Bryan Cranston in conversation with Jay Roach

This talk took place October 13, 2016, at Barnum Hall in Santa Monica, CA as part of the Live Talks Los Angeles series.

Bryan Cranston won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Walter White in AMC’s Breaking Bad. In 2014 he won a Tony Award for his role as Lyndon B. Johnson in the bio-play All the Way. In film, Cranston has won two Screen Actors Guild Awards and received an Academy Award nomination for his leading role in Trumbo. Among his numerous television and film appearances, he was nominated for a Golden Globe and three Emmys for his portrayal of Hal in FOX’s Malcolm in the Middle.

Jay Roach is the director of All The Way, based on the Tony-Award winning play by Robert Schenkkan. Bryan Cranston reprises his role as President Lyndon B. Johnson alongside Melissa Leo, Anthony Mackie and Frank Langella. 

Roach was awarded a total of four Emmy’s for his directing on the made for television movies Recount in 2008 and Game Change in 2012. As a director, his most recent film, Trumbo, stars Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo, one of Hollywood’s blacklisted screenwriters in the 1940s. The film, which also stars Elle Fanning, Helen Mirren and Diane Lane, was released by Bleecker Street on November 6, 2015.  In addition, Roach is known for directing movies such as Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers, the Austin Powers trilogy and The Campaign.

Along with directing, Roach has also spent time as a producer on a number of moves including 50 First Dates, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Borat, Little Fockers and Sisters.

In his riveting memoir, A Life in Parts, Bryan Cranston traces his zigzag journey from his chaotic childhood to mega stardom by vividly revisiting the many parts he’s played, on camera, including: astronaut, dentist, detective, candy bar spokesperson, and off–paperboy, farmhand, security guard, dating consultant, murder suspect, dock loader, son, brother, lover, husband, father.

 

Cranston chronicles his unlikely rise from a soap opera regular, trying to learn the ropes and the politics of show business on the fly, to a recurring spot as Tim Whatley on Seinfeld, finding himself an indelible part of popular culture. He recalls his run as the well-meaning goofball, Hal, on Malcolm in the Middle, gives a bracing account of his challenging run on Broadway as President Lyndon Johnson. 

 

He also dives deep into the grittiest, most fascinating details of his greatest role, explaining how he searched inward for the personal darkness that would help him create one of the most captivating performances ever captured on screen: Walter White, chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin.