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.
shareHe is not that great of an actor. He fit Walter White perfectly though. I think also that he did so much TV and now is so old is one reason he is not an A-lister. The other thing is that he is not that great of an actor. I was watching his LBJ movie the other day and I was kind of annoyed that he was all makeup and prosthetics, and not really much like LBJ at all. It's like he did not study the man at all.
shareI think it's about a chain of roles. Tom Hanks is your example, but compare their filmographies. Cranston was on Malcolm in the Middle - good success - and Breaking Bad - breakaway success. Hanks had Bosom Buddies, Splash, a few minor films, then Big. He keeps going with stuff like A League of Their Own, branches into drama with Philadelphia. Forrest Gump gets him Oscar, and there you have it.
Films made him bigger, too. If he had stuck with television, we'd probably think of him as a pretty funny guy who shows up all the time on TV shows and in sitcom cameos. "Oh, yeah! That guy!" but he wouldn't be a household name. Fame is achieved and maintained by a constant stream of zeitgeist-friendly films. It's fickle, fleeting, and not fate so much as luck. Hanks happened to be in the right vehicles for stardom.
Now, the question of talent is tricky. It doesn't line up exactly with fame. Plenty of non-talented bozos hit the big-time. The most talented actors aren't always household names, giant box office draws, and so-on. These are different things.
For my own two cents, Hanks is certainly as talented as Cranston, and I think he's a fantastic actor.
You’re bang on about it being due to luck and the right choice of roles. In an alternate universe Cranston probably could have been as big (pun intended) as Tom Hanks, but he wasn’t dealt the same cards. For one, Cranston was dissuaded about going into show business by his parents so he got started much later. He also didn’t find real success until Malcolm in the Middle, by which time he was already in his early 40s. Hanks on the other hand caught success at the age of 28 with the surprise hit Splash. It’s safe to say that without Ron Howard that Hanks would have struggled. Hanks only really became a great and nuanced actor by the early 90s thanks to the opportunity afforded to him by his commercial success in the 80s. Cranston never quite got that early break. Cranston’s greatest roles were on television where he fit the part of the neurotic and uptight middle-class family man; in essence his roles of Hal from MitM and Walt from BB are the same. Hanks had already mastered these kinds of suburban paranoia roles (Bonfire of Vanities) in his 80s comedies and was able to branch out from there into greater, Oscar-winning things. Hanks became the next Jimmy Stewart and practically a cultural icon — Cranston is more like Larry Hagman.
shareAll of this, I agree with.
Cranston's real luck was doing that one, little X-Files episode which showcased his range and abilities to Vince Gilligan. It's a brilliant episode of X-Files, too...
We all though???? Lmao. Walter White was his big role. It was so well done it was his peak. Hes way to old now to become an A list movie actor. TV is where the rest of his career will remain...
shareI enjoy watching his performances when the character and story line are compelling, but other than that I don't think he's THAT good of an actor who can just blend into character and create a persona that extends beyond what's required in the script. I would also argue that Bryan comes off as very melodramatic in his performances and it's the kind of maudlin rumbustiousness that may seem impressive to the average viewer but to movie producers and directors they see right thru it and figure he works best in a TV series.
There's a reason he's found a home narrating truck commercials.