I miss Breaking Bad. A lot. So much so that when there’s a marathon or rerun on TV, I can’t watch it because I’m not ready yet. I want more, but, like FNL, I accept that they gave us the best and longest run they could without compromising the characters or the story.
And Aaron Paul is going to be a movie star!
This new Details story on Aaron is quite flattering (sometimes Details can sneak in a bit of snark, like one time they interviewed David Beckham and didn’t tell him he had food in his teeth). He seems like a pretty easy interview and definitely not the type to clam up at a question or be dismissive. He doesn’t get huffy and spout about his craft or wanting to grow as an artist – he’s completely down with talking Breaking Bad all day, every day. It would be silly and futile if he tried to fight it but that doesn’t stop so many of them from trying and coming off as obnoxious and humourless assholes.
He's happy, he’s chatty and he’s still offering up little revelations about the show. I hadn’t heard this one: Aaron, who never gave his opinion on the writing, wrote a letter to Vince Gilligan before the last episodes were filmed, suggesting ways Jesse could kill himself. Vince didn’t listen, but do you think Aaron was offended that his creative input wasn’t valued? No, because he knew the writers knew better than him. (He has also said in a past interview that every single “B-tch!” was scripted and not something he could take credit for.)
That’s not to say Aaron didn’t have a huge part in saving Jesse’s life over the course of the show. Vince Gilligan has said several times Jesse was supposed to die in the first season, but Aaron’s version of Jesse, his chemistry with Bryan Cranston, and the intangibles that make a character/actor inseparable from one another, saved his life. And his job.
Now that he’s moving into phase two, he’s a bit more pragmatic than I thought he’d be. He calls the upcoming Need for Speed movie (based on a video game) a business move, which doesn’t mean it will be bad. And there’s nothing wrong with being calculated – indeed, we see so many of them falter after a big role because they are opportunistic rather than strategic. And he certainly doesn’t show up with an attitude: director Scott Waughn and his costar Dakota Johnson, as well as his former and upcoming costar Amanda Seyfried, heap praise on him. He’s not difficult, he’s not greedy, he’s not trying to publish a book of short stories or create an art installation out of his selfies. He’s slowed down significantly on social media. In many ways, Aaron is not the modern movie star he first appears to be.
And he’s focused. Right now, he’s filming Exodus, a Ridley Scott film co-staring Christian Bale (Aaron spoke glowingly about both of them, of course) and promoting indie flick Hellion.
He’s mixing low-budget and mainstream, he married a civilian, he’s incredibly likable and humble, he’s funny and self-effacing, he is not fist pumping at a club in Vegas. There was a time when I said that Aaron and his wife could the next Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, but unless he makes some piss-poor choices in the next few years, Aaron is much more on par with Matt Damon. And this is a great thing.
Click here for more from Aaron Paul in Details.
