Man, that thing is a beast, marvels Aaron Paul.
I cant believe this thing still runs, seconds Vince Gilligan.
Its like a talisman, offers Bryan Cranston.
Vince Gilligan (right) with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul on ‘Breaking Bad’.Gregory Peters/AMC
There are so many things that start coming back to you just looking at it.
Sweat and toil and pain…. We spent so many hours just dealing with this machine.
It really is a home away from home, says Paul.
Frank Ockenfels/AMC
I havent been in there in such a long time.
Should we go in?
I was sitting right here, says Paul, near a well-worn seat.
Ursula Coyote/AMC
Rian Johnson was directing the final moments, but he asked Vince to call Cut!
on the very last take we ever did.
Bryan and I were just looking at each other like, Is this it?
Ursula Coyote/AMC
Are we going to do another take?
Because I wanted to keep going…
There was such apprehension coming up to knowing Its the last day!
Ursula Coyote/AMC
The last take!'
Youre just like, Ugghhh!!!
You didnt want it to end.
Ursula Coyote/AMC
The low-rated cult gem mesmerized critics, eventually exploded into a zeitgeist sensation, and claimed back-to-back drama-series Emmys.
(Cranston won four Emmys for his role, while Paul snagged three for his.)
Fans still utter those lethal lines (I am the one who knocks!
Ursula Coyote/AMC
But it was truly time to exclaim, Yeah, bitch!
whenthe cast reunitedearlier this year foran EW cover and to celebrate the 10th anniversary and relive those good olBaddays.
(The group then re-reconvened in July at a Comic-Con panel, alongside prequelBetter Call Saul.)
Jesse Grant/Getty Images
And then Aaron, when was the last time?
I was very desirous of creating a show where the main character changed.
The meth thing was the elephant in the parlor.
All of that quickly went away the moment we hit the air.GILLIGAN:Its pretty impossible to glamorize meth.
When theyre talking about the glorifying drug abuse and manufacturing, what should we say?
We all came to an idea: Well talk about what the show is really about.
Its about this mans decision-making.
But we never had to use it.
The pilot was filmed 11 years ago.
So we tucked the shirt slightly so that you’re able to see the tighty-whities….
The thing that I remember most is how sick he was [from the flu].
[All laugh] One of the [Bernalillo County] firefighters was an extra.
It was probably the first time in history that an extra kicked the director off the set.
He wanted everyone to get together and sit down.
And the moment you meet Bryan, you hate the guy.
[All laugh.]
You fall instantly in love with the man.
You are going to have the best time of your life on that show.
So it was before we even started shooting.
It was really just Bryan that created this chemistry between us.
[All laugh.]
It was Aarons ability.
It changed everything.GILLIGAN:He bought himself six years and beyond of work because he was so wonderful.
And what Bryan just said is absolutely true.
This was my six or seventh pilot.
First pilot that ever went to series.
Im like, Finally, Im on a show.
I didnt know I was going to get killed off at the end of that first season.
I mean, you know how fragile I am.
I wouldve been devastated for obvious reasons.
But they kept me around.
The one with gravitas.PAUL:It was just two of theThree Stoogeskind of thing.
Him and I together during a lot of these scenes, it was just hilarious.
I mean, we got cuts and bruises all over the place.
Because it was hard for us to watch.PAUL:I loved it.
]CRANSTON:Oh my God!
[clapping] Oh, look at you.
You are just in time!
just make the beds, clean up around here.BANKS:Oh, Christ on a crutch!
[to Gilligan] How are you, boss?
[He hugs everyone.
]PAUL:This is a nice look for you.
I love it!CRANSTON:Only Banks.BANKS:Good to see you.
[He exits.]PAUL:Wow.
And that I think was a good thing.
He didnt realize all he was doing.
He had a good ethic, just keep his head down and keep working.
And thats the thing that I appreciated most about it from the work end of it.
But hes an even better person than he is an actor.
Hes a good-hearted, good-spirited person.
Youre naturally attracted to that, to see if theres any sustainability.
Vince doesnt have any of that.
But you still have to do your job.
And thats what happened.
Breaking Badwas one of the first binge shows.
When Netflix began streaming the first few seasons, it led to massive growth in viewership.
But truth is, we knew we were doing something special.
We knew we were doing something that was different.
