films once you find out their politics don’t align with yours, so assumed your outburst was due to that.

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Stalking me online huh? Do you keep track of everyone? Well, at least in this case you cannot assume that.

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No, but I take notice of nutjob comments like yours.

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Easy to spell nutjob, any nutjob can do it. But here assuming you know what someone else's opinion is and then calling them names based on that ... and then calling someone else a nutjob? That is the pot calling the kettle black.

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I called you a nutjob for your crazy stalking comment, but tbh you've made enough nutty replies over the years for me to mark you as one long before that.

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I think he just took some time off. By time he decided it was enough, interest had died off.

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Instead of launching to bigger and better things in his career, Breaking Bad, defined it instead.

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Has he ever played someone decent?

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With around 160 credits, most likely he has.

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I just always assumed him as the meth addict on that TV show.

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He could still be on meth and play a good person.

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LOL. Sorry. Meth is awful. Go color your teeth, gain some weight and stop shoplifting while on welfare.

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I cannot remember the name of this movie, but he plays a guy who splits with his wife or something and decides to help and kind of adopt this street girl. It was pretty good, and he plays a good guy.

I think it was Welcome to the Rileys

Ever since the death of their teenage daughter Emily, Doug (James Gandolfini) and Lois (Melissa Leo) Riley have been drifting apart. Because of her grief, Lois has become a cold and distant agoraphobic. Doug begins an affair with Vivian, a younger local waitress.
One morning, Doug is informed that Vivian has died, and he travels to New Orleans on a business trip to clear his head. Instead, however, he ends up in a strip club where he meets 16-year-old stripper, Mallory (Kristen Stewart). He politely turns down her offer for a private dance, and - in order to avoid some work colleagues who entered the club - instead accompanies her home and makes an unusual proposition: if Mallory will allow him to stay in her run-down house long enough to straighten himself out, he will pay her $100 a day for her trouble. She accepts, and Doug phones Lois to tell her he will not be coming home for a while. She tells him that she knew about his affair with Vivian, but before the conversation can go any further, she hangs up.
As time passes, Doug and Mallory settle into an unconventional kind of domesticity, and he becomes more of a father figure for her than anything else, including teaching her how to make a bed properly and taking care of her money. Meanwhile, back home, Lois realizes that she will have to act fast in order to save her marriage, even if that means venturing outside for the first time in nearly a decade. After a couple of attempts, she gets in her car and heads south.
One night, Doug gets a call from Mallory, who is in trouble after being robbed by a client. He goes to pick her up and makes her realise that she needs to make some changes before things get worse. The following morning, Lois arrives in town and calls Doug to let him know; he is stunned. He immediately goes to meet her and they embrace one another for the first time in years. On the drive back, he tells her about Mallory (whose real name is Alison) and what she does for a living. Lois instantly disapproves and is shocked to learn how young and foul-mouthed Mallory is. However, like Doug, Lois quickly warms to her due to her striking similarities to Emily.
Before long, Lois has also moved into Mallory's home, and the three start to form an unconventional family. Lois helps her out with female problems and takes her shopping to buy suitable underwear, making her feel like a mother again, which she enjoys dearly. But later on when Lois attempts to steer Mallory from the path of self-destruction, the young girl flees. Mallory is then later arrested for an altercation with a client, and Doug and Lois rush to be by her side, but shortly after they bail her out, she runs away again. In that moment, Doug and Lois realize they cannot use Mallory as a substitute for their daughter and return home to Indianapolis.
A few days later, Doug receives a phone call from Mallory in Houston. She looks cleaned up and healthier, and announces her plans about moving to Las Vegas, just before boarding the bus. Doug tells her that he and Lois will always be there for her.

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I think BB is not nearly as famous as it should be.
Most people don't know it at all, and some will find it too dark.
It's a cult series.
Tom Hanks has never been dark or cult, he's always been safe and mainstream. There are LOTS of better actors than him, including Cranston, but that has very little importance in Hollywood.

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Breaking Bad is not a cult series. It was the most successful show on TV at the time, and won 16 primetime Emmy awards. Not even close to a cult show.

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Yes, because you know, 7 billion people know what the fuck is a primetime emmy.
BB wasn't even on a big network. Outside the US is a cult series that the vast majority of people have never heard of and a tiny minority loves.
But both groups would know of Forrest Gump or Saving Private Ryan.
There's a whole planet outside your country, get a clue.

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I'm not saying that's a deciding factor in a show being widely known, but the Emmys are not something that only we simple americans know about either. It also won 2 Peabody awards. BAFTA TV awards. It's not a cult show, it's not your little secret. Also, as a side note, you don't have to be such a prick. You might want to work on that.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/09/29/why-millions-of-chinese-are-watching-breaking-bad/

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Not sure it is really valid to compare Hanks with Cranston.
Hanks started as a kid almost.
He was in the hilarious, at the time anyway, Bosom Buddies, and then did the movie Big, and was in any number of light comedic movies. Cranston did not have that kind of background and experience.

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Yes, kinda my point too.
One has always been a darling of the system, the other's call to fame was a dark role in a cult series.
Their carreers and place in the industry are too different, to the effect that one has a far wider popularity than the other.

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This is a little strange to me, because I'd say he is a really big star. Main role on two very successful TV shows, and he's a definite go-to guy for supporting roles in major features. He's maybe not the first guy you think of as a leading man, but I don't think that makes him any less of a star.

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Well, I think Tom Hanks has run his course, and we won't be seeing as much as him.. I guess with Cranston, he just caught lightning in a bottle with Walter White. Bryan Cranston isn't good looking, charismatic, or particularly funny (and neither is Walter White), but A list actors usually have at least one of those characteristics.

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Not good looking, charismatic, or particularly funny? I guess that's a matter of opinion, but I find him funny and very sexy.

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