Liz Tells Frank About The Time She Interviewed Bryan Cranston

Sep 4

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Dear Frank,

To the delight of cliche-addicted writing professors everywhere, today’s installment is a is more of a “show” than a “tell.”

In 2010, Frank, I was working full-time as an online video journalist, which meant getting to interview a very odd assortment of folks: Celebrities and CEOs and anyone else deigning to explore the possibilities of new media. It was good fun! I still dabble. And one of those random opportunities ended up being one of the great interview experiences of my life — completely by accident.

Here’s what happened: I was invited to visit the set of The Handlers, a web series initially released on a website that technically doesn’t exist anymore (rest in peace, Atom.com) but is now hosted on Comedy Central (I mention just for the sake of the friend I have who still works over there).

The first 10 minutes of this interview were spent discussing Handlers, as well as a little bit of digging about potential Breaking Bad web content leading up to Season 4. But, because life moves fast and assuming that you’re going to get more than 10 minutes with an Emmy-winning actor is stupid, I only had 10 minutes of questions prepared.

We talked for 20.

Below is the edited recap of those 20 minutes, with an emphasis on what happened after I ran out of “professional” things to discuss with him. At which point, it was revealed: CRANSTON IS THE BESET.

The most important thing I learned: Bryan Cranston is a CLASS ACT and one of the most genuine human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of talking with. More people should be like Bryan Cranston. I sure would like to be.

Love,
Liz

About Liz Shannon Miller

Liz Shannon Miller is a Los Angeles-based writer and editor, and has been talking about television on the Internet since the very beginnings of the Internet. She is currently Senior TV Editor at Collider, and her work has also been published by the New York Times, Vulture, Variety, the AV Club, the Hollywood Reporter, IGN, The Verge, and Thought Catalog. She is also a produced playwright, a host of podcasts, and a repository of "X-Files" trivia.

Posted on September 4, 2012, in No Spoilers, TV and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.

  1. Lieke | September 5, 2012 at 3:23 am

    He really seems like such a great guy. And a fantastic actor to boot.

    That must have been a refreshing experience. Not that he’s nice and normal, but the sort of casual way in which you discussed every day things. I imagine most interviews with actors are rather more hurried and impersonal.

    Reply
    • Liz Shannon Miller | September 5, 2012 at 3:03 pm

      Yeah, they tend to feel a little fake — like, the actor is playing the role of an actor being interviewed; sometimes, they’re even that scripted. My general goal with any interview situation is to ask at least one question they’ve never been asked before. This was by far the pinnacle.

      Reply

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