A Life in Parts

Zusatztext Fascinating...The candor and self-introspection of this book are reminiscent of another unflinchingly honest memoir! the late Katharine Graham's magnificent 'Personal History.'"-- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Zusammenfassung A poignant! intimate! funny! inspiring memoirboth a coming-of-age story and a meditation on creativity! devotion! and craftfrom Bryan Cranston! beloved and acclaimed star of one of history's most successful TV shows! Breaking Bad. Bryan Cranston landed his first role at seven! when his father cast him in a United Way commercial. Acting was clearly the boy's destiny! until one day his father disappeared. Destiny suddenly took a backseat to survival. Now! in his riveting memoir! Cranston maps his zigzag journey from abandoned son to beloved star by recalling the many odd parts he's played in real lifepaperboy! farmhand! security guard! dating consultant! murder suspect! dock loader! lover! husband! father. Cranston also chronicles his evolution on camera! from soap opera player trying to master the rules of show business to legendary character actor turning in classic performances as Seinfeld dentist Tim Whatley! a sadist with newer magazines! and Malcolm in the Middle dad Hal Wilkerson! a lovable bumbler in tighty-whities. He also gives an inspiring account of how he prepared! physically and mentally! for the challenging role of President Lyndon Johnson! a tour de force that won him a Tony to go along with his four Emmys. Of course! Cranston dives deep into the grittiest details of his greatest role! explaining how he searched inward for the personal darkness that would help him create one of the most memorable performances ever captured on screen: Walter White! chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin. Discussing his life as few men do! describing his art as few actors can! Cranston has much to say about creativity! devotion! and craft! as well as innate talent and its challenges and benefits and proper maintenance. But ultimately A Life in Parts is a story about the joy! the necessity! and the transformative power of simple hard work. Informationen zum Autor 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 . He holds the honor of being the first actor in a cable series! and the second lead actor in the history of the Emmy Awards! to receive three consecutive wins. In 2014 he won a Tony Award for his role as Lyndon Johnson in the bio-play All the Way . In film! Cranston 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 . He is the author of A Life in Parts . ...

Autorentext

Bryan Cranston

Klappentext

A poignant, intimate, funny, inspiring memoir—both a coming-of-age story and a meditation on creativity, devotion, and craft—from Bryan Cranston, beloved and acclaimed star of one of history’s most successful TV shows, Breaking Bad.

Bryan Cranston landed his first role at seven, when his father cast him in a United Way commercial. Acting was clearly the boy’s destiny, until one day his father disappeared. Destiny suddenly took a backseat to survival.

Now, in his riveting memoir, Cranston maps his zigzag journey from abandoned son to beloved star by recalling the many odd parts he’s played in real life—paperboy, farmhand, security guard, dating consultant, murder suspect, dock loader, lover, husband, father. Cranston also chronicles his evolution on camera, from soap opera player trying to master the rules of show business to legendary character actor turning in classic performances as Seinfeld dentist Tim Whatley, “a sadist with newer magazines,” and Malcolm in the Middle dad Hal Wilkerson, a lovable bumbler in tighty-whities. He also gives an inspiring account of how he prepared, physically and mentally, for the challenging role of President Lyndon Johnson, a tour de force that won him a Tony to go along with his four Emmys.

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

Discussing his life as few men do, describing his art as few actors can, Cranston has much to say about creativity, devotion, and craft, as well as innate talent and its challenges and benefits and proper maintenance. But ultimately A Life in Parts is a story about the joy, the necessity, and the transformative power of simple hard work.

Leseprobe
A Life in Parts

Walter White

She stopped coughing. Maybe she’d fallen back asleep. Then suddenly vomit flooded her mouth. She grasped at the sheets. She was choking. I instinctively reached to turn her over.

But I stopped myself.

Why should I save her? This little junkie, Jane, was threatening to blackmail me, expose my enterprise to the police, destroy everything I had worked for, and wipe out the financial life preserver I was trying to leave my family—the only legacy I could leave them.

She gurgled, searching for a gasp of air. Her eyes rolled back in her head. I felt a stab of guilt. Goddamn it, she’s just a girl. Do something.

But if I stepped in now, wasn’t I just delaying the inevitable? Don’t they all at some point end up dead? And poor dumb comatose Jesse, my partner, lying beside her. She’s the one who got him on this shit in the first place. She’d kill them both, kill us all, if I stepped in now and played God.

I told myself: just stay out of it. When he wakes he’ll discover this tragedy—this accident—on his own. Yes, it’s sad. All death is sad. But he’ll get over it in time. He’ll get past this like every other bad thing that’s happened to us. That’s what humans do. We heal. We move on. A few months from now he’ll barely remember her. He’ll find another girlfriend, and he’ll be fine. Fuck it. We all have to move on.

I’ll just pretend I wasn’t here.

But I am here. And she’s a human being.

Oh God. What have I become?

And then, somehow, as she was fading, she wasn’t herself anymore. I wasn’t looking at Jane, or Jesse’s girlfriend, or the actor Krysten Ritter. I was looking at Taylor, my daughter, my real daughter. I wasn’t Walter White anymore. I was Bryan Cranston. And I was seeing my daughter die.

From the moment she was born in 1993—a bit premature, shy of seven pounds, impossibly beautiful—I felt an instant, radical, unconditional love that redefined love. I had never allowed myself to imagine losing her. But now, I was seeing it. Clearly. Vividly. She was slipping from me. She was dying.

That was not the plan. When I do the homework for such a delicate scene, I don’t make a plan. My goal when I prepare isn’t to plot out each action and reaction, but to think: What are the possible emotional levels my character could experience? I break the scene down into moments or beats. By doing that work ahead of time, I leave a number of possibilities available to me. I stay open to the moment, susceptible to whatever comes.

The homework doesn’t guarantee anything; with luck, it gives you a shot at something real.

It was real fear that gripped me—my worst fear. A fear I hadn’t fully expected or come to terms with. And my reaction is there, forever, at the end of that scene. I gasp, and my hand moves to my mouth in horror.

When the director, Colin Bucksey, said, “Cut,” I was weeping. Deep racking sobs. I explained to the peopl…