We also were confused that we didnt have a bigger audience at the beginning.
Because we saw how people were reacting.
We read what critics were saying.
Bryan winning best actor at the Emmys for our first season with only seven episodes under our belt.
We knew all of this was saying something, but our audience still was very small.
But they were so loud and so passionate.
People want to consume large quantities of television and that was proven whenBreaking Badlanded on Netflix.
It was if someone pulled my mask off in a way.
It wasnt as if people slowly started watching the show.
I remember the first time we were a question onJeopardy!.
That was a big moment for everybody.CRANSTON:It was Netflix that really changed the dynamic for us.
I really dont know if we could have created the maelstrom of interest without it.
Im not exactly theGQ,Esquireprototype.
I just thought it would be fun to have my friend Michelle direct one.
I knew she was a good director.
She really put her mark on the show from that day forward.PAUL:It was a two-man play.
I have such fond memories of the Winnebago and of the meth lab.CRANSTON:I remember the antenna.
With the spoil.PAUL:I mean, Pinkman was full of pretty ingenious ideas.GILLIGAN:I think so!
We might be stuck forever.
The heat was building.
Were out of fuel, the battery is dead, we finished our cook.
But we are out in the middle of the desert, and we could die out here.
And that kind of slow realization is one of the hallmarks of our show.
What would that be like to look at success on one end?
And if we die out here, everyone is going to know our story.
It was the essence of the show.
It was two men in the desert in a Winnebago, cooking meth trying to survive.
I dont get it.
Its so interesting because I watched it and Im like, God, this is fing brilliant.
Maybe it was just too quiet for them, I dont know?…
Theres a lot of different things to hold ones interest.
It usually takes us one corkboard per episode.
This one took two corkboards, and we were freaking out.
But it was very much aWaiting for Godotstructure.
That was the whole show.
[Fly] slowed it down.
Instead of turning off the audience, it made them lean in.
And then Aaron came in as Jesse and was trying to be the Greek chorus.
At that moment, he was dealing with so many things that broke open his mind like a melon.
Everything started flooding into his psyche, and into his world, that he was not prepared for.
And that was: eliminate the possibility of this contamination.
It was an expression of needing to control things.
Because things were spinning out of his control.
Which were the most fun eras of your characters to play and which were the most challenging?
[All laugh.]
And trying to teach him a little bit about chemistry or science.
And I have a perfectly good bathtub to use.
Why do I need some plastic?CRANSTON:Those are fun moments.
As the tension started to mount, as the seasons went on, obviously there was a sacrifice.
When Gus Fring [Giancarlo Esposito] first came into the picture, we were natural allies then.
And he says, No; he has plans.
Its healthy, actually.
So I have to stay in that moment.
And you think its happening.
That was my last scene of the night.
I remember getting in the van.
I was crying so much in that car.
Like [with] Andrea, its like, Oh my gosh.
The innocence of that and the damage that Walter White was causing him indirectly and directly.
I never worried about any of the characters being particularly sympathetic, just because I assumed they would be.
I figured Walt would be the one thatd be hard for people to sympathize with.
Suddenly were hearing this animus toward Skyler.
To this day, it confounds me.
Anna Gunn gave such a brilliant performance.
We never tried for sympathy or lack of sympathy; we let the chips fall where they may.
I would change that if I had a magic wand.
What conversations do you remember having with her about that?
Its like, Wait a minute.
It baffled me from an objective standpoint.
I dont think anyone couldve predicted that, but it affected her deeply.
Ive never heard that, ever.
People would literally come up and be like, I hate you!
Im like, Oh, great.
The diehard Heisenberg fans were like, You fing rat.
]GILLIGAN:I could never be an actor aside from lacking all talent for it.
Dont you dare tell me that you did this for your family!
And he goes, No.
[I did it for myself.]
Maybe it was always there and it just becameactivelike chemistry itself, going back to the very first episode.
I thought that would be interesting in the exploration of losing himself.
We talked about Jesse meeting Flynn.
We talked about everything.
The other thing we talked about was: Should Walter White ever try his own product?
Hes so proud of the product.
What would happen if he tried it?
Would he like it?
Would he get hooked on it?
Somehow it just never seemed right.
It seemed like the thing hes hooked on was the power and the chemical process.
I read stories of former meth cooks.
