Bryan Cranston’s body of work is massive. He’s only recently won a number of awards for his incredible work on Breaking Bad, but it’s recognition that’s more than 30 years in the making. While his talent as an actor is vast and undeniable, one can’t help but also appreciate that he’s one of those actors who simply has a fascinating face, and it’s this genetic tool that has made him one of the most interesting men to watch on a screen these days. The marks of age give his expression an enigmatic quality, one that can shift from mild-mannered to deeply sinister and twisted in a moment’s notice.
It’s one of the things that’s made Walter White such an iconic figure, his face lined by his illness, or his moral compromises, however you want to look at it. Cranston seems like the type of actor who (and I may be way off on this) has always been best suited for the age he’s at right now. He possesses just the right energy to make them surprising, so we end up underestimating how far they’ll go. And for me, it always comes back to the face. The way his face looks right now, which is best displayed by those promotional portraits that all the Breaking Bad characters did before this final season, just comes off as authoritative and earnest. And yet he still has the versatility to pull off ratty characters like he does in Drive. What’s clear is that he’s working with more confidence now than ever before, and it’s serving him extremely well.
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