Breaking Bad: Bryan Cranston's Inner Killer Helped Him Create Walter White

My wife and I recently finished watching all five seasons of Breaking Bad on Netflix.

We thought this clever and unpredictable TV series was one of the best we've ever seen. Bryan Cranston was quite brilliant in the role of a high school chemistry teacher who turned into a criminal meth kingpin.

From Mr. Chips to Scarface, is how Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan described the series.

So I was interested in reading Larry Getlen's piece in the New York Post on Bryan Cranston and his new book, A Life in Parts.

The woman screamed for her life, but Bryan Cranston says he couldn’t hear her as he repeatedly slammed her head into the brick wall, in retaliation for stalking him around the country and threatening him with death.

“I was surprisingly calm,” he reveals in his candid new memoir, “A Life In Parts” (Scribner, out Tues.). “Clumps of hair and bits of skin and brain matter stuck to the brick. Blood formed on the wall and then began dribbling to the floor. The screaming had stopped, of course.”

Before you remove “Breaking Bad” from your Netflix queue in disgust, know that this scene didn’t actually happen. Cranston imagined committing the murder while his “stalker” ex-girlfriend, who had allegedly threatened his life, banged on his front door in 1983. Cranston, then in his mid-20s, curled against the wall, paralyzed with fear, and slipped into a fantasy so lifelike he thought it was real — a feeling he later called upon to find the darkness in his most iconic character, Walter White.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2016/10/09/how-bryan-cranston-learned-he-was-capable-of-anything/

George Lazenby Served Only Once On Her Majesty's Secret Service: How He Bluffed His Way Into Being James Bond, Then Bumbled It

Although most people don't associate James Bond with Christmas, I include 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service with my short list of films I try to watch during the Christmas season.

The film takes place during Christmas in Switzerland, where there is abundant snow and holiday cheer (along with the girls, crime, espionage and terrorism).

The great Sean Connery had retired as Bond and George Lazenby, a former Australian model, took up the role. He looked like Ian Fleming's iconic character and he was very good in the fight scenes. Considering that he had never acted before, I thought he was fairly good as Bond. He was supported in the film by Diana Rigg as his doomed lover and by Telly Salvalas as Bond's great enemy, Blofeld.

But the main reason I love the film, as do many other Ian Fleming/James Bond aficionados, is the director, Peter Hunt, was faithful to Ian Fleming's novel. I've always thought that the best Bond films were the ones who were the most faithful to Ian Fleming.

It is a shame that George Lazenby did not do a few more Bond films, as I believe he would have grown as an actor and as James Bond.

Larry Getlen at the New York Post offers a piece on why Lazenby got the coveted role but only portrayed Bond in the one film.

George Lazenby certainly looked the part. But could the 28 year old, who had no acting experience and was more himbo than sophisticate, really play James Bond?

After considering candidates such as Oliver Reed and “Batman” actor Adam West, as well as future Bonds Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton, they became fixated on Lazenby, a successful Australian male model who had bluffed his way into the room.

... Blessed with dashing good looks, Lazenby was the sort who excelled at everything he did. “Champion darts player, best shot in the army,” he said. “I didn’t show fear.”

Before Bond came calling, Lazenby was already living every man’s dream as a top model in London, later saying he had “more money and girls” before Bond than after.

... But Lazenby folded before the film’s director, Peter Hunt, when, driven by fear, he ignored his fake bio and blurted out the truth.

“I don’t know what came over me,” said Lazenby. “I said, ‘Peter, I’ve never acted a day in my life. I’ve modeled but never spoken in front of a camera.’ And he’s looking at me, ‘What? And you say you can’t act? You’ve fooled two of the most ruthless men I’ve ever met in my life. Stick to your story, and I’ll make you the next James Bond.’ ”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link: 

http://nypost.com/2015/12/13/george-lazenby-bluffed-his-way-into-being-james-bond-then-bumbled-it/