Why mess up a good thing?
What do you remember about that?GILLIGAN:There was no good arithmetic to it.
One of the AMC executives had come to us, and said, What do you think?
We need more episodes!GILLIGAN: Weve got too much stuff, we cant fit it all in!
Yeah, I was freaking out.
Really, it is.
He didnt want to water down an episode.GILLIGAN:Youre right.
And Ill tell you the biggest thing was that damn machine gun.
That damn machine gun almost broke us.
At the beginning of the final 16-episode run we said, How do we open this with a bang?
How do we open this with something really cool?
Oh, I know, Walt buys an M60 machine gun in the parking lot of a Dennys.
Were like, What are we going to do with it?
Who the f knows?
Well figure it out later.
Everybody is sitting there watching me thinking, Oh man, we better call somebody.
I would say over and over again, What in the hell?Why did we do this?
What is this machine gun?
You guys did that year after year.
We had no choice.
It was desperation as a mother of invention in this case.
We had to do it.
We threw out any kind of idea we could think of.
is the first question.
And the other thing was Walter White is not Rambo.
Only Rambo is Rambo, and Rambo is like a cartoon.
Walt is not going to stand there, slow-motion, going [imitates machine-gun firing].
The way hes got to do it is to use science and use his brain.
So when we finally came up with it, I cant even tell you the relief.
And then the last episode.
But we stuck at it, blood-sweat-and-teared it for long enough.
And that was the other magic ingredient of time.
We had time and Im forever grateful.
But when they do, its electric and tragic as Walt gives up Jesse to the neo-Nazis.
He then says Wait!
I felt that Jesse deserved to know what happened, how evil this man truly can be.
No, maybe he doesnt need to know this.
Why does he need to know this?
I was really surprised by my reaction to it.
Because I always thought I wanted it.
But then I realized I did not want it.
]CRANSTON:Walt telling Jesse feltunnecessary.
And, as we saw, this was pure ego.
He wanted todrivethat into him for what he felt was betrayal.GILLIGAN:Its funny what Aaron was saying.
And Does Hank Schrader need to know?
We had that discussion, too, that his brother-in-law is Heisenberg.
We thought, Well, maybe Mike will tell Jesse.
Maybe Jesse will figure it out on his own.
Then we realized there was no earthly way for that to happen.
But we just felt like as unpleasant as it was, we didnt like the alternative.
I liked it, and I was good at it.
I think its more of the latter of your premise there.
If they knew where it was coming from, they might reject it.
So, it had to be anonymous.
Its unrequited, but at least its some measure of comfort and closure.
I was just saying my private and silent goodbyes I love you, son for my own benefit.
And then with the daughter.
And then I took the chance of seeing Skyler in person.
Thats when it all came to fruition.
That was our ongoing debate with each other.
I said, Vince, youre right!
He goes, I got it.
And so much so that he put it in the last scene!
Oh, kindly, dont tell me that you did it for your family!
And it was absolutely appropriate.
And its just brilliant.GILLIGAN:Thats the great thing about the show, is it contains multitudes.
To quote Walt Whitman, It was, in a sense, both things.
Its really in the eye of the viewer.
Although we did talk about every possibility under the sun, including the idea that ironically everyone is dead.
The family, everyone.
Hes the only one who survives but then we thought, Thats anarchic and too ironic.
We knew if we didnt do that we wouldnt have much of an ending at all.
But let me tell you, it did not come easy.
At the end of the finale, Jesse has a gun on Walt and notices that hes mortally wounded.
He ultimately denies Walts request to shoot him: Do it yourself.
So all of us writers got together and said, Why doesnt he shoot the son of a bitch?
Hes got a million good reasons to do it.
Then we thought, If Walts wounded, I could believe that Jesse would rather him suffer.
But Jesse, at heart, is not a murderer.
Hes not taking any more requests here.
Thats probably as important as anything.
We always talked about that: Who is going to survive this?
Whos going to kill the other?
I dont think, deep down, Jesse is a ruthless killer.
I mean, he justmurderedsomeone the moment before this moment he strangled Todd with his chains, but…
I dont think he wanted anything to do with this.
From Walts point of view, he calls on the Nazis to bring Jesse here.
And theyre like, Oh yeah, this is going to be fun.
Oh, I cant wait.
You guys hate each other.
There is that point where I think Im going to kill him too.PAUL: Yeah, bring him here.
Lets do this.CRANSTON: Bring him here and were all going to go.Bang, bang, bang, bang!
And then for me it was that last moment.
And thats what happened.
Were going to do it in a little different way.
And youre thinking when you watch the movie, Hows she going to get saved?
What plot machination is going to…?
Because he was still upset with [Jesse].
[Gestures to Paul] Youre happy, but youre also distraught.
We saw the goodness of that character, and thats what the audience was left with.
Weve had a lot of heartache.
A righteous character, Hank, just trying to do the right thing.
The innocent people who died along the way.
The destruction of [Marie].
Her husband was shot and killed.
The destruction of the family.
And that look is more important than a thousand words from Jesse.
Can you think about dead babies?
Its a complicated stew of feelings.Okay, I got it, boss.
And then they do it.
What do you like tothinkhappened to Jesse and whatactuallyhappened to Jesse?
Ive painted a very detailed picture of where I would like him to be.
He goes to someplace where he has to purge himself of the dirt on his soul.
I think Jesse has suffered enough.
Its funny, people do ask me from time to time, What happened to Jesse?
As if my opinion gives it some sort of a imprimatur of authenticity.
Personally, Id like to think he got away.
I dont know how he got away exactly, and maybe he got to Alaska.
Id like to believe that he did because I think most folks can agree hes suffered enough.
its a terrible shame that, that thing he created that was so special was crystal meth.
Its another terrible irony, but he was the best at it.
Theres probably nothing less important in the world, but mark this, Im the best.
The pressure was on.
We were all standing in our corner waiting for it to happen.
So youre not going to like everybody.
Its perfect, its beautiful, its poetic.
And its sad.CRANSTON:The last scene for Walt was just perfect because it didnt need words.
We saw the level of the appreciation and love he had for chemistry, which he never lost.
It was always deeply embedded in him.
And the interesting thing for me too, it was the journey.
This was exactly two years.
He dies on his birthday, and that was it.
Its crazy to think Ive hung up those cleats and I wont be playing that guy again.
So its just about trying to chase after similar material in terms of quality.
Just because Im an actor and its a tough business and I wanted to work.
I had to pay my dues.
But you cant hold on to the past.
And I look back and I realize, Wow, there were moments where I was definitely struggling.
But now its just a whole different game for me.
It will be the opening line of my obituary.
Im absolutely happy about that.
Our lives are filled with peaks and valleys, and that was certainly the peak of my career.
Now, there are other mountaintops and other peaks, but will it ever ascend to a higher plateau?
At first, it was difficult because I was kind of snooty about it.
What I realized is that its unfair to every writer I come in contact with, every producer.
Its unfair to myself to think that anything I do afterBreaking Badhas to reach or exceed that bar.
So, I discarded that, and the first thing I did afterBreaking BadwasGodzilla.
I went in the total other direction and I said, Just embrace the fun.
So, I let go, and I had a blast doingGodzilla.
I like to keep moving around.
Hes a dear friend now and Im just thrilled.
I wanted to keep the writers, as many as the actor as possible, and the crew together.
We loved Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I wanted us to have a reason to stick together.
Really, all I hoped for was that it wouldnt beAfterMASH.
The show lives on not just through Netflix and fans, but through its prequel.
You go, Oh, I think I know them!
But theyre in different positions and things are happening thats very different!
Its really cool.GILLIGAN:[to Paul] Youve got to come visit us.
It was awesome when Bryan was there.
I was lucky enough to be directing when that happened.
Oh, God, everyone went nuts.
You could hear the buzz go through the building.PAUL:Did you just walk into the [scene]?
[All laugh.]
Youve both said youd be open to appearing onBetter Call Saul.
I trust in Vince.
Yes is the answer.
Even if its just a brush-by.
Or we might even have a word or two.
Oh no, hey go ahead.
Thank you for holding the door.
And then five years later you would never remember that.
Peter [Gould, co-creator] wants it, the writers do, the actors do.
But it wouldnt feel as satisfying if it was just a cameo or an Alfred Hitchcock walk-through.
I think we waited long enough.
We damn well better have a good reason for them to show up….
I just hope we figure it out, because Ive got to hear Yeah, bitch!
